The snow line is gradually creeping downwards in the Alps and each spell of bad weather seems to be that bit colder and more wintery. After a bit of a false start to the touring season last week I was keen to try again this week after some more snow over the weekend.
Although there had been some new snow, it had also been accompanied by some incredibly high wind at altitude, and skinning up Le Tour on Monday was fun but the skiing was frankly terrible. I was sure there was better stuff out there though, so Sharon and I headed up to Les Carroz yesterday (Wednesday) in search of fun.
We parked up at the foot of the Telesiege du Lac and then skinned up the 500 vertical metres to Les Grands Vans, surrounded by some incredible views with the sun poking through the clouds. After plenty of time looking at the view and drinking from a flask, we turned round and skied down roughly following the piste and also seeking out the odd tree section. Although the snow cover was thin, most of what we skied was nice, light powder so there were big smiles all round.
Lac de Vernant, with Pointe Percee behind.
Me near the top of the Grands Vans.
Me with the map, working out what the other peaks are.
Sunset skiing - bliss.
Today I teamed up with Matt, Jack and Tristan and we went up to Flaine in search of more of the same. However, the weather forecasters got things pretty drastically wrong and we spent an hour skinning uphill towards the top of the Aup de Veran cable car in thick mist, before deciding that a coffee was in order. Annoyingly, the snow we skied down was good, and the stuff higher up was really nice, fluffy snow, so we would have had a really good tour if there been any visibility.
It's forecast to snow to 600m tomorrow, but after their efforts today I'm not sure I believe what the weather men say! If it does arrive it could make for a great weekend so hopefully they're right this time.