© Giles Towler
© Giles Towler
© Giles Towler
Fresh snow to come to Morzine
Not much fresh snow this week but more to come
Following the stormy conditions of last week, when the resort was temporarily closed down for the day due to high winds and the avalanche risk reached 5 out of 5, things have calmed down this week.
There has been a mixture of cloudy and sunny weather throughout the week. There was some rainfall at the start of the week, but the freezing level remained quite high, although the higher slopes did receive 15 centimetres of snow on the 8th of January followed by a day of sunshine. Lower down, it’s possible to see the damage that the rain has done. Although even the lower pistes are in quite a good condition, there are areas close to resort level where there is now almost no snow off the sides of the pistes in the trees.
The slopes have quietened down significantly following the busy Christmas and New Year weeks, with some areas almost completely deserted. Nyon remains one of the quieter areas on the Morzine side with no lift queues to be seen. Likewise, Mont Chery is still very quiet. It is well worth a trip over there as the pistes are in good condition and almost completely empty. It’s possible to ski on the pistes on the back of Mont Chery and not see a single person.
The snow condition at the moment is quite slushy. Temperatures look set to drop at the start of next week, however, when things could get icy. The temperature at the moment is getting up to around 5ºC but, by Tuesday, it is forecast to have dropped below zero just in time for the snowfall to arrive. At the moment it looks as though we're due heavy snowfalls throughout the majority of next week. The pistes in all the ski area still have good snow cover - the amount that fell in December combined with the snow canons running for most of the month means that there is plenty to go around and keep the snow coverage on piste good.
On the Pleney, only the Olympique black run is currently closed, with 16 out of 17 runs open and all ten lifts open. On Chamossiere, only the freeride zone is currently closed and all three lifts are open. On Nyon, all 14 runs are open and only one drag lift is not running at the moment. In Les Gets, a couple of black runs are currently closed but 45 runs are currently open and only 1 of the 26 lifts is currently not running. The whole of Super Morzine is now open - all 5 lifts and 18 runs. Things are also looking good in Avoriaz with almost the entire resort open except for a couple of black runs. The park continues to grow and the halfpipe has now been built.
The snow depth at the moment is still over 2 metres on the higher slopes and around a metre and a half on the lower pistes. The avalanche risk has now dropped to 2 out of 5. The snowfall that is predicted for next week should make off-piste conditions excellent again, although potentially dangerous, so always check the avalanche warning. When the snow is falling, the best areas to head to will be in the trees, particularly around Pleney, Super Morzine and Lindarets.
Morzine might not have got the snowfall that some other resorts have had so far this month but December was so good that there is still plenty of good skiing to be had. Things look set to get even better next week and it’s still looking like a great season.
