Snow Reports

Whooppeeee! It was a bit warmer today. Only -13 this morning at my house, although there was a fairly hefty breeze at all altitudes (not to say high wind on the glacier). However even the wind didn’t stay in the horrid cold North all day, and it swung round to a much milder wind in the afternoon – at least below 2,600m

We skied the “blue” Super Diable (which is about as blue as a ladybird), and Ella did brilliantly. My other class skied and liked the toura which was also fantastic, so a good day was had by all.

When skiing the Gours (re-christened Fee 1) we found they’d been building mounds and holes for training avalanche dogs, so Ella and I went and crawled into one!

big humps of snow, some with holes and tunnels for people to hid in. We tried one out for size.

This really is a lovely piste, with so many interesting things to look at, and a lovely view back to Chalance from the middle of the long flat:

Claire and Ella on Gours

I just hope we’ll get a couple more slightly warmer days before it goes totally arctic again!

Gosh! Another very, very cold day, which was fine in the morning until the wind started to get up around lunch time. After that it was totally brassic!  (very cold for non-native english speakers) If you could get into a sheltered piste, which we did later in the afternoon, it was fine – but it was still frozen toe day. Nice and sunny though!

I have no idea what these guys were doing in this hole at the top of the Grand Cretes chair - looked important though

At the end of the working day (about 15.00 today) as I was skiing down I was struck by this pretty, hazy, view of the town from the Demoiselles – it’s that run’s saving grace, the views!

Les Deux Alpes in sun and mist

Gosh it felt cold today! Actually it wasn’t as cold as yesterday, but there was a nasty wind even at the Cretes level and the wind chill made it feel worse. Of course the sky was blue and the snow was really nice (except where lots of incompetent skiers had brushed it off). The problem with the really light powdery snow is that it’s easily brushed away by the ‘slide at all costs’ brigade!

However everyone skied really well, and we all stayed cheerful. I couldn’t bear to take off my gloves for a photo though, so here’s one I took from my (covered) porch once I got home!

La Muzelle - lovely as usual

We are hoping that the weather forecast which says that it’s going to get a bit (not much) warmer, and that the wind is going to die down is correct.

Well, we’ve had yet another gorgeous blue sky day,  but yet again it’s been appallingly cold. This is the thermometer outside my kitchen window this morning:

I'm surprised the cheap thermometer actually registered this temperature

Of course my car is still not starting in spite of help from a charming young neighbour. The snow, however, is really lovely, although a little slow first thing due to the cold. I do hope it warms up a bit soon. This is really beyond a joke! I’m afraid that a lot of kids will be very unhappy next week if this continues as children lose their body heat much more quickly than adults.

They’ve also been making snow like mad all over the resort, and the skier’s left of the Valentin at lunchtime was really nice with deep-ish cannon snow everywhere.

Looking down the Valentin at lunchtime with the Pied Moutet side in the background

I admit it does seem churlish to complain about the cold with this beautiful weather and snow, but …….

Today has been wall to wall sunshine and fabulous snow but really, nastily cold Of course this is great for the snow, and we’re still finding little stashes of powder all around the mountain, but much of it is really tracked out now:

We skied this route this morning - very heavily tracked, but a big adventure for Rob

Later in the day we went up to the glacier and I took a panorama of the view from the exit of the funicular at 3,400m

Panorama from the exit of the funiculaire

After skiing some great piste snow on the glacier we started to ski down, and about half way to 2,600m we skied along with this fabulous light effect. I call them angels:

Not only an 'angel' which accompanied us, but also a rainbow

I think this is the most intense light refraction I’ve ever seen – quite marvellous!

I’m not going up tomorrow – hooray! I can stay warm(ish). but normal service will be resumed on Sunday

Another really, really cold day! Of course the snow was great, and there was a bit of sun from time to time, but it was bitterly cold.

We had a great day for skiing though, and everyone did brilliantly! We skied Toura, Cretes, Combe du Thuit off piste, Gours (Fée 1?) and all the green runs around the Cretes, finishing by the Chemin des Demoiselles. There were one or two hard patches later in the day where the snow had been scraped off, but otherwise lovely loose powdery pistes. The off piste was very light and still not totally tracked out on the less ‘interesting’ descents.

Near the waterfall on the Gours we came across this interesting pose:

Actually not a person, but artistically arranged accoutrements!

From the same spot I took a photo of Chalance, which is looking pretty full. There were lots of tracks everywhere, but today was a lot quieter than yesterday. I suspect a lot of ‘sickies’ were taken in Grenoble yesterday.

Chalance looking white and full

We are expecting tomorrow to be pretty much the same weather, I don’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed! The cold is keeping the snow in super condition, but 7 hours on the mountain in these temperatures is quite difficult!

Gosh! it was a wonderful day for wall to wall sunshine, and amazing light, light powder. I did spend most of my time on the piste with my groups, but although it was bitterly cold it was a great day.

My favourite view from the top of the Toura looking South. First time I've captured it with my new panoramic camera

After the first lesson I took my middle class to the glacier to ski as they’d never been there (too foggy/windy) and the Puy Salié looked like this:

The glacier at around midday today

We skied all over and the only issues we found with snow today were one or two snow canons that had obviously malfunctioned last night and left a residue of ice around them.

Funny thing is that people keep remarking about “icy patches” when it’s just a hard spot in the piste. The rest of the snow is so good and fluffy they forget that hard is not ice!

Firstly, it’s amazing that we’re already at the end of the first month of 2012! It hardly seems possible!

Today was snowy most of the day and snowing quite hard too. We had about 20 cms overnight, and at least that much again has fallen today. It could easily be 30 or so. It’s light, powdery snow and lovely to ski in.

My beginner class were pretty snowy on the lower slopes:

Beginners group of the Cautious2Confident January 2012

and the On2OFF (piste) guys were in the snow on the face:

One of the On2OFF students sampling the snow on the Grande Pente

it was bitterly cold all day though, and especially the morning group suffered. I was fine because I had so many clothes on I couldn’t move at all! If the promised better weather appears tomorrow it’ll be great!

The weather has been pretty disgusting all day today. Very foggy and cloudy with little spics and specs of snow, but nothing much. It’s also been VERY, VERY cold!

I was incredibly busy all day with the C2C and On2OFF groups, but just around 16.45 we saw a tiny bit of blue sky in the distance:

Looking West & North West - almost clear over there!

Lots more snow is forecast for the next few days, but including the very cold temperatures – brrrrr!

The whole day has been rather cold and cloudy – real winter weather for almost the first time this winter! The sun did brighten things up towards the end of the afternoon, but it didn’t really come out properly. It was very cold!!!

On the other hand the snow was wonderful everywhere I went with or without my students, although the whole resort was packed solid as far as I could see.  It was Sunday though!

View of part of the town from the top of the Cote Brune lift - a slope in the village, but not a nursery slope!

I didn’t go higher than 2,500m today as it was the first day of the special courses, but all the students did well at whatever level. Well done guys if you’re reading this.

A sea of cloud in the Venosc valley, seen from the top of the Petit Cretes this afternoon

We’re expecting it to be cold all week – note to self: wear more clothes!