Conditions Report
Report from Friday & Saturday, January 9 & 10, 2026
When your bestie says, “I have room in my chalet in Verbier, do you want to come?” you would be a fool to say no. You’d be an even bigger fool to say no after looking at the weather forecast and seeing a meter of snow for the days ahead.
A 5.5-hour drive from St. Moritz to Verbier seemed doable, but then as the weather front approached the western Alps, I realized I had to make hay and had to leave a day earlier to avoid getting stuck in a snow blizzard. Since the spare room was not available until Friday, we booked ourselves into the famous W Hotel.
Unfortunately, the weather front was moving in with gusto, and what seemed like a doable drive became a sketchy 8-hour adventure through thick snowfalls. Ironically, the weather warmed the further west we got, the slushier the snow became, until in Bern it finally turned to rain. When we hit Lake Geneva and looped towards Verbier, the rain was relentless. Even in Le Chàble, it was still raining, and we were wondering where the forecast monster snowfall was—we had left thicker snowfall behind in St. Moritz. But as we made our way up the winding road to Verbier village, the rain slowly turned back to sleet and slush. Once we were up at 1,500 meters, it was finally snow, and the frowns on our faces turned to smiles as the whole village looked like a postcard.
We woke up the next morning to a thick blanket of snow and walked to the gondola at 8:40 a.m., joining the queue of powder hounds chomping at the bit to get out there. Verbier featured a notable mass of fat skis and avalanche backpacks compared to St. Moritz.
Once up at Les Ruinettes, we were hoping to hop on the next gondola, but ski patrol was busy with avalanche control, and it looked unlikely the Mont Fort area would open. After a bit of waiting for a change, we gave up and decided to explore what was open instead, and just play it by ear.
We skied the Fontanet and La Chaux area and gleefully jumped through powder stashes. Visibility was coming and going but the snow was forgiving with a soft layer of powder on the groomed runs. I have to be honest, I lost track of where we skied, all I can say is that the snow was fantastic, but the thick snow was hard work and we skied down to the W Hotel (which is ski-in, what a dream) and had something to eat, explored the spa and explored the town.
The next day it was rinse repeat: first tracks and ski until your legs give out. The only difference to Friday was that there was even more snow.
The powder was soft and fluffy and we just could not wipe the smile of our faces all day.
There was a hot chocolate/coffee stop at Le Dahu, but one we stopped, we all felt the lactic acid in our legs and we decided it would be more sensible to call it a day.
The snow kept chucking down all day, swallowing the sound and making you feel like you were in a winter wonderland. Everything simply looks, feels, and sounds better with a thick layer of pow!
Verbier, it’s been legendary. We will certainly be back!
SNOW CONDITIONS
WEATHER FORECAST
PHOTOS
