The piste groomers are at work!

The opening of the ski area is approaching apace and our teams are on the ground to ensure you have very best experience on the pistes.

Today we have taken advantage of the conditions to go and look over a piste-grooming machine.

Beyond sunny images which smack of snow, here are some facts and figures you will be able to bring out for your office colleagues.

Grooming the pistes consists of stabilising the covering of snow by packing down the snow.

A piste-grooming machine comprises:

   - A blade at the front which forms the piste and moves the snow

   - Tracks so that the machine can move and to compact the snow covering (altering the snow covering’s thermal conductivity and improving its mechanical resistance)

   - A snow-blower at the back to push the air out of the snow covering and which is equipped with skirts to provide a finish to the snow

On steep slopes, the piste-grooming machines can be supported by a cable.

Some figures for the more curious...

27 is the number of piste-grooming machines working in the ski-area.

43 drivers work in shifts all night throughout the season.

15 to 20 kph is the average speed of a piste-grooming machine. The slower the machine moves, the more the snow is compacted and so the more qualitative the work.