MegèveSki

Interesting conditions in Les Contamines

The sun was out this morning and visibility was good so we headed off to Les Contamines for Pat's last morning skiing with us. Pat had her final lesson with Lucy and managed to conquer the slope that she'd had a refusal on last time she was in Les Contamines. Her skiing has really improved a lot on this trip and I think she's quite pleased with herself :) I have some video footage from today but it needs editing so don't hold your breath.

The lift board at the base showed 40cms new snow and the runs looked good with nice soft grooming, the off piste was fairly tracked and looked lightly crusty; better for snowboards than skiiers I expect. The day was warm, we'd all put on too many layers expecting crisp and clear after the new snow; we'd forgotten it was mid April and the sun doesn't do crisp and clear anymore. The snow was very soft, even on the groomed sections and this led to some interesting situations. The runs all looked like you could really blast down them, smooth, groomed, good coverage, etc, but the conditions were a little too soft so you had to be careful not to over cook the pressure you applied during your turns. The snow simply wasn't strong enough to hold much edge pressure. We found that skiing the gooming as if you were in a few inches of powder seemed to work; no sudden moves and gentle weight and pressure changes.

The car park and main lift up were busy this morning but the runs were fairly quiet once people dispersed. Nant Rouge was reasonably firm but the Tobogan and Olympique blacks were softer but once we worked our how to ski the conditions it was good fun. We had a fairly easy day as our muscles were in a bit of bad way from yesterday's extravaganza; I felt fine first thing but tired quickly.

We met up with Pat and Lucy and I videod Pat as we skied down to have a coffee break at Chez Gaston on the Col Du Joly. From there we skied back to Signal and then down to the mid station to bubble down. Clouds had rolled in during the morning and though the visibility was still good when we finished the day was overcast and the cloud cover kept the heat in and made it very humid. The lower slopes were very sticky and I don't expect the new snow to last long.