Alpine Weather News - by Terry Ralphs

After praying in vain for a good snowfall last winter, ski resorts all over Switzerland were surprised and delighted by a massive snowfall of nearly half a metre last weekend.

Leysin itself had 40cms of snow over the weekend of 9th to 12th November and many people were quick to get on their skis. The village is more 'wintry' now than it was all last winter and the snowfall even extended down to Aigle in the Rhone Valley (which is at the same altitude as Lake Geneva).

Many locals were caught out and still had their summer tyres on as the autumn had been such a settled season. A few cars were seen in the fields to the side of the road.

Being in the northwest region of the Alps, Leysin does catch more than its fair share of snow and this is a great start to the ski season here. We now have a good base to ski on and ongoing good conditions as temperatures are staying low.

This is great news for the ice climbing too, as there is plenty of snow to feed the icefalls. At the time of writing it is Minus 15 degrees Celsius at 2000m, and ice is building up on the drainpipes!

Hopefully anybody keen on skiing or ice climbing will be able to take advantage of what promises to be a much better alpine winter season than last year.