© Giles Towler
© Giles Towler
© Giles Towler
More snow & sunshine in Morzine this week
Fantastic conditions throughout the Portes du Soleil
It has been yet another week of excellent conditions in Morzine and Les Gets following the heavy snowfall over last weekend.
The start of the week couldn’t have been better, with glorious sunshine and incredible amounts of snow. Following almost an entire week of snow, it was a welcome improvement to be able to see the slopes again.
The avalanche risk, which had risen to 5/5 over the weekend, had dropped to a less dangerous 3/5. The good weather continued through until Thursday before the clouds came in once again. Although Thursday did bring rain in Morzine itself, the freezing level was only slightly higher than resort level, and approximately 5cm of snow fell on the mountain itself. By around 19:30 on Thursday night the rain in town had also changed to snow. The conditions on the pistes have remained excellent throughout the week.
The high winds that had caused some problems earlier in the season seem to have abated for now, and conditions were ideal. The rainfall on Thursday evening has only had a negative impact on the very lowest parts of the slopes, such as the run back from Nyon to Pleney, which now has a couple of icy patches, for example. The snow conditions are generally packed powder everywhere. The snow has allowed more work to be done on the parks in Avoriaz, with plenty of jumps and rails for all levels in Chapelle. The half pipe has also now opened.
Last week some of the pistes had large patches of moguls, perhaps due to the fact that the pisteurs had a lot of work with all the snowfall, but the pistes now are mostly perfect. As if conditions weren’t already good enough, there is currently more heavy snowfall forecast for the next couple of days, particularly on Sunday and Monday. At the moment it looks as though the following days will bring a return to the sunny days of the start of this week. Most of the off piste is now quite tracked out, but the fresh snowfall will fill in the tracks. As with this week, there could be some rain in town, but anyone arriving will have nothing to worry about as there will definitely be snow falling all over the mountain. At least if it is raining in town, holidaymakers arriving over the weekend will have an easier time getting into town than if snow was blocking the roads.
The school holidays are set to begin next week, so whilst the past few weeks have been nice and quiet on the slopes, things will start to get busier in the coming days. At the moment it doesn’t look as though next week will be quite as busy as the weeks to come, but anyone who finds the mountain a bit busy can head to quieter areas, such as Mt Chery and Torgon. There is currently almost 3m of snow on the highest peaks, and just under 2m lower down the mountain. Since the start of January there has been good amounts of snow falling regularly on an almost weekly basis. Although the start of this week brought some of the best conditions in recent years, there have been plenty of good days since the snow started falling. With the fresh snowfall expected over the weekend, it looks as though it’s going to continue to be an excellent season in Morzine.
