Morzine Snow Report: 3rd January 2012

Blue bird powder day. Powder and visibility

featured in Snow report Author Phil Smith, Updated 24 October 2014

It was a beautiful sunny day today, a refreshing change from yesterday’s grim dampness. Although damp in town on Monday it was snowing from around 1700m and the forecast was for the snow limit to drop overnight. That, and a prediction of blue skies, meant some powder turns were on the cards today.

Rather than go find that powder using the lifts we opted for a big ski randonnée up the Tete du Boston at the head of the Vallee de la Manche. Ski randonnée involves fitting climbing skins to the bottom of your skis which let you slide the ski forwards but stop it slipping back. A special binding pivots at the toe allowing you to walk up the mountain.

You may wonder what the attraction is when all those lifts are dotted around? For me it’s getting away from it all, definitely no crowds and earning your turns, basically. There is a big sense of achievement to be had in getting to the summit of the mountain under your own steam and getting fresh tracks down.

Initially the ski up is through trees, snow covered of course, for an enchanted feel. The early morning cold soon dissipates as you work up a sweat gaining vertical metres. After an hour or so we were into open terrain climbing the Tete du Boston itself from the Col du Golese. From here it is wide open terrain all the way to the summit. There was an impressive amount of snow stretching in front of us with barely a track to be seen. The lumps and bumps of the mountain were smoothed over in a white blanket glistening in the sun. To our right the Dents d’Oddaz rose into view as we climbed, jagged and impressive.

Some three hours later we had made the summit at 2295m a height gain of around 1100m from our starting point of L'Erigne. The top is a flat plateau rather than a vertiginous peak but there is no sense of disappointment as you gaze around at the impressive views all around, particularly the end of the Dents du Midi chain. We had our flasks of coffee and sandwiches whilst fiddling around getting the skis back into ski mode ready for the trip down.

We knew this was going to be good, after all we had been ploughing up the mountain through deep powder for the last few hours. Sure enough the decent was fantastic with a nice deep covering of fresh light powder. Initially the descent is not to steep but eventually it rolls over into better terrain making for some brilliant un-tracked turns.

There are many options coming off the Boston, basically lots of lines to skiers right. Nearly all are very demanding “miss your turn and die” couloirs so if you’re up and about there it is essential to have a guide for anything other than retracing your steps the way you climbed. Even the slightly less steep/ dangerous couloirs further down the Boston are not to be taken lightly. Discounting the ski itself, picking the right entry point is critical not to end up over a cliff. No such shenanigans from us, we basically returned the way we had come and loved every turn of it.

Something a little different today then but for sure I’ll back on those chair lifts for the next few days, my legs will not be up to anything else. If you fancy a go but don’t have the kit you can hire it from many of the shop in town. To get the most out of it, you really need to hire a guide to show you around and keep you safe. For contacts visit our Mountain Guides section.

The forecast is for more snow tonight, some 25cm or so, it’s looking like another powder day tomorrow!

Bon Ski