One of the more unique night shifts anywhere. A group that does not dance to the sound of a DJ – but that performs real nocturnal ballets in the middle of the ski slopes, every night and throughout the winter season. Leaps, shuffles, leg extensions, slides, splits…these are the steps of a dance that makes it possible for you to ski under the best conditions. This is the ballet of several dancing pairs – of snow groomers and their machines. The groomers are virtuosos who lead their partners, the grooming machines, with elegance, precision and dexterity.

The grooming machine is a vehicle specifically designed to improve the quality of the snow and to smooth the slopes that are sorely tried by the many descents of the skiers throughout the day.

How would beginners and children learn to ski on fresh snow, and on ungroomed slopes? That would be well nigh impossible. And even you, who skis like a pro, will certainly appreciate the fact that the moguls formed during the day’s ski runs disappear every night, allowing you to carve to your heart’s content every morning!

So the grooming machine dances: at the front, a hinged blade shapes the slope, fills holes, smooths the moguls and redistributes the snow. Caterpillar tracks help the machine move, while also compacting the snow. At the rear, a cutter removes air from the snowpack, while a flexible board smooths the snow and gives it a grooved texture.

On leaving the hangars, each grooming machine heads off in a different direction. If night has already fallen, powerful headlights illuminate the slope.

Slopes to the South will be maintained first, since they take the greatest strain, and need more time to cool and harden.

In a ceaseless back-and-forth, the machine ascends and descends the slope many times until the work is done, and it proceeds to the next slope.

Slopes are sometimes steep, and the paths short or narrow, while visibility is not always good; learning to grooming as the team at  Verbier 4 Vallées have is thus truly an art to be mastered. Many other parameters must also be considered to achieve the perfect grooming, such as the weather for that day or the next, temperature, snow quantity or quality, and time of year.

The machinists are alone with their companions in the vastness of the mountains. Their jobs are demanding, but also offer magical moments – such as when the sun sets like a tightrope walker balancing on the line of the horizon, from which oranges and yellows emerge, yielding to shades of pink – or where the full moon hangs in the sky, reflecting on the immaculate mountain peaks.

It will be close to 4am before this ballet comes to an end, and the groomers return home. In the ​​Verbier, Savoleyre and Bruson ski areas, there are 27 of these machines doing their dance every night, covering nearly 210 hectares (about 300 football fields). This amounts to a total of 20 000 hours of grooming every season.

Thanks to those working behind the scenes – to these magicians – and their strange machines that level, shift, compact and smooth the snow, we can ski in the best conditions, even if the latest trend is towards freeriding, virgin snow and loose curves in powdery white snow.

For more information on the lifts, contact Verbier 4 Vallées

To ensure that your ski holiday in Verbier 4 Valleys is a success, Besson Immobilier can provide advice and information about upmarket accommodation. Do not hesitate to contact us for more information.