But when you go full speed into powder and stop within a few feet because it’s piled up to your thighs, and when you bounce through a drift and snow falls down your collar, that’s … well that’s absurd.

I’ve been skiing for 26 years and I’ve never known anything like it.

I’d write more, but I have to go bounce around.

About 2 feet of the lightest, softest, most glorious powder has fallen in the last 24 hours, which means that where it’s drifting and settling it’s 4 or 5 feet deep. It probably gets deeper, but no amount of speed is going to get you through such a wall of snow.

Unfortunately this unprecented quantity, coupled with high winds, is a bit of a nightmare for the resort operators, since none of the higher lifts were running today, and the avalanche risk is off the scale. But don’t worry - it’s slackening off tonight and trickling to a stop on Saturday afternoon.

Brace yourselves for a very happy Easter.

Yesterday afternoon was mostly whiteout, but the morning was superb. All day, however, the snow was impeccable above 2100m - I spend another day bouncing through deep deep powder and trees, and I’m going right back out there now to go do more of the same!

About 30cm fresh at 2500m, with more forecast!

Much of the higher stuff was, predictably enough, closed yesterday since they didn’t have time to bash it all properly, and there was avalanche risk higher up, so I stuck in down lower in the trees and found one of my favourite runs.

I ended up just doing it again and again and again.

Totally amazing. Just flying down on my Movement Goliath’s (a remarkable ski which just eat up anything - it’s like being on a huge motocross bike - you’re unstoppable!)

The powder was so deep that the fact that my flies don’t do up full actually became a bit of an issue. (From the snow coming in, you understand, not all the excitement.) Brilliant.

If you have the means and the time, I strongly suggest getting on a train and getting out to the alps ASAP. Quit you job if you have to - life is very very short and doesn’t have enough moments like this.

There was some snow last night - about 1cm at 2000m, but it’s all melted here in about 2 hours this morning. Higher up, though, there’s some more soft - in fact I had a great gnarly day yesterday doing some long itinerary runs off the glacier.

Go up to the very top, take the chairlift that goes pretty much horizontally to the left (Traversee), and then head to the right down that slope towards the black run (Friolin), but at the top of the black run keep right (not, mind you, too far right since there’s a cornice and you’ll end up doing the north face down to Piesey, which is also fun, but best when the Paradiski link is working). So keep right and high and head in the direction of Montchavin, and your destination of the Bauches chairlift*. You do not need to keep so high that it doesn’t work for borders - they can maintain enough speed to make it.

There’s a pretty obvious saddle more or less dead ahead of you (I really should have taken my camera..duh). Head for this, and when you get to the top you’ll see an expanse of less tracked snow, which then goes into some trees, and down to the river and the Bauches lift. Here on in you’re on your own - rip it up!

*This isn’t actually Montchavin, but you can keep going directly down the blue run from here to Montchavin.. it’s just flat and boring and often a bit slushy since it’s quite low, so you might as well bail here unless you live there.

It looks like the weather is breaking, too, at last. It’s been sunshine since a big snowfall at the beginning of February, and although the slopes are really in very good condition in most places, it really is about time for some more snow to keep things fun.

I went out and taught a friend who’s in town how to telemark this morning - it really is very easy to get to grips with if you already know how to ski and have a sense of bravado. He got it in no time at all and looked very good after just a few hours. However the weather was closing in bringing rain, and the clouds coming right down to the village,  so we packed it in and went back to the flat to develop a Facebook application..! Such is the life of an eNomad!

It’s WARM here at the moment, so I really really hope it cools down before precipitating — it would be so very disappointing for it all to be lost as rain.

Fingers crossed in the Alps.

Whilst this makes for some brilliant tshirt skiing weather in the early month of February, it also means that some of the snow is going on the south facing slopes, and that the snow is getting a little heavy & sugary lower down, and later on the in the afternoons.

The answer to this is obviously to ski the east and south facing slopes in the morning and the north and west facing slopes in the afternoon, moving up the mountain as the day progresses.

Personally I’m taking off for the week since I’ve rented my flat for half term, so am touring in the Beaufortain range opposite La Plagne, and will give a full write up when I return at the weekend.

Take it easy.

If you’re looking for good pistes…well.. just get outside!

All pistes are in great condition, especially up on the glacier.

Here’s a tip: when people arrive in the resort they spend a few days being a bit chicken and getting to know the place, so congregate near the resorts and don’t venture out in the further territories. So if you’re looking to avoid the crowds, at the start of the week head out to the periphery, and then work your way back in towards the resort.

I guess this isn’t of great interest to those living in the UK, but if you’re living out here, or in a nearby resort and fancy some diversity, it’s worth remembering.

It doesn’t look like it’s snowed for a while, and the dominant high pressure that’s sitting over us at the moment means that it’s not going to for a few more days yet either, which is a pity.

That said the snowpack is great and the pistes are in great condition, so it would *seem* that all is good in the world. But driving up from the valley (ooh, I must do a post on the train sometime - it’s the best invention since steam) the lifts didn’t seem to be working, and there were queues at the bottom. I picked up a hitchhiking ski instructor (rather pretty, too, I thought) who explained that the buses and lifts were starting late since the operators had gone on strike for a few hours to draw attention to their low pay.

The lifts opened about 15 mins later (so I guess there was about 1h protest), so we’re back in the game. But remember they’re good people who help us all, whilst standing out in the cold all day, so be friendly with and smile at the lifties! I’d also recommend high fiving a piste basherer, because they have skills and insomnia and deserve our love.

It’s forecast to continue for the rest of this week, too, so if you’re thinking of coming to the alps, now’s the time. It’s low season, the half term rush is yet to choke the pistes, your job probably sucks, and goddamn if you didn’t tell yourself that 2008 is the year for getting your priorities straight.

Everywhere is in great condition - the off piste is soft and light, and all the pistes are well covered. This current dump should give enough snow the cover those last remaining little patches of ice that so disturb the beginner which appear at the end of the day as the snow is brushed down the slope.

If you have the opportunity, I suggest getting yourself out here ASAP for a long weekend. I, alas, am going back to London for the week, so you can even use my flat if you’re fast!

Get on it!

Forgive me for the short blog post, but as you can imagine I have to go make tracks!

Fortunately the weekend came to the rescue, and the snow started on Friday night, continued all of Saturday, and petered out on Saturday night, leaving a nice clear sky to bring on a bit of a chill.

Sunday has been bright sun and barely a cloud in the sky, and the snow is soft and fluffy. It’s amazing how quickly it gets tracked out these days, though.

Piste recommendations: pretty much anywhere is great and has good coverage. There’s some icy patches by the afternoon as the snow is brushed away, but nothing to worry about.

Off piste: head for the peripheries. Mont de la Guerre, off the Roche de Mio down to Les Bauches, and off the top of the Arpete down to Les Bois are all great. I suspect that off the Grand Rochette straight over down to Champagny is also lovely, but that’s more prone to sliding and with today’s avalanche risk of 4/5 exercise some caution. Oooh tell you what - I’ve not tried this this week since the g/f is here - but Cretes down to Coqs (black run, mostly unpisted) off towards Montalbert from Plagne Centre will be storming. Go give that a crack!

I did a few runs yesterday taking in some off piste, but the avalanche risk has gone way up: a quick test slipped the second I cut away the back, and on the lower pistes the wet snow made it more like slow surfing.

Higher up is better, of course, but many of the high lifts were closed yesterday due to the avalanche risk.

This morning (Monday) they’ve been blasting since early. The temperature hasn’t fallen much, which means that the roads are slushy not slippery, and the falling snow occasionally turns to rain where I am at 2000m.

There’s heavy cloud so this looks set to continue for a few hours yet.  There’s sunshine forecast for tomorrow though, and a clear night tonight, so hopefully it’ll freeze up, and the pisteurs will work their nocturnal magic.

It starts on the evening of the 10th in Plagne Centre with a night sprint down the slalom course, and then goes to Montchavin for the next twodays.

The competition consists of one descent in which they must demonstrate free skiing, skating, giant slalom, jumping, and a 180 turn. There are over 100 competitors from a dozen countries, all of whom are expected to complete the course in less than 90 seconds.

Source: Telemark Zone

Phil Lau, last years FIS winner and 2007 world champion will be in his town, and his brother Chris will be skiing for France.

So if you’ve a thing for firm legs and arses, I suggest you get to Montchavin in time to buy some drinks.

However there’s still plenty of snow on the pistes, and even fresh tracks to be found off-piste if you know where to look: off the Bellecote glacier, off the top of Salla and down to Plan Bois, and the top of Mont de la Guerre are all good. Oh, and dropping off to the right (by the steep cliff / falling man signs…!) from the Roche de Mio.

Fingers x’d for more snow tomorrow.

Source J2Ski

Source Snow-Forecast

I’m disappointed to report that not only did it not snow yesterday, but it’s not snowing today, either. It is cloudy, though, but not dense snow clouds. So both of these sites are wrong, and both specialise in snow forecasts…

Update 2pm: Ok I take it back. It’s just started snowing.

Update 6pm: Nope. The question still stands. It stopped snowing about 2 hours ago.

Update 9pm (how sad am I, really?): Snow-Forecast have updated their site with an apology: “INFORMATION: Issued Jan 5 2008 16:00 GMT - There was a serious error in the forecast on Saturday morning because north and south were swapped in the input model.” So Snow-Forecast wins.

It’s a 6km, 1200m vertical course, and you can have a crack at it anyway you like: board, downhills, or telemark.

Sign up at the Champagny Ski Club website, and leave a comment here if you do and we’ll hook up!

I picked up my brand new Movement Thunders which Nick Parks (mountain guide and good guy) at Mountain Tracks had sorted out for me, and had my Fritschi bindings from my old skis transferred across.

Naturally enough for a peak week the Roche de Mio cable car had a long queue, and it was sunny, so I took the Blanchets and Carrela chair lift combo to get there instead.

I was thinking of dropping down to the glacier, but then I looked over into the Vanoise national park (this is behind you and to the right - basically on the other side of the cable car station - when you exit the Roche de Mio cable car) and and it looked pretty tempting, with lots of powder and not too many tracks, so went down over there instead. This begins a lovely long ski down towards Le Bois, a few km bus / hitch away from the cable car at Champagny, so don’t do this one too late in the day!

The top was great. There’s a winding road (if there’s not enough snow to go direct, as today) that you follow round until you read a likely spot, and hit the powder for about .. er.. i guess 800m or so? I’m useless at estimates.. but you go down there anyway. It was a bit varied today: part névé, part powder - a combination I’d forgotten about until then - which means you have to be on (or off) your toes in the same sort of way you might if you were jumping on a trampoline knowing that at any time someone might move it away.

Down the bottom it melts, because it’s low and south facing, so you have to hope that the path continues all the way down to the valley. It’s not so bad, but neither is it for people who aren’t comfortable side-slipping (though if you’re not comfortable with that, just what the hell are you doing on this run?) since the edges are big and rather near by.

It seemed like a great moment for lunch so I sat on some rocks with my pate and goat’s cheese baguette, and read Seneca “On the shortness of life” which I received for Christmas.

You must not think a man has lived long because he has white hair and wrinkles: he has not lived long, just existed long. For suppose you should think that a man had had a long voyage who had been caught in a raging storm as he left the harbour, and carried hither and thither and driven round and round in a circle by the rage of opposing winds? He did not have a long voyage, just a long tossing about. - Seneca, On the Shortness of Life

That is one brilliant quote.

I charged down the rest of the path to the valley, just down from Le Bois because I realised some of the folks who passed me earlier had a bus waiting and I thought I’d hitch, but it was full. There is a free connecting bus, though, that runs you the few km to Champagny, where you catch the lift back up towards La Plagne.

I was lucky enough to get a lift with a woman who’d just been touring for a few days in the Vanoise so we exchanged thoughts, and I’ll be writing up some Vanoise tour experiences later.

Then it was back to La Plagne via some “tossing about” and seeing what these Movement’s could do, for a swim in the heated outdoor pool they have at Plagne Bellecote.

So just when I was feeling more smug and content than is probably healthy, I was chatting to an old girlfriend online: she’s packing up in June and heading out to Russia and China on the trans-Siberian railway for 18 months to “just bust out some fun and sites”.

No matter how much we pack in, there’s always more to do.

A routine safety inspection found a fault in the cable which can not be repaired until the spring.

This is a real downer, and there are going to be some hefty insurance claims.

Any one with a season pass can request a refund from SAP, or you can keep your pass and just make your own way over.

Like I say: a real downer, especially so early in the season.

On the up side, however, there’s so much skiing in both resorts on their own that you really have to be going some to exhaust either resort in the space of a few weeks.

They absolutely love it, playing and bouncy around in the deep snow, plunging their noses into the powder with the same rush-seeking delight as a member of the mediacracy.

Plus they’re also good at finding a good way down. (Or, I suppose, a life saving way of finding out which couloirs NOT to go down…)

The dogs in the photo aren’t mine. I was out touring today and met a ski instructor from Les Arcs called Thomas at the top of an off-piste run known colloquially as the M25, due to the morning rush it generates after a powder day.

It’s a lovely run but gets tracked out quickly. If you’re looking for it, it’s the one beneath the Roche de Mio cable car on the Belle Plagne side of the first mountain. The lift continues up to Roche de Mio. Come down Les Sources (red) but vere right along the ridge, leaving Les Sources to your left and Les Inversens to your right. Follow this ridge along a ways, then you’ll see it heading uphill a bit. Shimmy up here, then traverse right, following the tracks - believe me, unless you have toured up before the lifts there WILL be tracks. Then just pick a convenient point to drop over down one of the couloirs.

Note there is some challenging skiing here and this slope is prone to avalanches. It’s south facing so I suggest if you go, go early, and - as ever - at your own risk. Oh, and get and learn how to use a transceiver, OK?