Read reviews of the best Verbier activities
As always the most important part of my report is the weather. After the awful weather of last weekend, which saw heavy rain and snow on the higher slopes, the fantastic weather returned. Sunshine and clear skies allowed us to get back into the mountains to play, although temperatures are now more comfortable when doing sport, in the direct sun it is still very warm and comfortable.
Just before the weekend we'd seen that the team at Verbier Tzoumaz Bike Park had finished off some new north shore and two new sections of red trails. Thankfully most of the snow that delayed the bike park opening this year has gone, so we headed up to check out how it's all looking.
With the end of the Verbier Music Festival and the Swiss National Day celebrations behind us calm has returned to Verbier and so has the summer weather.
Although the weather has remained mixed over this summer the last month of August did take a good turn with temperatures often as high as 35 degrees and plenty of sunshine to give us a real taste of summer. Those highs do appear to be behind us now as we drift into September and towards Autumn at an alarming speed.
Since the lifts closed at the end of April the snow and crowds disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. Once again Verbier and the surrounding stunning mountains were allowed to return to their tranquil selves, albeit for a temporary period. Although the lifts were shut and the town quiet there was still plenty to do in the mountains.
Over last week Verbier received a significant amount of snow over 24 hours but the torrential rain that followed melted all but the highest pockets of snow.
News has just come in that the first slopes will be opening this weekend in Verbier. The Lac des Vaux will be open from the 26th of Novemeber onwards and will be open from 9.15 to 16.15.
Thankfully the weather over the last week has improved significantly with clear blue skies and sunshine providing dry and warm conditions. Temperatures are warm but there has been a refreshing breeze which has kept things comfortable.
After a rough weekend, which saw rain, clouds and cold temperatures push into Verbier, Monday was stunningly beautiful. The skies were clear and the warmth of the sun quickly dried out the area. Above Ruinettes the temperatures up the mountain were so cold over the weekend that the rain landed as a thin veil of snow which soon disappeared with the arrival of the sun. Temperatures did remain comfortably chilly with a stiff breeze from time to time.
The weather continues to be amazing at the moment, although over the last few days there has been some pretty heavy rainfall.
Mixed weather continues to continue and it seems that we may have to wait a little longer for summer with the Verbier forecast for the next week being unstable. Thankfully there is a hint of sunshine from time to time over the next couple of days and somewhere up there it continues to shine so hot that when the clouds do part, even for an afternoon, it has been drying up very quickly.
The summer rolls by at an increasing speed with winter now a mere three months away. The weather which had over the last couple weeks been mixed and stormy did give way in the end to some beautiful sunny days.
Summer is here as is the first summer version of our Verbier ‘snowreport’. Although there have been some really beautiful and sunny warm summer days the weather has stayed changeable and volatile since April. This has brought in frequent rain in the form of mainly showers and regular snow showers above 2000 metres, where the snowline stubbornly resists the inevitable thaw and clings to the mountain.
Last Saturday I was lucky enough to meet up with the language instructors at VLS, Verbier Language School, to join them for an afternoon on the pistes.
Autumn has arrived, announced by a drop in temperatures and browning leaves on trees. Town is still busy though as the lifts are still open through until 19th September. After that the main lifts will still be open for weekends until the end of October.
After a couple of weeks of great weather it looks as if conditions are going to change this weekend. Clouds, rain and colder temperatures are threatening and the forecast for the start of next week, although better, still suggests mixed conditions.
With the weekend over, the full time opening of the lift is also now over until next weekend. The good news is that it still runs four times a week during week days. The lift from Verbier to Ruinettes will be open at 07:00, 10:30, 13:30 and 16:45 hrs.
Great weather arrived in Verbier to see out the end of July as the summer whizzes by at an alarming speed. The end of the Verbier festival has come and the next international event in Verbier is the Grands Concours Hippique, an international horse jumping competition.