{"id":6919,"date":"2026-02-15T01:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/6919\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T01:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T01:39:13","slug":"photos-snow-buries-french-alps-as-massive-storm-dumps-6-feet-of-powder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/6919\/","title":{"rendered":"[PHOTOS] Snow Buries French Alps as Massive Storm Dumps 6 Feet of Powder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"\"\"\"Snowfalls were deep in Tignes. | Image: Tignes<\/p>\n

Snowfall in France this week has been huge, with some resorts seeing more than 2 meters (6.6 feet) in the last five days. A massive winter storm hammered the French Alps from February 10\u201313, unleashing monster snowfall that has buried resorts and reshaped the mountain landscape just days before Valentine\u2019s Day weekend.<\/p>\n

Across the Northern Alps \u2014 including iconic resorts in Haute-Savoie, Savoie, and Is\u00e8re \u2014 weather stations reported extraordinary snow totals. The most snow fell at Grand Montets, part of Mont Blanc Natural Resort, which saw 2.13 meters (6.99) of snowfall in the last five days. Higher elevations above 1,800\u20132,000 meters were especially hard hit, with meters of new snow stacking up in tight time windows. Windy conditions associated with the powerful system also created deep wind slabs, making untouched slopes look like giant pillows of powder\u2026 and giant avalanche hazards.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"The Col des Montets road, which leads to Switzerland, was closed due to too much snow. | Image: Mayor of Chamonix<\/p>\n

Some resorts were forced to close on Thursday and Friday to deal with the masses of snow. Several roads were buried and it took 24-36 hours to clear some of the masses of snow from important access roads.<\/p>\n

The recent snowfall piled on top of a fragile snowpack that had been building throughout the season. Mountain forecasters described the resulting snow layers as highly unstable and urged guests to exercise extreme restraint and caution. Meteo France placed several areas under red avalanche alert. Skiers, freeriders, and mountaineers were urged to stay well inside marked terrain and avoid tempting untracked lines until stability improves.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Winter wonderland in Val d\u2019Isere. | Image: Val d\u2019Isere<\/p>\n

Powder lovers may be dreaming\u2026 but for now, patience and prudence remain the words of the mountains until the thick fresh layer settles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

PHOTOS
\n\"\"\"\"Avalanche in Vaujany which buried an access road. | Image: Meteo Grenoble
\n\"\"\"\"Spontaneous avalancheat Col d\u2019Ornon road. | Image: Meteo Grenoble
\n\"\"\"\"Staff clearing snow from a lift station. | Image: Tignes<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Snow dumping at Tignes. | Image: Tignes<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Val Thorens saw 157 cm of snowfall in the last 5 days. | Image: Val Thorens
\n\"\"\"\"Dude, where\u2019s my car? | Image: Val Thorens<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Some serious snow accumulations on roof tops at Val Thorens. | Image: Val Thorens
\n\"\"\"\"People were urged to stay in the village and now venture out before snow control had taken place in d\u2019Isere. | Image: Val d\u2019Isere<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Snow piled high in Val d\u2019Isere. | Image: Val d\u2019Isere<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Winter wonderland in Val d\u2019Isere. | Image: Val d\u2019Isere
\n\"\"\"\"People were urged to stay in the village and now venture out before snow control had taken place in d\u2019Isere. | Image: Val d\u2019Isere
\n\"\"\"\"Somewhere there is a car under the mountains of snow. | Image: Val d\u2019Isere<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"After the storm, the sun came out at Courchevel. | Image: Courchevel
\n\"\"\"\"Le Chalet de Pierres looking postcard-perfect. | Image: Courchevel
\n\"\"\"\"Le Chalet de Pierres looking postcard-perfect. | Image: Courchevel<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Postcard day after the storm at Courchevel. | Image: Courchevel
\n\"\"\"\"Dumping in Courchevel. | Image: Courchevel
\n\"\"\"\"Courchevel saw 150cm of snowfall. | Image: Courchevel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Snowfalls were deep in Tignes. | Image: Tignes Snowfall in France this week has been huge, with some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,3644,5569,1886,5570,3655,568,3656],"class_list":{"0":"post-6919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alps","8":"tag-alps","9":"tag-courchevel","10":"tag-ski-industry-news","11":"tag-snowfall","12":"tag-snowstorm","13":"tag-tignes","14":"tag-val-disere","15":"tag-val-thorens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}