March 18th, 2009 - Posted by: Powder Monkey

Optimum Snow Conditions in the French Alps

Mid-march and the snow out in the French Alps is in still in optimum condition. On Monday and Tuesday of last week snow fell continuously for 48 hours, dumping over a metre of powder in some places.

The massive accumulation of snow in Tignes meant that the third stage of the Freeride World Tour, scheduled to be held early in the week, had to be postponed until Thursday. When the event finally got underway, competitors made the most of the incredible conditions on the pristine Grand Balme face, riding faster and going bigger than you and I would have thought humanly possible. Check it out.

In Chamonix, we were had our fair share of fresh snow too – around 20cm in town and 75cm at 2500m. The snow was coming down thick and fast on Tuesday so we decided against venturing up the mountain. A mistake as it turned out since, although the visibility was poor, there was reportedly knee-deep powder on the piste. We did have some fun in the snow in the valley, however, with our four month old Boxador, Kettle.

The bad weather continued into the following day but the forecast was for a clear afternoon and we weren’t prepared to miss a minute so we headed up first thing. We choose Flegere and were at the foot of the cable car raring to go at 9am. The lifts in the valley were slow in opening due to avalanche blasting so we were initially restricted to laps of the Les Evettes chair, but the Index 6-man started up at 11am, opening up the whole mountain. We skied under the lift initially, before the masses descended, and then headed out skiers right of the Lachenal piste where the snow was still untouched and thigh-deep. No time for lunch or photos on a bluebird powder day in spring on the south side of the valley – by 2pm the snow was getting heavier. But so were our legs so we called it a day.

The following day we decided to ski out of the Chamonix Valley in St Gervais where there is less competition for the powder. The snow was still in fantastic condition, not as deep perhaps as in Cham, but light and fluffy and relatively untracked.   We lapped the north facing slopes skier’s left of the Mont Joly chair.

Fingers crossed for a few more days like these before the end of the season.

Tags: Chamonix, Freestyle, St Gervais, Tignes
Posted in Events in the Alps, Weather & Snow Conditions | No Comments »