Chamonix Snow Report: 24th February 2014

Although it's half term, if you get up early enough then you don't need to worry about finding a parking space at most of the lift stations, or queueing for too long to actually get on the mountain. If you can, get to your chosen destination for just before 9am, or 8am for Grands Montets.

We aimed to get up early at Brevent on Saturday morning, which was a bit of a struggle after birthday drinks for one of the gang the night before.. but those of us that did got some great fresh tracks in the snow that had fallen overnight. The pistes were in great condition, early morning corduroy stretched out in all directions and the weather was fantastic, bright sunshine with the odd patch of cloud here and there.

Being more of a fan of off-piste than on, we cruised across to Flegere to meet up with some more buddies to get to some of our favourite spots (take a look at my first ever attempt at video editing to see what conditions were like!) Birthday boy Mikey, Jo, Lizzie & Marley met Rob & I over there. Not long after the clouds descended and called a halt to what had been so far a pretty fantastic morning - Mikey was pretty pleased.. hangovers, whiteouts and swinging chair lifts are no good for anyone feeling a bit rough!

Yesterday we went back up for more of the same, but this timed parked at Flegere, and after about 45 mins of queueing, got up on the mountain at around 10am. Parking was getting a bit ridiculous already and the queueing as ever was dull since there's no big screens to watch (maybe something for the lift company to invest in?), but once we were up top, we jumped straight on the Index lift and you could barely see a soul on the pistes.. brilliant!

We headed off to the left of the top of the Index and onto the Lachenal (red) piste, which is quite steep at the top and has some great off-pistes bits on the left & right sides all the way down. We found a great spot on the left which came out into trees at the bottom and then back onto the piste, so we lapped that a few times, keeping a watchful eye on the rocks and the sluffy snow that was coming down.. We could have all happily done a few more laps, but the snow & the rocks on that side were getting really sun-baked and it started to look a bit sketchy so we headed up Index again and onto the Floria drag (my nemesis on a snowboard.. )

I surprised myself and made it to the top without falling off or hugging any pylons (unlike my last attempt a few weeks ago) and we came down the black Floria piste, traversing across to get into the trees above the Trappe lift. This, it has to be said, was where I had my best runs all weekend - long flowy powder turns with rollers and trees to duck and dive between. You've got to be careful not to go too far to skiers left when you're in this area, firstly because you're in danger of encroaching into the Aiguilles Rouge nature reserve (a big no no) and secondly because if you're enjoying the descent too much you might not make it back to the Trappe lift. Keeping an eye on the other tracks and the lift should prevent this from happening though.

All of us were kitted out with a transceiver, shovel & probe and were midful of not cutting above each other in any of the off-piste areas - something the less experienced out there should take note of. There were a couple of occasions where people started cutting above us in places where the snow was more likely to slide.. not cool.

Small whinge over, it's been a great weekend, topped off yesterday by listening to Trio de Janeiro playing at the Chavanne (although there were 4 of them not 3) and then having a late afternoon deckchair nap just under L'Adret restaurant next to the Index chair and at the top of the home run. Old.. but "naprès" is the way forward people!

We're due more snow mid week, and then into the weekend. If you want to make the most of the sun today's the day, or tomorrow morning before the snow clouds set in.

Brevent-Flegere piste map

Note it'll cost you around 6 euros for the day to park at Brevent, whereas Flegere is free, but you still need to get to both early to get a space.