Morzine Snow Report: 14th February 2012

First up is how to avoid the crowds? It’s difficult and there is no way you are going to escape the queues entirely. Starting in the morning, your best bet is to be first on the lift. Be there before opening time and stake your place at the head of the queue. That way you can get away from the bottle neck lifts that everyone has to use to get out of resort. You can get a head start to less accessible areas of the mountain that maybe the less experienced and the younger ones can’t really get to or will take a long time doing so.

For example, Pleney is super busy in the morning. Get there early and be away quickly so that you can head to Chamossiere and Nyon. Both these areas are not too busy, even at this time of year, once you’ve made it there.

Be a little late! 9-10am is peak time for the lifts, everyone is heading to ski school etc. Why not wait a little and have an extra coffee in the morning and head to the lift at 10am? Hopefully most people will have gone by then.

If you are heading to the Super Morzine side and ultimately Avoriaz then why not take an alternative route? The Super Morzine to Avoriaz route is always chocker particularly at the Proclou lift. Not only is everyone heading out that way but all the ski schools from Avoriaz use the easy blue rundown, also called Proclou, so you have huge pressure on that lift. Instead take the bus to Prodains and use the chair lifts Verare and Combe to access the Hauts Forts ski area.

In terms of dining, try to avoid stopping at peak hours, 12-14:00, as the restaurants are going to be bursting. Stop early or stop late and ski through the lunch period as the slopes will be a lot quieter whilst everyone is eating lunch.

How about skiing the home runs more? It may seem a bit nonsensical to drop back into a bottle neck but once everyone has got to where they are going they often clear. Any piste down into resort is often quieter during midday and mid-afternoon, people only seem to ski these runs when they are going home.

As I said earlier there is no way of avoiding some queuing here and there but perhaps these little tips may help. And you can always practice your Zen like calm/deep breathing as somebody shoves in front of you, tramples all over your skis/snowboard and then blocks your progress onto the lift waiting for friends and family who were not as good at pushing in!

Oh and whilst I’m veering towards a rant. We can all help ourselves by filling the chair lifts. You really don’t have to sit next to your friends, partner or whoever whilst those immediately behind you have to watch a half full chair disappear up the mountain! Fill the lift to capacity and then everyone gets to where they need to be that little bit quicker.

The next few weeks are going to be busy so fingers crossed some of these tips helped. I put them into practice over the last couple of days. Yesterday I spent a pleasant afternoon avoiding the crows on the Mont Chery in Les Gets. It’s a brilliant little ski area with something to offer everyone, with the exception of beginners. You need to be blue/red run proficient. There is even a little park to play around in.

The snow was fantastic! Things have warmed up a little but it is still sufficiently cold to keep the snow nice. The views from the Mont Chery are something else, Mont Blanc and the surrounding massive looked stunning with a deep blue sky backdrop.

Bon Ski