Powder radar in full effect...

First days work in the 3 Valleys today, and despite the doom and gloom reports that have been coming out there was still some soft snow to be found.
Off-piste is definitely thin though, and extreme care needs to be taken as the rocks aren't far from the surface - my colleague Rob found one today and ended up with a broken femur! (Ouch!) Get well soon Rob.



Temperatures were down to around -20 again today, really cold in the shade, with surface hoar starting to form a fair layer in places.



I was skiing with Guy for the first time today, and he did a great job negotiating some of the tighter rocky sections to hit the good snow. On the whole east facing slopes around 2400 - 2800m are holding soft snow with a very thin crust on top - eminently skiable once you get the feel for it. North facing slopes were more crusted though so pick your aspects wisely.



Forecasts are for some more snow this weekend which would be most welcome!

More soft snow...

More soft snow in the Espace Killy for my last day skiing with Rick, Sam & James. An awesome run down the Cairn in the morning, followed by perfect snow on the East Face of the Charvet followed by some trickier sections down the Deversoir Couloir, with more softness down to the Manchet Express. A slightly crusty Cugnai was skied in the afternoon, before a but of piste-bashing to round off a great 4 days.

Powder radar: On

Another cold cold day in the Espace Killy today. Despite the relative lack of snowfall recently we still managed to track down some soft powder for Rick, Sam & James to enjoy, along with a bit of crust and windblown snow for good measure!

Early season skiing _ December 2009

Last week I was in Verbier running a BASI Level 1 course; despite only 3 runs being open the snow available was of great quality, and congratulations go to Alice, Ella, Sammy, Anna, Jack, Ted, Ashley and Callum for passing this course.
Very mild temperatures over in the Valais were a gentle run in to 'proper' December conditions this week in Val D'Isere, with -15 C on offer, feeling particularly cold in the shade...! At least it is keeping the snow in great condition, and with Rick, Sam and James we have found some good powder around the area, with the odd section of crust thrown in to keep us honest..

Lets hope some more snow arrives soon to top things up for Christmas week!

Yesterdays video

A quick edit of some snatched footage from yesterdays warm-up tour:

First Day! from Simon Christy on Vimeo.

First ski, first powder!

Went for a skin up the pistes in Courchevel today with Greg to have a close up look at how much snow there really is (or isn't)...
Clear & crisp this morning, with snowcannons going 10 to the dozen.
There's a fair bit of snow at the Croisette, but if you get away from the prepared (and artificially boosted)areas there are plenty of signs of the ground underneath!

Bottom of Biollay:


(Not looking too bad, but 100m further up there is a stream cutting most of the way across the Verdons piste!)



The new funpark, shame they have put it here - not only will it mean no more easy rollers (great with kids) without getting squahed by a backwards-riding freestyler, but they have also eaten into most of the 'skiers right' section of the Verdons piste proper, meaning this busy motorway will get even busier as skiers are forced through a narrower gap...:



Looking up from the bottom of the cable car:



Sous le Telepherique (wouyldn't fancy it even on rock skis just now...):


With the 'Powder-radar' now switched on for the winter we cut across to the Combe des Pylones, which had only 1 set of tracks down it, and were rewarded with knee-deep powder on a variable base (eh, Greg?).



A great way to start the season, though my legs were definitely feeling the effects of a lazy autumn...!

Here comes winter!

Well December is here, and so is the snow!
We woke yesterday to 10cm outside the house here in Bozel, and it has been snowing on & off for the last 36 hours.



Tomorrow the weather is due to clear so I may try to head out for a skin up the Courchevel ski area to see how things are shaping up.
Meanwhile work kicks off this weekend with a BASI course over in Verbier and then its all systems go for the winter...

There are still some spaces available on this winters off-piste courses so have a look here for more details.