Ski Higher Nick's Latest Blog... The best days so far!

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Ski Higher Nick’s Latest Blog… The best days so far!

Posted Tue 12 Jan 2010

7 January 2010 and boy oh boy do I have good news. The last few days have been undoubtedly the best powder days since last year’s mega dumps! It could even be argued that conditions are in fact better than last year. Perfect visibility and virtually no wind have meant that almost all off piste routes have been accessible (unlike last year).

Just after New Year the snow gods decided to cast their magic, combining lots of precipitation with sub -5 temperatures around the clock. The result has been deep snow of the sort of quality that is usually boasted about by our transatlantic friends in West Coast America and Canada.

Initially powder fever caught on and people were skiing dangerous lines too soon after the snow fall leading to numerous deaths (the closest to Courchevel was in Val Thorens). However now that the snow pack has stabilized somewhat there are some serious backcountry lines to be skied in relative safety. The pistes, having been hard packed with artificial snow earlier in the season, are now soft and therefore perfectly groomed every morning!

And guess what? There is even more snow forecast for this weekend with weather men already predicting chaos on the roads and runways leading to Courchevel. This will not bother seasonnaires though who had been told by those same weather men that this season was to be a write off. Here is some proof of the conditions as taken from the top of Butchers face between La Tania and Courchevel.

P.S my chief riding partner Ed leaves Courchevel tomorrow to go back to Bristol Uni. I’d like to thank him for the great times we’ve had throughout the early season and for him always watching my back.