First trip up to St Hilaire, After touring the pistes we skied the top and middle sections of the phantom village and the Canyon.

Christmas Lunch at the Saliniere is a tradition in our house and I added a little loop of the Brimbelles and Astragal pistes afterwards. Still recovering a bit from a cold so not on top form.

Good in parts, like the Curate's Egg. The wind has considerably affected the snow. It has been blowing strongly from the north for a couple of days.

A quickish climb to the Oratoire under the Charmant Som. Skiing conditions were much improved with the weekend snow. Managed to ski to the Oratoire without stopping although some very slow climbing.

Good conditions in the Belledonne for the end of November. I had to break trail from the Barioz parking to the summit, not that hard in the 20cm of fresh snow. There is no base below 1500 meters.

Snow conditions were very hard at the col with some dimples after the passage of lots of feet at the col. It is possible to ski from the car park but you have to go carefully on the descents.

Traditional season opener at les 7 laux.

Climb by the Maturu piste. I had a look at the antenne couloir but after a few turns at the top it seemed a bit dry, not as good as last year.

With the fresh snow the conditions on the Charmant Som climb were a lot better than last week.

I'd heard that they'd pisted the road to the Bergeries on Tuesday night for the Cross country skiers with the Kässbohrer PB 300 (that's a medium sized piste basher).