It has been snowing tons again, up higher than 1500 metres! we have had storm after storm for 2 weeks now - this is incredible. Yesterday (Sunday), there was another 25 centimetres new snow after the 30 on Friday night.
The Bochard was on storm closure, and it was really windy up there, but the team at the Grands Montets opened up the Herse chairlift, which could handle the wind. There was some awesome creamy powder where it was sheltered from the wind, especially lower down the mountain towards Lognan, but you had to work hard for it, plowing through windblown shapes and chop between rocks with bad visibility.
The piste from the Herse was well covered and offers a nice smooth route between clusters of rocks, and the Pierre-a-ric to Argentiere was well snowed up and soft. It snowed all day, raining at Argentiere, but it made the bottom of the piste nice and corny.
Today (Monday), was yet another storm day, with snow at low elevation, and snowing all day on the mountain. The Herse was open again, with the same cold wind and low visibility, but better snow, lots of deep powder. Its also nice to go into a warm restaurant to thaw out, and have a nice hot meal.
Theres a lot more touirists in town this week, and the valley is buzzing with a pre-christmas vibe. The apres-ski sessions at the Chambre 9 bar have started too, with live music.
The other ski areas in the valley will open up from this Saturday, the 22nd December, and with lots of snow everywhere, there will be excellent conditions everywhere. The Brevent, Flegere and Le Tour will add to our skiable terrain of Grands Montets, Les Houches and Courmayeur, and if its a clear day, the Aiguille du Midi and Montenvers will open for some awesome sightseeing.
Its deep powder all day every day at the moment, and soft smooth pistes too! Edit update tuesday 18th December - we just got a surprise 63cms overnight, and it snowed more all day... next report thursday, hopefully with some fine photos.
