A short afternoon nordic ski tour to check out the slopes of the Charmant Som. The snow was not too bad considering it had rained a bit.

Vallouise offers 35km of cross-country ski trails which follow the valleys’ rivers and torrents.

A short afterwork climb to the Oratory of the Charmant Som.

I've been testing myself on this climb and thought I might be able to go under 29 minutes but it was not to be, 4 seconds of my fastest time : 29m14s.

The forecast was cloudy for Saturday but getting up at 6.50 I saw it was clear at altitude so some hope for a refreeze, the first for some days.

Same climb time to Charmant Som as Saturday morning: 30m05s, so just missed going under half an hour. Very fast descent. Hit 49kp/h under the chairlift and 6m09 for the whole descent.

I decided to have another crack at the Charmant Som climb before the club training this morning. I set out at 7:45am and was the first person on the climb.

I'd been intending to get back to the Entremonts as the black was open. Only today they closed it, maybe due to lack of snow in one spot? The rest seemed okay me.

After the disaster earlier in the week I decided to revisit the Col de Marcieu pistes from the St Hilaire end.

Like this time last year the aim was to go under 30 minutes. Not quite there. About 40 seconds quicker for the top of the climb and 2m30 quicker to the Bergeries.Segments:Montee Charmant Som (3.