Rumour had it that le Sappey was opening up. Well it seems to have been a bit of rumour that also caught out one of the piste workers as the area had not been pisted.

Skiing was heavy going, snow was pisted this morning but by lunchtime it was like skiing fresh powder with skis sinking in 5cm as well as poles. The south loop was open and in good condition.

I wanted to check out what the weekend's record temperatures had done to the slopes. Quite a lot of snow had gone from the upper red piste, it was skiable last Friday but now was just bare earth.

I hadn't been out on my classic skis much so decided to climb to the Bergeries of Charmant Som.

I came up early to do some skate skiing then helped Leonie with the evaluations of the school groups. Was surprised somewhat by the closed sectors due to lack of snow.

Midday conditions were totally different from the morning. The foehn had started and the snow was soup like in the sun but not too sticky and waterlogged in places.

Shadowing day with a private lesson group of skate beginners then on classic with the ski club.

Decided to do a quick tour around the pistes, not great skiing, very hard work especially on the climbs.

With the Montbonnot school again. Today 2 hours on classic, they were a bit tired.

L said it would be interesting to come on Saturday and so I was set for a long session, first with the SNC groups (saw some old friends from last year) then with the SNC kids.