With high hopes that we could find some powder, even after the hot weather, Phil, Tom and I headed up to the Pointe Alphonse Favre to ski the NW Couloir. I'd already done the line (report here) and was confident that it would be good.
We made good time on the ascent and less than 2 hours after leaving the Flegere car park we were clipped in and ready to go and ski....wind crust! Bugger. We figured that we could ski the line but it would be survival skiing rather than fun and so we ducked off down the Glacier Mort. Concerns about the persistent weak layer on northerly aspects has kept me out of the Berard Valley for the whole season but the Mort apparently slid full depth a month or so back so we figured it would be fine, plus it had been hammered by hundreds of people so we weren't too concerned. Conditions were OK, with some powder here and there and some weird crud too. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera last night so no photos but trust me, the views were great and the skiing wasn't always pretty!
Conditions up in the Berard were really weird and our conclusion was that the wind hadn't been blowing in one direction but had instead been swirling around all over the place. Add to this the fact that it has been freezing cold at night then stinking hot during the day and snow conditions are tough to read. My best bet is that south faces and spring snow will provide the best skiing right now but get there early because it is HOT during the day. Whatever happens, it's nice to see some sun after a stormy February.