What fun today turned out to be. I really like it when the weather man gets it wrong and the conditions are better than predicted. We had not expected to do that much, but ended up doing loads.
Having met up with my friends we quickly headed over to
La Plagne and the top of the Roche du Mio. We were thinking of going straight onto the Bellecote, but the sky was very overcast and a few snowflakes were falling so we decided to go down to Champagny Village via the 'brown trouser ridge' and the 'gully route', then red piste along the ridge from the top of the Verdun Sud chair.
Good choice, although it was challenging going along the ridge in flat light, the meadow at the other end was ok. When in the gully, it was fun with plenty of spring snow and the visibility was not to difficult even in flat light. We then headed up to the ridge and found the red closed. No worry, we headed off piste in more spring snow and made our way down to the valley far below only joining the piste for the last section.
Back up the Champagny Gondola, chairs and other lifts before reaching the top of the North Face of the Bellecote just as the sun started to break through. What an opportunity!
Instead of going home via the Friolin Bowl as planned, we went straight over the back and down one of my favourite routes on the North Face through the middle cliffs to the forest track with about 3 cm of fresh powder sitting on a hard base in the top section. The result was some very good skiing mixed in with crud, breakable crust in a few places and lots of hard chalky snow as well as the odd patch of soft deep snow in the sheltered areas.
With no tracks most of the way down, only one other group had ventured over the back using the route we choose from the few tracks we could see. We had a very nice ride down in sunshine on a warm spring afternoon.
Once back in
Les Arcs we headed over to the Waterslide for a bit of free entertainment and a drink after a slight delay when the Vagere chair broke down for 20 minutes. What a pleasant way to finish the day sitting in the sunshine having a drink watching other people fall in the water!!
A good day was had by all and we managed to get some very nice photos as well. Take a look in the March 2013 Album on my Les Arcs Winter facebook page if you are interested in seeing what our day was like. I will post them shortly.
http://www.facebook.com/LesArcsWinter/photos
For those coming out this weekend, the piste conditions right across the
Paradiski area were ok today. The little fresh snow higher up and the warmer temperatures have made the pistes softer in most places and quite easy to hold your edge, whilst not to sticky either. The north facing slopes are still quite hard packed and slippy, but with care you can pass these without difficulty if you control your speed. Coming into the stations and lifts areas where it is still very busy can be difficult so you do need to slow down.
The off piste areas and piste natures are a mix of everything, from crud to wind slab so you need to take care and choose your routes carefully, but you can still have loads of safe fun.
More to come tomorrow when we hope the sun is shinning again!
Here are a few photos I like from today!
Air Time!
A test photo! Does wide screen work on here?
Not always scary, but still fun!
Powder days again!
