Powder again. What a day!! Today (Friday), we went to the Three Valleys and ended up spending the day in the Courchevel and Meribel valleys.
The snow was in good condition everywhere. Typical spring snow lower down and powder on the higher slopes. I was amazed at how untracked everywhere off piste was.
We managed 9 different routes during the day in mostly untracked soft snow, plus a fast ski down to the bottom of Courchevel 1650 using the lower pistes.
Here are the routes we took today in order for those interested in following our journey. We started skiing at just after 9.30am and finished around 5.15pm with just a short break for lunch. A hard, fast, but fun day in the fresh snow. The sun even came out at times to help us enjoy the different lines we tried!
Here is our journey:
1) After parking in Mottaret we headed up to the top of Saulire and then directly off piste to the bottom of the Creux Noirs chair. Untracked spring snow the whole way down quite early in the day. Very nice.
2) From the top of the Creux Noirs chair, after a little hike to skiers right we went back down into the bowl from the right hand ridge to the Chanrossa chair. More untracked spring snow with nice powder higher up and a bit of crud lower down near the finish as we came back onto the piste.
3) Skiers right at the top of the Chanrossa chair and back down to the bottom of the same chair after a high traverse under the Roc Merlet. Yet another untracked face from top to bottom on fresh snow higher up and good spring snow down towards the lift.
4) Back up the Chanrossa chair and then round the bowl across to the ridge into the Vallee des Avals. After making fresh tracks to the ridge we decided not to go down to the bottom of the valley and traversed back to the left and off piste into the bowl to skiers right of the Pyramide piste and finally arriving at the Indiens piste and all the way down into Courchevel 1650 using the main pistes . Again fresh tracks, nobody had been down this way either until we reached the gully below the Combe tow (this tow was closed today). The snow higher up was very nice, soft on top with a firm base, but lower down it slowly became very soft and slushy as we neared Courchevel 1650. Not really a surprise.
5) From Courchevel 1650 we headed back up to the top of the Roc Merlet chair then skiers left off piste down to the Marmottes chair. Although more tracked than earlier routes. We still managed to find some good untracked snow higher up and lower down were pleased to have a few tracks to help as the light began to become flat.
6) At the top of the Marmottes chair we went to the far left side of the Grande Rosiere piste and then off piste the whole way down to Mottaret only rejoining the piste near the stade. The snow was good almost the whole way down, only becoming cruddy as we neared the piste. Yet again there was plenty of room to make our own fresh tracks.
No time for lunch yet!! With the weather starting to change we quickly took the new Plattieres gondola.
7) From the top of the new gondola we headed off piste down to the Mont Vallon gondola. The snow was typical spring snow the whole way down, soft and slushy, but not to hard to ski if you had 'fat skis'.
8) At the top of the Mont Vallon gondola we went to skiers left through the gap in the cliffs and down the off piste valley to where the Campagnol and Lac de la chambre pistes meet. This turned out to be the best snow of the day. Light untracked powder up top and easy to ski soft snow the rest of the way down with few tracks. The ones there were helped avoid the holes as the light became flat again.
Time for a quick lunch at the bottom then back up to the top of Mont Vallon again.
9) With the light coming and going we headed down under the Mont Vallon gondola and slowly over to skiers right all the way to the corner of the Combe de Vallon piste just before the Mures Rouges chair. The snow at the top was very mixed, some wind blown, but also pockets of powder. Then as I went into the more sheltered area the snow became softer everywhere and was quite nice to ski with few tracks.
10) By the time we reached the top of the Mures Rouges chair the weather had closed in and started to snow again. Rather than making our final decent from the top of the Plattieres 3 Gondola off piste back down towards Mottaret as we had planned, it was time to head for home. After a fast ski down the pistes we arrived back at our car.
A really fun day with loads of fresh tracks on great snow most of the time. Much better than we had expected when driving up in the morning. If anyone else has the time, my advice, 'Get Out Here' and enjoy the new snow while it lasts.
I will be posting the photos of todays journey in the Three Valleys 2013 Album of my Les Arcs Winter facebook page later. Enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos_albums
