Morzine Snow Report: 28th Janaury 2012
Another Powder Day. Yes another one
Another powder, yes hard to believe but we are inundated with them this season – I’m not complaining! Yesterday was a little damp and grey in resort, really not a nice day but clearly not far up the mountain it was snowing, not raining.
We were on the lifts bright and early this morning in anticipation of all that snow. You never really know what you are going to get. Initially the signs were not good. More grey heavy skies in resort giving the impression we were going to get good snow but poor visibility. However by the time we had got to the Top of the Hauts Forts using the Verare and Grand Combe lifts at the head of the Prodains vallee we had broken through to blue skies. For sure there were patches of clouds here and there but from resort there was no way of knowing a temperature inversion was trapping the cloud low in the Valley – you have got to get up there to see!
The first few runs were down the piste, Bleu D’Árare which had been pisted and was then covered in a foot or so of fresh snow – superb! It’s very rare you get to ski such brilliant conditions, I was made up, well worth getting out of bed for. Maybe it was all the better for not expecting too much!
The piste was very quickly tracked out. There didn’t seem to be that many people around but that is the way it goes. We’d have to go a little bit more off the beaten track now. Heading Linderets way we thought a good option was the grand Mossettes lifts. It’s got the altitude and some really easy access off piste, plus the Frontaliere Snowzone, effectively a patrolled off piste area.
We opted for the latter initially; it was great but had plenty of tracks already. Not really a problem, it’s a huge area and there were still plenty of pillows of snow to hit. The snow was superb here, as elsewhere we skied, very light and billowing up over our heads when we found the deeper untracked sections.
All around the cloud was beginning to drape the tops of the hills but there were still clear patches all around. But we found ourselves in a cloudy patch next time up the Mossettes and this prompted us to move back to the Hauts Forts secteur. Firstly because it looked relatively clear and secondly there are plenty of tree runs there to get contrast should the cloud come in.
We skied to the bottom of the Grand Combe, taking all the cut throughs which by now were all tracked out but still superb to ski having become big soft moguls! From the top of the lift there are a number of blacks which are never pisted, Coupe du Monde excepted, which make for some brilliant skiing. The Crozats Snowcross zone is super also, a massive open bowl with numerous lines. Using the latter you can either cut back to the Coupe du Monde or ski all the way back down to the bottom of Prodains mostly off piste. Take your pick.
We did a couple of runs on this theme and one run down the black Combette which is becoming one of my favourites in these conditions. There are loads of trees for contrast and to explore behind and lots of natural lumps and bumps in the terrain to ski around over and drop off. Really good fun.
It really has been a superb start to the season. The base depth is considerable, probably a couple of meters at resort level. Any new fresh snow we get now always makes for a great powder day!
We are forecast another 5cm or so tonight which will help freshen things up a little. Sunday will see a little more sunshine and Monday is forecast much more bright weather in between the clouds, so could be the pick of the upcoming days.
Bon Ski
