2 Alpes Snow Report: 9th February 2012

It did make a change to be able to breathe without freezing the nostril hairs though, even in the wind, which had been posted as 18kph in the morning, but was nothing of the sort by the time I got up there at nearly 3pm. 40 would be more like it, and not confined to the glacier either.

Waiting for JC outside the Diable Au Coeur at the top of the Diable Telecabin, I was privileged to catch some of Mme Mounier’s rather eccentric idea of apres ski music, which today consisted of a besideburned Elvisalike singing in rote-learned phonetic English. Call me a weirdo if you like, but I’ll take this sort of eclecticism over the Pano’s mob music any time. Though not for longer than it takes to scoff a hot chocolate, admittedly.

We headed up via the SuperDiable chair, aiming for midstation, but wind on the corner of the access track to Toura slowed us down (oh all right, it slowed me down) so rather than walk, we dropped down Bellecombes2 to the chair. All the Bellecombes runs were deserted as usual, and as a result boast some of the best snow conditions on the hill. This is probably because they get shade quite early in the afternoon, but that’s not stopping you skiing them in the morning, is it? Give it a try, you’ll like it.

Back at midstation we decided to risk the Telesiege des Glaciers despite the wind, and although it was certainly cold it was far from unbearable. The pistes running down from the top were in good nick, though the wind had scoured them in patches, and this got progressively worse towards the end of the afternoon as it got stronger.

We intially decided to head for Toura, which looked as though it might be a bit sheltered, as the wind had swung round to the east and was no longer blowing straight up the pistes over there, but at the last minute we went for the rope drag and another lap of the Glaciers chair in the sunshine. Carnage as usual at the top of the rope, where everyone gets off it and then just stands there in the middle of a busy crossroads. Tip for high season: don’t do this, because you’re liable to cause a serious pile-up, probably with you on the bottom of it.

Back at midstation once more, the plan had been to scoot down the Fee and back up the Thuit/Cretes chair, but for some reason JC decided to abandon that one and head along the track before dropping off down Thuit2 instead. Like the Bellecombes, this is a run which sees less traffic than most, and as a result the snow conditions are some of the best up there. It’s also a good way of avoiding the last bit of the track back to Cretes, which was beginning to look like the A27 out of Lewes in the morning rush hour by the time we got there.

Back at Cretes, we hopped on the chair to the top, where I downloaded in the eggs while JC headed for Diable2, which was looking firm but in good condition for most of the way down.

The next couple of days will be the last of low season before the school holiday crowds hit on Sunday. This first week should be relatively calm, but the following three are likely to be busy busy busy as the world, its wife and their 2.5 children all pile in for the annual winter break. So its back to peak season work patterns, potty Parisians and pistes full of people. I’ll have a P please, Bob.