Morzine Snow Report: 11th March 2013

This morning started off feeling hard and almost icy underfoot, but as the sunshine warmed things up, the snow became softer and much more fun to ski on. The window between 10 and 12 o'clock was definitely prime skiing time with the best of today's conditions on South facing slopes before everything got too soft. Other slopes were nicer in the afternoon, as they were more like sheet ice early on and needed some sunshine to improve conditions.

With Spring apparently now upon us, we'll probably see a lot more of these kind of conditions - hard in the morning, and soft in the afternoon, but we are due some very cold conditions before the end of the week. With a lot of slushy snow about in the afternoons, definitely take care on the slopes. This time of year and these sorts of conditioins are synonymous with knee injuries, so beware of the slush.

The weather forecast is, as always, changing on a daily basis, but at the moment, we're due some snow tonight.. It's set to start snowing up hight tonight although this may fall as rain lower down. The freezing level is set to sit around 1600 meters, so there will probably be some rain in Morzine and Les Gets, and possibly most towns of the towns around here except Avoriaz. The snow (and rain) is set to continue though tomorrow (Monday), with cooler temperatures fromTuesday and into Wednesday. We might see a little sunshine on these days as only snow showers are forecast at the moment.

From Wednesday evening we're going to see a big drop in temperatures. The freezing level is set to drop to sea level on Thursday night, Friday morning, and again on Friday night. Although very cold, Thursday morning should be sunny, with only light snow showers in the afternoon. The wind, however, is set to pick up, making for some very cold feeling temperatures on Thursday and Friday. The wind speed could make things 10 degrees colder between Thursday and Fridays so bring out the thermals and remember a scarf. Friday's set to be as cold as Thursday but with sunshine all day, making for some great views over the mountainside.

With this kind of forecast and the fact that it's still the busy holiday period, planning your ski day could be a bit of a pain. If you head out early, to avoid the worst of the queues, you'll find conditions very hard and icy (try and aim for South facing slopes, as they should be a little softer if you do try to do this), and if you hit the slopes a little later, to make the most of the softer conditions, things are going to get busy.

Expect a long wait in the lift lines until you get away from the teaching areas and even just in resort linking areas where people seem to accumulate. To add to all of this, with snow on the forecast, visibility is not going to be great. Orange lenses in your goggles are your best bet for dealing with the flat light though. The interesting weather could help with the numbers on the slopes though, as it does tend to put some people off skiing. Be brave and get out on the slopes, it's actually really good for your skiing and snowboarding as riding in flat light makes you think and feel a lot more., just watch out for big bumps and take your time. Make the most of the sunshine on Friday, although cold, it might be one of the best days of the week!

This is the last week of these French holidays, so after this week we should see quieter slopes and shorter lift queues, until Easter hits. Make the most of these few weeks if you can, it's a great time to be on holiday, and we'll all miss the tranquility when the next holiday period hits.

Also, on a more personal note, park riding is not a good idea when the light goes flat. I fell off a kicker today and it kinda hurt, take are out there, especially in the snow-parks.

Bon ski!