Sainte Foy Tarentaise : 03 June 2020
Here at Time to Ski we are interested to see how quickly this building project advances. Since we last wrote, we have had a weekend, a ‘jour férié’, (bank holiday), and a Friday afternoon, so not a lot has happened. That said, we still have 28 weeks before the winter season opens, so we are not worrying yet.
It fascinates me to see the difference as you go up the mountain at each altitude level so here is the difference shown in photographs, all taken on 01 June 2020.
Starting at the top, here is a view of the top of the Arpettaz chairlift. (All the chairs have been removed).
Heading down the Arpettaz piste from the top, it is all green at 2,000m but nowhere near waist deep in flowers yet.
This is the flora on the middle part of the Arpettaz piste at 1,900m.
Dandelions are in abundance at the bottom of the Arpettaz piste 1,780m. In the background you can see Mont Pourri on the left, and with a peak at 3,779m there is snow all year round. The mountain on the right is Aiguille Rouge, 2,674m.
The caveat to the above is that the aspect strongly influences a particular slopes advance through the growing season. In the same way a north facing slope stays colder in winter and keeps the snow longer than south facing slopes, north facing slopes in spring get less sun and take longer to bring their plants to the flowering stage. In the mountains, it is always a mix of altitude and orientation!
And finally, so long as the pasture isn’t used for grazing cattle or making hay, it will eventually look like this photo, also taken on 01 June 2020 by the bottom of the first lift in the centre of the resort.
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