Molines/St. Véran, FR: 02/02/23

[jamesdeluxe]

For my second and last day in Queyras, I went to the largest ski area in the region. I already had a good feeling about this place because the unbelievably well-traveled Euro skier from Alpinforum, Starli, has been there at least four times, which is a recommendation in itself. Here's his 2019 visit with a lot more photos than I took.

The map doesn’t look like much; however, the terrain is more than two miles across and goes from 1750 to 2800 metres, thus covering a not inconsequential 3,400 vertical feet. The village of St. Véran on the looker's right is an attraction in itself because it’s very old and picturesque, and at 2042 metres is billed as the highest commune in Europe, ergo their tourist slogan "où le coq picore les étoiles" (where the rooster pecks at the stars) mentioned in this French TV report.

Facing south/southwest (with its obvious up- and downsides), on the far looker’s left is a decent-sized sector with fun, rolling red pistes going through skiable larch trees.

Similar to my previous report, Molines/St. Véran has chairs at either end to take skiers to mid-mountain after which old Poma platters move you around the ridge area. Once again, they use parallel platters that split off in different directions halfway up.

The looker’s right is a wide open, Grand Targhee-esque playground with up to 2,500 continuous verts. By about noon, the sun had softened up the skier-packed offpiste into a nice grippy surface so I had at it.

Over the course of the day, I counted a couple hundred people there; however, there's so much space both onpiste and off that it delivered the much sought after private-ski-area effect.

There's a fourth Queyras ski area (Abries) that I'd hoped to ski; however, I was having such a good time at Molines/Saint Véran that I stayed the entire day.

I stopped at 3 pm for a coffee break. Although it was exactly at the middle of the season, with this much sunshine and comfortable temps the entire visit has continued to feel like a spring skiing visit.

 

[Tony Crocker]

By about noon, the sun had softened up the skier-packed offpiste into a nice grippy surface so I had at it.

Interesting. I generally find that in midwinter direct sunny slopes at Alps latitude take on enough sun to degrade powder but with not enough strength to create corn. Pistes can loosen enough to become much more pleasant skiing but even there rarely corn. If off piste was not actually skied when it was powder (very possible at a place like Molines/St. Veran) perhaps it was smooth enough for good skiing in this condition.

We found Thursday at Montgenevre to be cooler than Wednesday at Serre Chevalier or Friday at Auron.

 

[Weathertoski]

Fabulous! I especially love the first photo. Regarding the climate here, it's about as boom or bust as you can get in the Alps. Snows are very occasional and almost entirely from the the "Retour d'Est" phenomena. But they can be exceptionally heavy when they do come. That said, the bust part is a bit unfair as the southernly intra-alpine location means that humidity is low, it hardly ever rains, and snow conservation is excellent. One big snowfall early in the season can sometimes be enough to see them through, on-piste at least. If sunshine is a priority, this would also be as good as anywhere to hedge your bets.

 

[Tony Crocker]

If sunshine is a priority......

Ever since the Retour d'Est storm ended Jan. 25, it's been nonstop sun.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I generally find that in midwinter direct sunny slopes at Alps latitude take on enough sun to degrade powder but with not enough strength to create corn. Pistes can loosen enough to become much more pleasant skiing but even there rarely corn.

I would never expect to ski corn in midwinter (and can't recall ever doing it). My two days in Queyras couldn't have been any better for piste skiing and it was very nice offpiste where the snow had been skied in. You correctly pointed out at Puy Saint Vincent that as the week went on, trying to ski partially or barely tracked snow generally wasn't a winning proposition.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I would never expect to ski corn in midwinter (and can't recall ever doing it).

That's because you have never skied SoCal. I also recall corn on 1994 winter solstice on south facing Sherwood at Alpine Meadows.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

That's because you have never skied SoCal.

Fine but mentioning corn in a midwinter context outside SoCal and a few other unusual ski locales is a bit of a non-starter. It's like me bringing up the simple but delicious goat cheese salad that I enjoyed at Serre Chevalier's L'Echaillon isn't an option at most North American F&B outlets on a ski hill. It's a given -- you don't expect anything other than burgers, fries, pizza, soft drinks, and other fast-food staples.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Regarding the climate here, it's about as boom or bust as you can get in the Alps.

I read on a French website that Saint-Véran's annual snow can be anywhere from 2 to 7.5 metres (80 to 300 inches): quite a spread!

the bust part is a bit unfair as the southernly intra-alpine location means that humidity is low, it hardly ever rains, and snow conservation is excellent.

Yes, the classic Colorado snow scheme.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Yes, the classic Colorado snow scheme.

Not quite the altitude of Colorado, even adjusting for the higher latitude. St. Moritz and Zermatt are probably the closest European analogs to Colorado.

Colorado's snow is more consistent though major dumps are not as common as in the southern Alps.

I read on a French website that Saint-Véran's annual snow can be anywhere from 2 to 7.5 metres (80 to 300 inches): quite a spread!

Yes that is a high spread, only exceeded in North America by my stats in California and Arizona, where the ratio of highest season to lowest season is about 5 to 1.

I believe Portillo, Chile is the award winner here with a low of 45 inches and a high of 739.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I believe Portillo, Chile is the award winner here with a low of 45 inches and a high of 739.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I would never expect to ski corn in midwinter (and can't recall ever doing it).

I forgot before to mention this one!

This particular occasion was another example of what Harvey mentioned recently about surprisingly good conditions after rain. This slope had been rained upon a couple of weeks earlier, which compacted and smoothed the snow. So when I was fortunate to be there on a calm and sunny day, it became a great corn snow run despite being midwinter at 43 degrees latitude.