Morzine Snow Report: 31st December 2011
Huge snow, low viz
I have just returned from sampling the new snow in Morzine/ Avoriaz. We had a considerable dump of snow yesterday. Early in the morning the cars in town were covered in 30cm of the stuff. On-going into last night we had more and we are due 50-70cm higher up the mountain today.
Unfortunately it has also got a little milder and the snow in resort has turned to rain/ sleet. The good news is it is falling as snow up in Avoriaz so it will be contributing to the already good base depth.
I had a little ski up in the Linderets Secteur this morning. It seems to be a common destination these days but when it is snowing and the visibility is not good you need the trees for contrast. This is what Linderets has in abundance with a number of good tree lined reds and blues. There is also the Stash freestyle area running under the Express Prolays lift line. There are lots of wooden features to slide along and pop off, if that is your thing. Also there are lots of little off piste cut throughs around this area making for some really fun skiing.
I did a couple of laps here and found lots of deep snow to plough through. As a function of the rising temperatures it was not champagne powder, much heavier than that but still great to ski in. I found a high speed approach worked best, lifting the skis up out of this heavier snow. The snow was predominantly tracked from yesterday’s powder hounds but it didn’t really affect the fun, I enjoy busting through the big lumps and clumps of the stuff!
For a change I headed over to the Chaux Fleurie télésiège and then dropped into Plaine Dranse. There are a number of nice reds in the latter and in between some nice off piste with lots of little bushes here and there to ski around and provide the contrast required.
Returning to the top of the Col du Bassachaux from Plain Dranse I headed back into Linderets Via the Grand Plan blue run. Lots of soft heavy snow to ski in. It was fairly well chopped up and bumpy but then I think it is more fun that way.
It was only a short ski today but I did add a couple more turns on to the return trip doing a few runs in the trees in the Super Morzine Secteur. You need to look in, around and between the Zore and Tetras blues. I’d kind of forgotten there were so many trees to ski in and around here. It was great fun.
Although not on today’s agenda for me, if you’re out for an all day ski in this damp weather then you need somewhere nice to go and warm up and re-charge for lunch. The little restaurant just outside the Super Morzine telecabine is great for such a purpose. The food is good and so is the vin chaud!
The upcoming weather is all over the place this week. Another 25-30cm is due tonight which should make tomorrow a great day (if you can ski with a hangover) as we are due some breaks in the cloud which will hopefully provide some good visibility. Monday is a day of snow but Tuesday could be the pick of the bunch with sunshine forecast. It could be the first blue bird powder day of the season – fingers crossed.
Bon Ski
