The Avorinet.Com Avoriaz Snow Report

Fresh lines

More of the same today, that would be sunshine and great snow conditions. The last few days have been super cold, the forecast says -4 but I say way colder, it feels it anyway. Today has warmed up a little but it remains cold and the snow is still really nice so no worries from me.

A short ski today today, I’m a little tired from yesterdays exploits so just went to the bottom of Pleney for a few runs down the Stade du Slalom. Rather than go to the top of the Pleney plateau I used the telesiege de la Crusaz getting off at mid station. The short but steep run down to the bottom is perfect for working on the technique, putting the short and long radius carved turns in. If you’re keen on bumps then there are loads of to the sides of the piste. The snow was in good shape, the piste bashers had been out last night smoothing things out a little. Things were soft at the edges with that not so grippy scraped off the piste soft snow accumulating, in the middle it was better but there was the odd icy patch to watch out for.

Yesterday in contrast we went much further afield, skiing to Morgins and back through Champoussin and Les Crosets. Deciding we’d had enough of playing on the pistes we went off piste as much as possible. I know it’s been a while since there has been any fresh snow but we were sure we could conjure up some fresh snow. And we did, from the top of the Mossettes we made a small hike above Lac Verte and dropped down off piste in fresh snow to the blue road that takes you all the way to Morgins – result. For sure the snow was not so deep and we had to contend with lots of mixed conditions but we did find fresh, smooth untracked snow.

It would not be so good on our other expeditions during the day but we still made the most of things. We found a lot of chopped up and hard pack snow with a couple of inches of fresh on the top of it which is great fun to ski. It’s difficult skiing but all the better for it. You gotta be real strong and react quickly to the conditions under foot as it transitions from hard pack to soft and back again in short order. It’s also very tiring skiing hence the short day today!

The itinerary was to make our way to Les Crosets, traversing across the mountain with the Dents du Midi looming behind us using the various drags, t-bar and chair lifts available; TK les Bochasses, TK Derriere Pertius, TS Aiguille des Champeys and the TS Point de L’Au. We managed without touching the piste, well barely. To the edges of the various runs there is easy access, there are no hikes to complete, basically you can just ski off of the edge and remain within site of the piste all the way to the bottom. From the two chair lifts you can spy your lines, basically we opted to ski almost straight back down under the lift but be aware things are a little more demanding there with a few little couloirs and cliffs to negotiate.

After working our way to Les Crosets, doing multiple runs on some lifts and the terrain underneath, we were pretty done in. Once back in France at the top of the Mossettes it was time for home but not without a little bit more off piste - we opted for the Frontaliere snow cross zone. The main path was super tracked out and lumpy bumpy but we got a little further afield and found some of that hard pack with untracked soft on top for one final blast – fantastic.

Bon ski!

I will endeavour to post reports Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday – tune in.

[1] Generally described in more detail in the resort avalanche bullettin (e.g. altitude, aspect, type of terrain etc.)
[2] Additional load:

• High: e.g. group of skiers, piste machine, avalanche blasting
• Low: e.g. skier, walker
• Steep slopes: Slopes with an incline of more than about 30°
• Steep extreme slopes: Particularly unfavourable in terms of the incline, terrain profile, proximity to ridge, smoothness of underlying ground surface.

This is an indication of status at time of writing. Please check latest situation at the lift stations before setting out.