© Giles Towler
© Giles Towler
Winter has well and truly returned to Morzine
Fantastic conditions Portes du Soleil
The warm weather of the past few weeks is but a distant memory now in Morzine and Les Gets, as the snow has returned. Last week there was more rain than snow in town, although there was a good amount of snowfall on the mountain. The temperature has continued to drop however, and snow has fallen all the way to town.
At times, such as Wednesday evening, the freezing level dropped low enough that there was snowfall in Geneva. This has caused some delays for people getting to and from resort. Last night in particular there was severe congestion on the road from Taninges up to Les Gets and down to Morzine. A van had slid off the road into a ditch, and the police municipale were ensuring all drivers had chains.
However, when drivers actually make it to resort they will not be disappointed. The official Portes Du Soleil figures are reporting 9cm in town, which has made the resort look a lot more wintry than it did for most of February. However, the real news is on the higher slopes where reports suggest there has been 20cm of snow. The winds were quite high yesterday, meaning that some of the higher, more exposed areas did become somewhat wind blasted. However, this meant that the snow had blown down into the more sheltered tree lined areas, as well as some of the gullies and bowls. In some areas there seemed to be more than the 20cm that the forecast said the resort had received.
The high winds did mean that by mid to late afternoon yesterday, large parts of the mountain had been closed. The weather seems to have settled down for now though. There have been problems throughout the week with some of the lifts. The Chaux Fleurie lift was closed abruptly, meaning skiers had to be winched off it, and a replacement bus service was provided to get people back to Chatel. The Serrausaix lift on Super Morzine also experienced problems, and skiers found themselves hiking up the piste to get back to Morzine. All these issues now seem to have been resolved, and the wind is the only factor affecting lift openings.
The wind, combined with the sudden snowfall, also meant that the avalanche risk went back up to 4/5. There is more snow on the way, so caution is advised. At the moment it looks as though there will be heavy snowfall throughout the day today, with some sunshine to follow on Saturday. It looks as though there will be one more day of snow on Sunday, followed by a mostly sunny week. The freezing level for today might be slightly above town, but even if there is rain in Morzine the current forecast is predicting up to 45cm of snow higher up today. The slopes are a lot quieter now that the school holidays are over and there are no real queues, meaning that skiers can get up quickly and enjoy all the fresh snow.
The recent warm weather has affected the run down to Morgins for anyone wishing to ski the Portes Du Soleil circuit, with skiers being forced to either take a chairlift down or walk along a road. It remains to be seen how the recent snowfall affects this situation. With just over five weeks to go now till the season is over, the fresh snowfall will provide a massive boost to the snow conditions leading into those final weeks. Despite a slow start in December, and an unusually warm February, the snow cover for most of this winter has been excellent, and it looks set to continue till the end.
