More fresh snow & great conditions in Val d'Isere this week

After 35-years of riding the Aiguille Percee chairlift I noticed something that has escaped my eye all these years. When looking at the Aiguille Percee, which is a fairly famous landmark, I noticed that  just to the right is remains of what used to be a very similar Aiguille Percee. You can clearly see the cleft in the rock and an arm on either side that used to support the arch. (See photos) Once seen it’s incredibly obvious and I can’t believe it’s taken about 1000 chairlift rides for it to register!

On Tuesday I savoured one of my finest mornings of spring skiing in many years. The snow was an absolutely perfect texture all morning long, and all the slopes were totally ‘clean’ as well. We skied huge steep slopes that can only really be skied safely in the spring when the mountain is stable and predictable, and these slopes are pretty impressive with a definite ‘wow’ factor. (I wouldn’t go near these slopes in powder conditions due to avalanche risk) I was buzzing as it was a very special morning, and I ski 150-plus days a season!

Wednesday had trickier weather conditions as the sun was blocked out at times during the morning, which slows down the melt process needed to soften the spring snow. But we surprisingly managed another cracking morning skiing the Face du Charvet, Mont Roup and the Marmottons and Marmottes, which are big slopes in the Arcelle sector.

It snowed heavily on Wednesday afternoon but the new snow was mostly absorbed by the heat in the snowpack and much less snow than anticipated awaited us on Thursday morning. The entire Alpine Experience team headed to the Fornet to ski northern exposures while leaving the east, south and westerly slopes alone so that they can transform into ‘clean’ spring slopes, which should be ready by Friday morning. The base was firm with 5 to 10cm’s on the surface and it made for a great morning.

It’s the time of year when the flowers start to come out, as well as the Marmottes and the Bouquetin and Chamois come down to lower altitudes. I’ll post some wildlife and flower photos next week to give you an idea of spring in the mountains. It’s surprising where colourful flowers can root themselves and if you have a good look around you can spot some lovely flowers where the snow is receding.

It really was another fantastic week and as is often the case we saw more sunshine than was forecast, and that’s always a huge bonus.

The forecast for the weekend looks like this:

• Friday- Cloudy AM/ Partially sunny PM  0C/+9C  Wind from the SW at 10 gusting to 55km/h
• Saturday- Partially sunny   +1C/+9C   Wind from the S at 5 gusting to 60km/h
• Sunday- Partially sunny/drizzle  +2C/+7C   Wind from the S at 5 gusting to 45km/h

It looks we’ll some sunshine but the biggest factor could be the wind, which is forecast to be fairly strong. Look for shelter at lower altitudes and in the lee. (Opposite slopes to the wind direction)

Have a fantastic weekend and stay tuned for another update on Monday!

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