Now we're talking! February holidays have finished and the powder is here

On Monday and Tuesday I eased myself back into skiing with just a few laps down from the Aiguille du Midi mid-station (Plan de l'Aiguille) for the first time this winter with friends on their lunch break. This is one of my favourite places to ski in Chamonix but cold temperatures and fresh snow are required for a good runout all the way back to town. That's what we got this week so it was time.

This part of the mountain isn't glaciated but is still all unpatrolled off piste terrain with some large cliffs and terrain traps to avoid and a bit of route-finding required, so avalanche safety knowledge & equipment plus the help of an experienced local friend or guide are highly recommended. There are routes both skier's-left or right of the lift line; left has some really fun wide-open powder fields leading into various exits through the woods, while the right side gives a bit of a longer descent with more rolls, gullies and other features to hit, and both lead out to the summer 4x4 track back to the Grepon car park.

Snow on both days was a good 30cm powder, as good as I've ever seen it up there. Things were tracked in the obvious routes but not too badly so a little effort and knowledge from past years got us to completely fresh lines to start each descent and we even found a new area to explore. The exit track has pretty good snow cover at the moment with three piles of old avalanche debris to cross. After the third pile the snow is a little thinner for 150m distance so whether you keep your skis on will depend on how much you like them!

On Wednesday we had a lot of options. We nearly went ski touring around Chamonix in the Aiguille Rouges or Argentiere Basin after seeing some good reports from friends earlier in the week but in the end we drove 1h15 to Champex Lac instead, one of the Saint Bernard resorts in Switzerland (all of which Chamonix MBU season pass holders are entitled a half price day ticket for), to get as many laps as possible while there's fresh powder straight off the lifts.

Champex Lac is a very small ski resort featuring just one main chairlift and a second smaller chairlift plus beginners' drag lift, and also just two main pistes. So what's the attraction for us? Low crowds mainly; being a little out of the way it really doesn't see much holiday traffic and it's a bit of a drive for Chamonix or Verbier locals. As for the terrain, the main piste is really just a long traverse across the mountain and back, and the triangle in the middle is filled with widely-spaced trees with plenty of rolls and drops.

The snow wasn't quite as deep as I'd seen in the past (about 25cm powder) and a little tracked from the previous two days. Where it was was still untouched it was skiing very nicely so seeking out those areas a little away from the obvious routes and putting in a little effort traversing and sidestepping really paid off for some long smooth turns and decent landings. I've ski toured off the top of the main lift in the past to access a fun couloir off the back side of the mountain, and some friends have made a longer tour to the Aiguille d'Arpette away from the ski area, but we spotted a few shorter ascents during our exploration so the next time I'm in Champex I may well take my touring skis, or at least some Alpine Trekker adapters.

Graham's wife Dawn was with us sticking mostly to the pistes to get her confidence back up after a long leg-break recovery and the pistes seemed to keep her happy especially with no traffic to contend with. Beginners would be well served by the drag lift piste from the car park and intermediates would do fine on the main piste and short red, but advanced piste skiers would likely find the piste options a bit limited. You are allowed take sledges on the pistes if you get bored though!

Things are looking pretty sunny for the next week or so - get out and enjoy it.

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NB: Off piste skiing and mountaineering are dangerous. The opinions expressed in these articles are very much time and condition specific and the content is not intended in any way to be a substitute for hiring a mountain guide, undergoing professional mountaineering training and/or the individual's own back country decision making.