Courchevel off piste conditions

A quick update on off piste conditions in Courchevel.

In a nutshell - "good, but rapidly getting heavy"

Yesterday we had 30/40cm of light fresh powder all over, but even by lunchtime sunny slopes were feeling the heat of the sun.
Today the foehn wind has gradually been picking up, with 5ºC at 1800m at lunchtime. North facing slopes are still fantastic, but anything that has seen some sun is heavier, with some aspects developing a light crust. The humidification of the snowpack will doubtless continue through the afternoon as well...

The Equinox face was in great shape today (so good I skied it twice) and hardly a soul had been into Les Avals, though it is worth now finding the shady slopes for the best skiing.

Reports also in of the Breche Portetta being skied in good conditions yesterday, with both entries in good shape...

Half term mayhem in Courchevel? Not really...

Steep coaching day 4

What better way to round off a week of steeps coaching in the Vanoise than a run down the North face of Bellecote.

Despite a delayed opening on the Bellecote telecabine (and a massive queue even for the ski school priority line) we had a great ski in Couloir Cairn, having first looked into a very loaded-looking Moyenne Face Nord and decided very quickly it wasn't on.

Andy P:

Jim:

Jon:

Some brave souls had ventured up to the Grande Face Nord and linked up (very cautiously) the traverses over to Grand Nant - looked like much clenching of buttocks had gone on judging by the ultra-cautious line & turns...

Meanwhile the Friolin slopes, Passage de Frete and Montagne de Bellecote runs were all seeing lots of traffic, as was the Petite Face Nord. Canadians couloir looked OK from below, but less soft than Cairn.

Off to La Grave next with a slightly challenging weather forecast... fingers crossed for some good snow!

Steep coaching - days 2 & 3

The weather hasn't really played ball the last couple of days, with flat light and high wind at altitude putting a stop to any bigger plans we had. There is always a plan B though, and we have spent a couple of days mixing up technical coaching with some 'boundary-pushing' on slightly gentler terrain. All good clean fun and the team's skiing is coming on every day!

A few rays on sunlight on Wednesday morning:

Taking to the air today:

Conditions off piste remain good - soft snow pretty much everywhere, though care is still needed in choosing reasonable terrain to play on...

Steep Coaching - day 1

La Plagne delivers!

First of 4 days steep ski coaching for IFMGA Guides Andy & Jon & their mates Jim & Pete - great conditions, if slightly spicy... careful route choice & group management needed, but the snow was well worth it!

Pete:

Jon:

Pete again:

Jim:

Andy:

A happy team!

Conditions are good currently, though lots of slab & sluff action observed, and the Bellecote bubble & associated lifts remained shut all day (probably quite wisely). Care is needed on any steeper slopes as some soft slab remains on the surface with enough volume to do some damage judging by the debris piles we saw today!

Alpe D'Huez wind

Yesterday was the last day of this year's Off Piste Perfection course.
On Thursday we had returned to La Grave where despite a gloomy morning briefing from the lift staff we managed to find some really smooth 'wind-buffed' snow to ski on. Not powder by any means, but great fun to ski. The wind had done its damage at all the main ski areas, and a final day at Alpe D'Huez confirmed this - the ridge from the Petites Rousses cable car to the Fare area was almost unrecognisable compared to Sunday!

Still, with a bit of cunning we managed again to find some nice smooth grippy snow in the Canyon de la Fare. Jim in the entry couloir, currently quite tight!:



In the lower canyon:





In the early afternoon we headed up Pic Blanc for round 2 in the Combe du Loup. The planned variation was binned due to the boot-pack being stripped & looking very unpleasant but we managed to find some good snow to ski hard left of the bowls while working on short/jump turn technique & tactics.



By the time we had skied back around & up to the Signal de L'Homme for a run the wind was once again howling out of the North & the communal decision to beat a hasty retreat seemed sensible as the temperature plummeted again & extremities started freezing! My thanks to Keats, Tanya, Nic, Jim S, Jim A, Mark, Andy & Nathan for being willing 'victims', and thanks also to my colleague Jim Kerr - a succesful week with good skiing developments from everyone and an enviable list of descents completed in good style - roll on next winter!

Wild weather!

It has been unseasonably warm this last week in the Alps - the snow has been visibly melting from day to day at resort level, although there is still good skiing to be found up above the 2800m level or thereabouts!

With temperatures in the valley in the mid 20s at the weekend ski boots were shelved & climbing shoes had their first sortie on rock for the summer... shame the fingers/arms weren't quite up to speed yet!

Damien enjoying some sunshine rock at the 'Mont Secret':



Sunday was mostly spent in my late-season ritual of watching the Paris-Roubaix - another exciting race with all the usual thrills & spills, followed by a gentle outing on the road bike to make the most of the early evening sun...

So how are conditions in the Vanoise/Tarentaise?

3 Valleys:
Courchevel is currently reduced to Verdons, Saulire, Suisses, Sources, Chenus & Dou des Lanches lifts, with limited pistes from/linking each.
Runs back down to Mottaret are very thin, though there is still some reasonable skiing to be had on the very highest pistes (Lac de la Chambre etc).
Val Thorens is doing fine as long as you stay above resort level (bottom of Plan de l'Eau was mud/rock 10 days ago already...

Espace Killy:
Tignes - Runs back to Tignes Lac very thin, conditions on the Grande Motte are good, though there has been lots of 'snow farming' work going on either side of the pistes in preparation for the summer season. Links to Val are open (but slushy/thin)
Val - Bellevarde bowl: lots of thin patches starting to show through. Face still open, but only by the skin of its teeth very bumpy/slushy even at 10 am this morning.
Solaise bowl good, runs back to resort slushy/bumpy

Good spring snow to be skied up high, but anything dropping low needs to be treated with caution as you quickly get onto a thin breakable crust over 50 cm of sugar snow.

Paradiski:
Les Arcs, only worth considering the 2000 bowl...
La Plagne, Bellecote Glacier area is th eonly place to go. Links from Champagny allegedly only running until 14H00 (if at all now).

If the cooler weather predicted happens and we get some clear nights then there will be some great spring snow touring to be done up high, but it is worth seeking out areas with high lift access as lower approaches will either require a long walk, or alot of tedious trudging through knee deep rotten snow.