Just one week to go, the lifts are ready roll and, bang on time, the snow is falling.

Right now Val d’Isère is experiencing the first serious storm of the winter ahead of opening on November 28th.

After an unusually balmy autumn the thermometer is in freefall and, according to Météo France, over the next three days the resort is going to be blessed with somewhere between 60 and 150cm of powder.

Some sources suggest much more.

Further snow is expected next week in the final run up to the grand opening.

Val d’Isère’s teams of pisteurs will be working around the clock to make sure that conditions are perfect for the big day.

This snowfall should come as no real surprise.

Thanks to its high altitude, the Val d’Isere-Tignes ski area with its two glaciers benefits from exceptional natural snow cover from November until May.

On the rare occasions when nature fails to provide sufficiently, Plan B slips seamlessly into place: Val d’Isère is home to the largest and most efficient snowmaking operation in Europe.

Le Snow Factory, situated beside the Olympique gondola, can pump out enough of the white stuff to cover Wembley Stadium to a depth of half a metre in just one hour.

In real terms, what this means is that – given cold temperatures like we have right now - Val d’Isère is never short of snow.

Snowmaking is also essential for increasing the cover on those runs that receive heavy traffic during peak periods of the season and for keeping pistes in general in pristine condition.