The snow

Snow is probably the most important ingredient of your ski holiday, and it is what Val d'Isère is most famous for. In a snowy winter, Val d'Isère offers much of the best skiing in Europe. In a less snowy winter, it offers pretty much the only skiing...

Last season was a good example. The winter of 2010-11 was apparently affected by La Niña, so while less than 3m of snow fell in the Alps, the Rockies broke records with up to 30m. It was the least snowy winter in Europe since 1949 and the snowiest in North America since 1975. Skiers in the Alps were cutting their holidays short, while those in the Rockies sat indoors watching the snow falling!

Yet Val d'Isère had a great winter, from first lifts on 27 November to Final Funival on 1 May (if you don't believe us, check out our 2010-11 photo album). There wasn't as much snow as usual off piste, but the pistes stayed in excellent condition, top to bottom, well into April, and our photographer skied right down to La Daille after watching the last slalom on the OK on 1 May.

A classic sight on the slopes of Val d'Isère last winter was a bewildered-looking pisteur having his hand enthusiastically pumped by some Brit, while trying to work out what 'jolly good show' or 'baby's bottom' could possibly refer to! We don't imagine that sort of thing happened in many ski resorts.

You may think all this talk of Val d'Isère's outstanding snow is just hype peddled by people who want your money, so below are the facts which explain it. (If you are already beginning to yawn, here it is in a nutshell: Val d'Isère receives an exceptional depth of natural snow which lasts longer than elsewhere, is mixed with huge quantities of artificial snow and maintained particularly well...)

Being high (1850m - 3200m), Val d'Isère gets snow when the westerlies are dropping rain elsewhere. And being tucked into the Italian border, it also catches one or two major falls per winter from the east, which don't even reach neighbouring Tignes.

But the exceptional snowfall is just half the story. How well it lasts is even more important. A ring of high ridges and glaciers protect Val d'Isère from warm southerly winds, while the steep climb from Bourg St Maurice and narrow gorges just outside the village keep out the warm air of spring. Most of the slopes are tilted slightly north, which preserves their snow. You only have to look at the un-skied south-facing side of the valley to see how clever Val d'Isère has been with its geography.

Added to these natural advantages is one of the world's biggest snow-making systems, guaranteeing snow on 47 of Val d'Isère's 150km of marked runs. Val d'Isère alone now boasts 557 snow cannons, and it has several healthy streams to supply them. Ski resorts are not allowed to empty their streams, and there are strict quotas, so Val d'Isère is fortunate that it has plentiful running water. Indeed, one of France's biggest rivers, the Isère, rises on its slopes. In a typical winter the resort produces about 1.8 million cubic metres of artificial snow - enough to cover the M4 from London to Bristol a foot deep! This might not sound very important, compared with the 500 million cubic metres that fall naturally, but the artificial snow forms a hard base on the lowest and busiest runs early in the season which the natural snow will lie on. It is a major reason why even at the very end of the season nearly all of Val d'Isère's runs are fully skiable right to the bottom. For this winter, a massive new reservoir will more than double the quantity of water pumped up pre-season, providing a further 160,000 m3 of artificial snow on Bellevarde.

Finally, Val d'Isère has an impressive fleet of ratraks grooming the snow overnight. Some have winches enabling them to push snow back up even the steepest slopes. Obviously, every ski resort works hard to keep its pistes in the best possible condition. Val d'Isère, realising that its snow is a God-given advantage, just seems to work particularly hard and well. It has been many years since the last time we heard anyone say 'Apparently the pistes are in better condition in.....'!