Update 13 February: this is beautiful Swiss snow on Saturday!

Video (and skier): Anton Muller, at Bec Rond, Entremont, canton Valais, Switzerland (his photos and film clips on flickr)

Carnivals, cold, the down side of off-piste, Verbier and Jura reports

Verbier's February snow! (photo: Jessica Evans)

Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Glorious snow, biting cold in some places some of the time: call it winter in Switzerland! This weekend promises to be one of the best, with good crowds on the slopes, carnival starting in many areas, conditions great for skiing, sledding, ice-skating and more.

Weather forecast

Cold weather is the word from the national weather service, with highs of -2C on the plain and -14C at 2,000m, with the range on Saturday expected to be -6 to -1C on the plain. Clouds are likely to clear only above 1,500m in the western part of Switzerland Saturday, with blue skies in most of canton Valais. Starting Sunday: clear above 1,200m in the west and clear skies in Valais. Snow starting again Wednesday, down to 700m, but with possible foehn winds blowing in the Alps.

Ski ticket deals

Tickets for Valais: if you don’t have a home for a couple weeks in one resort and you want to test various mountain areas, a canton-wide ski ticket is worth considering. You buy points in advance, with 100 points for CHF100 and the price progressively dropping. The canton has 2,800km of ski slopes, so you won’t run short of  places to ski. The CFF Swiss rail company also offers some good weekend ski deals, such as the one for Crans-Montana.

Carnaval and Fasnacht

Carnaval village parade, Leuk February 2009

Verbier and Swiss Alps

Mont Fort, Verbier 11 February 2010 (photo: Jessica Evans)

by Jessica Evans in Verbier

Snow has continued to fall heavily in Verbier and ski conditions are looking promising.  Heavy fog meant visibility was poor below Les Ruinettes Thursday 11 February. Areas like Fontanet and La Chaux, at altitudes above 2,200 metres, saw blue skies, excellent snow coverage and superior ski conditions.

An average Baltic-style temperature of -10°, with windchill pushing it down further, made for a cold day.

Verbier currently has 139cm of snow at 2,200m and 175cm at 2,950m, and snow is expected to continue falling all week. New snowfall and untouched powder allow for exceptional off-piste skiing [Ed. note: see avalanche and safety information below]. With 400km of off-piste terrain and an efficient lift system it is unnecessary to hike for long periods to reach more challenging slopes. Verbier boasts some well-regarded off-piste slopes such as Stairway to Heaven, Rock Garden and the steep and terrifying run down the back of Mont Fort. These are not for the fainthearted.

Mont Fort is 3,330m in height, a home to the free-skiing movement, and it offers breathtaking views from the snow-capped peaks of Mount Blanc to the Matterhorn.

February is expected to get really busy due to school holidays, so expect crowded restaurants at lunchtimes, queuing for a beer at the bar and chairlift lines on the weekends. The snow makes this more fun: with a buzzing nightlife and exciting atmosphere, it’s easy to understand why people are flocking to Verbier.

Jura

by Shirley Curran, Les Crozets

This season is going to be the third in succession that we have masses of snow. Buckets and buckets of the stuff keep falling, night and day, and our pistes are
soft and silky under-ski with fresh powder on over a metre of packed snow. The snow conditions are truly spectacular. Unfortunately, we have had some very
harsh weather. We are in the double-minus figures. It was -12 up the hill today and, until almost closing time,visibility was poor.

Wrap up warmly and protect your face! Stop off for lots of hot wine at our refuges (le Ratou and la Loge). The hot chocolate at La Catheline has a good reputation
this year, though they won’t serve you a portion of frites unless you eat something with it. For that, you need to go down to the A-Frame snack bar.

Most of our lifts are running all week, as the Paris holidays start at the weekend. This past week was the first for the northern academies. There will be lots of
Genevans up in the Jura, too, so expect some crowds, although our lifts can cope with large numbers.

Avalanche news

The talk in Swiss media all week has been about the miraculous rescue of 21-year-old Cédric Genoud, who spent 17 hours under an avalanche after giving in to the temptation to go off piste by himself on fresh snow near Evolène. He won’t be “so childish” again, says experienced skier Genoud, whose father died five years ago, almost to the day, in a paragliding accident directly across the valley from where the young man was caught by the snow. But media followup reports looked at the growing sense in Switzerland that perhaps some kind of ski area police, like those in Italy, might be a good idea. Rescue operations can cost anywhere from CHF1,000-50,000, and at CHF87 a minute on average for a helicopter and rescue teams plus dogs, the top end price is not unusual. Safety aside, there is a clear financial risk to skiing off-piste: if a skier sets off an avalanche that endangers others, especially groomed slopes nearby, a civil court case is the likely outcome.

The Times in the UK ran a lengthy article Thursday 11 February about the joys of off-piste skiing, for experts, but placed only a small paragraph about safety at the end, on page 3, whereas most Swiss media talking about going off the slopes remind skiers of the risk/safety factors immediately.

Avalanche bulletin

Danger level is 3 out of 5, “considerable” in most areas except the central southern flank of the Alps, and it is expected to diminish only slowly, according to the Davos-based national avalanche service, which provides daily bulletins in English and a wealth of detailed information in charts and maps.

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