Verbier Activity Review: 15th October 2011
Winter is on the way but there is still the opportunity to get out on the mountain bike trails
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.
This is good news, especially for the many people still visiting Verbier to bike, parapente, walk and play golf. Rest assured that up in Lac de Vaux the first snow layers of this winter are now in place.
Over last week I found out some new news which is not on the tourist office website. The lift from Verbier to Ruinettes is open through the week as well as the weekends. Although the lifts through the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) are open from 9am-4:30pm the lifts only run four times a day through weekdays. These are 7:30am, 10:30am, 1:30pm and 4:45pm. This allows access up and down from the mountain and is very welcome through the quieter weekday periods.
On the bike trails today, frost in the mornings made everything solid until the sun was able to melt the frozen earth. By afternoon the routes were quite slippery with lots of muddy areas to contend with. Below where the 1936 restaurant is during the winter the bike trail has a snow canon pipe across it so watch out! Also half way down the blue run there is a section that has been dug up as they continue to lay underground water pipes for the snow canons.
The weather over the past few days has been superb with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine. Temperatures have dropped significantly down to around 8 degrees. The forecast for the coming days is for the good weather to continue but expect frost in the mornings and cold temperatures in the shade which is perfect for Lac de Vaux to keep its first sprinkling of snow.
The above lift openings are expected to continue until either the last or second to last weekend of this month. As usual keep an eye on these reports for more up to date information...
