Morzine Snow Report: 18th December 2011

So much snow came down Friday in conjunction with high winds that the resort shut for safety reasons. It’s the first time in ten years I have experienced this but safety first, I guess. The piste patrol need to be able to get out and clear the dangerous slopes with explosive charges etc. and if the weather is too wild then all those avalanche loaded slopes won’t be made safe in time.

This work was still on-going Saturday morning so initially only the Ardent telecabine was open - the runs out of Linderets were closed whilst the piste patrol were up the mountain doing their work. Still we picked the best lift; Prodains and Super Morzine were shut until midday. Initially we had to settle for runs down the Parchets home run back to the bottom of Ardent. Not such a big problem in brilliant snow, we stuck to the edges and got some brilliant powder. Three runs and it was time for a coffee, we’d previously spoken to the lift operator on the Express Prolays who predicted opening in an hour, time for a cuppa after our warm up runs.

By the time we got back up into Linderets the Prolays was indeed running. Only just, it seems, as there was a fair queue of people. Soon enough we were at the top deciding on a run down the Stade du Slalom. The piste was as good as off piste so why not track that first, we ploughed through knee deep snow, fantastic.

Second time around we decided to get off into the edges a little bit, cutting through the trees lower down in and around the Stash free ride area. We couldn’t go wrong, powder was billowing over our heads wherever we went. The visibility was good enough thanks to those trees, certainly lower down you get let rip a little with the speed and aggression, confident of making out the undulations in the terrain ahead.

We pretty much did variations on this theme for a couple of hours, with massive smiles all round as we got our third powder day of the week. A quick coffee stop in the café at the bottom of the Express Linderets and we were ready for the final push. We decided to head a bit further along towards the top of the Express Linderets and drop in down the big open field near the lift line. Surprisingly we were among the first to do so and got untracked snow all the way down to where we re-joined the Les Tannes red. Another couple of goes of that and the ski legs were long gone. Time for home.

The snow may have come a little late but it’s made up for it in abundance. The forecast is for a little more today, maybe 10cm or so, tomorrow looks like the pick of the bunch with broken cloudy skies but no precipitation. Snow is due on and off during the week, Christmas has come early!

Bon Ski