Chamonix Snow Report: 14th April 2014

This Saturday was Chamonix Girls' Zone day though, so it meant getting to Grands Montets for around 09:30.. a bit of a shock to the system, but worth it to get involved in all the fun & games.

Girls Zone was the final event in the week long 'Lady by Chamonix' programme, which offered free ski tests, fashion parades, parties, after parties and more, all for us girls. The day was split into a daytime & and an evening session, starting with zumba on the pistes with a big gang of around 50 of us, shaking our stuff to some music. God knows what the people on the Marmottons 2-man chair lift must have thought of the sight?!? We had 3 different warm up dances, and suffice to say lots of laughs, as we collectively tried to keep up with the moves from the zumba instructors.. co-ordinating dance moves on snow, in boarding boots or ski boots wasn't easy!

After that we got our bibs on and headed up to the snow park for a ski cross / boarder cross relay race. Everyone paired off, the top 2 girls racing down to the mid point, tagging their buddy, who then raced someone else on the bottom of the course and crossed the line. There were so many of us it took ages to get through everyone, and I wanted another couple of goes, but there just wasn't enough time sadly.

After the race, we split off into different groups for the activities sections and did either Arva / probe practise, tried to handle a disabled sit-ski, tried out speed-riding (shame you can't do it on a board as it looked really good fun!) or went back up to the park to session one of the red kickers with a photographer. The less said about my attempt in the park the better, but it was fun giving it a try.. As well as the activities you could get your nails done in the free nail bar, have a massage or sit down and have something to eat / drink at the buvette. All very girly and civilised :-)

This years event had much more going on that last year, so I can only assume next years will be bigger & better again, let's hope so. I didn't make it to the evening session at Le Vert, but it sounds like it was a good night. Take a look for yourselves at the photos on facebook.. with some very special "ladies" turning up later in the evening.. :-p

The snow conditions at Grands Montets were pretty good considering the time of year, freshly groomed courdrouy as far as the eye could see, and barely a soul in sight at 9.30 am. The home run isn't worth doing now as it's full of muddy holes in the lower sections. We opted for downloading on the Plan Joran chair, but we had to take our boards / skis off as there's so little snow at the bottom right now..

Over in Les Houches due to the onset of spring and lack of fresh snow, they have been forced to close a few lifts & pistes but the good news is that the ski pass only costs €14 per day.
The following lifts are now open daily until 14:00 Bellevue, Grand bois, Mont Blanc, Schuss des dames, Télécorde, Prarion, La Cha, Chamois, Ecole, Tapis Ecole & Kandahar