1999 was the last time we visited Sauze d’Oulx on the Italian side of the Alps. That year we had super-sunny weather. Sauze is, as-the-crow-flies, maybe only 80km from Tignes/Val d’Isere on the French side of the Alps, but the conditions couldn’t have been more different than it was there, or how we found it 27 years ago…
Just for fun, here’s an old photo I took back in 1999. Laetitia and Dave E were learning to ride a snowboard on that trip. While Phil, Dave H, and I were already competent. Although I was taking it reasonably steadily, it being my first trip back on to the snow after fracturing my spine in a rock climbing accident in the summer of 1998! 😳
Conditions
Anyway, enough of the reminiscing – and the daft game of snowboarding – let’s talk about the conditions in 2026! 😀
We were worried about going to Sauze as our past experience told us that this sunny resort on the south side of the Alps meant it often had hard packed snow. And in the mornings, after the previous days baking in the strong sunshine and the overnight re-freeze, the pistes were often icy!
However, the week we were there in 2026 couldn’t have been more different! Storm Nils was pilling the snow down just kilometres north of us. In the Three Valleys, Val Thorens shut completely. In Espace Killy, three skiers were killed in an avalanche in the Manchet Valley near Val d’Isere – a route we’ve skied several times! In Courmayeur there were three more skiers avalanched and killed in the Val Veney – another route we’ve skied several times.
Just to be clear, I am as certain as I can be (although I guess you never really know unless you are there yourself on the day) that I would not have ventured off-piste in to these places in these conditions. They are clearly locations littered with traps that, whatever the perceived ability, will amplify the outcome significantly should that snow start to move.
Muppets
It’s a couple of years since the self-styled muppets have been skiing together (too fast for own good more often than not). So it was probably for the best that we reconvened in Italy in the year that wearing helmets had become mandatory…
Injuries
At the end of the second day Laetitia crashed quite badly. Perhaps the smallest problem was a broken (expensive carbon) ski pole, and perhaps the biggest problem was that despite no broken bones it looked like she wouldn’t be doing any more skiing this trip…
Luckily she’s a warrior – after a single day of rest, and with the help of tightly strapped ski boots to add extra support, she was back up and skiing on day four. 😀
Searching for Powder
The heavy snowfall had two effects for us… First, it was pretty challenging skiing at times with really poor visibility and brutal blizzards to cope with. And second, whenever we could see past our hands held up in-front of our faces, we went off in search of safe off-piste adventures to make the most of the fresh powder.
Apres Ski
There’s always time for a beer after skiing…
