The predicted cold weather has arrived here in Leysin and we’ve had temperatures down to -21ºC in the village. There’s been a little wind as well so it’s moving the snow around that’s fallen during the week, that wasn’t a lot of snow but the wind is picking enough up to build some slabs on exposed slopes so the avalanche risk is moving up a little.

The TransAlp Vaudoise race started in Leysin on Monday so the area around the ice rink was filled with noisy and very excited dogs. The race set off at dusk and will have arrived in the Col des Mosses in the dark. I don’t think those puppies will have been taking part! I think the idea is to get them used to being around other dog teams and to start getting used to the big race day excitement. Not that the more experienced dogs seems able to contain their excitement much, the odd one seems to take in his stride but by and large they can’t wait to get going and wind each other up until they’re racing.

We’ve also managed some ski days on empty slopes, mid-week we went to La Lécherette (above) at the end of the col des Mosses, it’s got three tee bars and a handful of runs and about a dozen other skiers but the snow was fantastic and the powder in the trees was great fun. Yesterday I was around at Villars and had some more great skiing but the the temperatures were beginning to drop so there’s a real danger of frostbite for those people who are here in the alpes skiing this week.

Tags: Leysin | Ski | Switzerland | Villars

This is the first nice day after quite a run of snow and bad weather. It’s turned a bare mountainside into a ski station though. Earlier in the week the visibility was a bit poor at times but there was some amazing powder skiing in the trees here in Leysin.

The station is pretty much all open, there’s basically one lift not running today over at Solepraz and I expect that will open tomorrow. The pistes are pretty good, slightly hard-packed in the shaded areas this morning but otherwise pretty good.

The roads in Leysin are also now basically clear so you can’t ski all the way down the road to the chalet which is a shame! But, we’re full from tomorrow for a while at the B&B and the guests should have some great skiing & snowshoeing conditions.

Tags: Leysin | Ski | Skiing

There’s still good skiing up on the glacier, it’s very limited but the preparation is very good so it’s worth a few hours.

There’s a dog handler and his team up on the glacier and it’s great to see the dogs having a run. We’re hoping to run trips combining snowshoeing and dog sledge rides over the winter. When I get some more details I’ll add them to the website.

Tags: Glacier 3000 | Les Diablerets | Leysin | Ski | Skiing