Morzine Snow Report: 12nd January 2012
More of the same, that's a good thing.
The skies were even more blue today than Tuesday, not a cloud up there to write home about. The snow conditions were similar also, that is to say they were great! Nothing much in the off piste department obviously but for booting around the pistes at high speed it was superb.
I was back onto my old favourites today. First up for a number of high speed Super G turns was the Bleue D’Árare from the top of the Express des lac Intrets chair lift. Very quick up and very quick down, if you want to blast off some top to bottom high speed runs this is the place to do it. The D’Árare is mostly in the shade, particularly for skiers left on the racing piste, so you do not get much freeze thaw going on and the resultant icy patches – certainly for the top 2/3rd of the run anyway.
To change it around a little we headed into the Secteur Chavanette, a large bowl above Avoriaz serviced by two express chairs; Choucas and Fornet, and a drag lift TK Chavanette. There are some great blues and reds in the bowl but after the high speed carving antics of the D’Árare we opted to get into some bumps. The two skier cross zones, Canyon du Pschott and Marmotte, are full of lumps and bumps to attack now all that recent powder has been cut up. They may not be that regular for your bump skier purist but, for me, that makes it more fun (and I’m no purist that’s for sure).
After a few laps of the bumps the knees were beginning to feel it and we moved on for a couple of blasts down the red off the Choucas express. The snow in both locations was in great condition as per the D’Árare piste, not icy but on the right side of hard/ firm.
That was pretty much me done for today, no added fluff in the way of coffee or lunch stops although what better thing to do on your holidays with such a sunny day.
The previous day I attended a little avalanche refresher course. It’s been a while and it’s certainly one of those areas in your mountain repertoire that it is best not to neglect. Initially we just skied around checking out the snow conditions discussing how the weather impacts the snow. Basically just because it has not snowed for a while does not mean the avalanche risk has gone. The effect of wind and particularly sunshine is significant and should not be underestimated.
We also dug pits to get a visual on the different layers of snow and how they can contrive to become un-stable. I found this really interesting to see and it puts a little practical experience on dry information gained in lectures, books etc.
To finish off we did some transceiver practice, alternately burying a partner’s transceiver and then finding it. This really brought it home to me how much you need to practice the technique. It’s not enough to read the instructions and play around in the back garden following arrows and numbers on a modern transceiver. You really need to have the technique down, backed up with knowledge of how these things work. Safe to say my illusions of proficiency took a little dent.
I guess what I am trying to say is, if you get around in the off piste, you’ve got to have the kit and know your stuff with respect to using it. However, busting out the transceiver is a last resort to be avoided with smart decisions at all costs. The course was very enjoyable, I highly recommend it – knowledge is power and all that or, put another way, more likely a happier outcome.
Hope that’s not put anyone off, if you're into cruising the pistes and venturing into patrolled off piste zones like the Canyon du Schott you are very unlikely to get involved in anything nasty.
Upcoming weather – more sunshine!
Bon Ski
