Still found some nice powder above 3000m on the Grande Casse on Tuesday—saw about 12 other skiers—but I would not recommend going back there now after all the warm sun that day. Even better powder was on Monday I skied the Grand Pic de la Lauziere with some friends from Lyon. Photos to come.

Below 3000m on the Grands Couloirs slopes was already a bit crusty when climbing up (because much of it is SW facing, had gotten sun on Monday). High powder was a bit heavy (also from wind? - though I was able to go on skis all the way to the summit). Later in the day there were some surface sluffs as I skied sunny slopes around 2700m—lots of snowballs and donuts to mess up photos of my tracks, but nothing deeper (there had been a good refreeze). Looking back from Lac Long up at the main slope, I saw a bigger sluff that came off a big dark rock alongside the ski run, but it didn’t run over the ski route.

Some N-facing slopes below 2500m had some powder in the morning, but with the big warming it was mushy in the afternoon. So I expect that the climbing skin track will be disrupted by frozen ruts from downhill skiers. And frozen snowballs interfering with downhill runs off the track. And crust.

Grand Pic de la Lauziere by way of the Col des Aiguillons was an interesting + pretty tour. Less than 20 skiers, so there was still room for us to ski untracked snow on the descent of Combe de Vallette. But I’m sure it’s not powder any more.

Other than some sheltered N-facing couloirs, I think now we need some sunny days and clear nights to transform the mid-altitude S-facing slopes—and start a new discussion thread . . .
Spring 2010 snow conditions

Ken

Grand Pic de la Lauziere on Monday

climbing in Combe des Plans toward Col des Aiguillons

(along the way were some inviting steeper slopes we chose not to ski that day)

traversing upper Combe de la Vallette to the Grand Pic

view north from (almost) summit

big cornices + lots of wind so we didn’t climb to the summit—instead

finally stop for lunch - (had to look for a hillock not already taken by another party)

Third skier joined us—friend of my Lyon friends who started later than us - (turned out he lives 10km from my apartment rental, and the day before I’d ridden my bicycle thru his town).

So you’ve gone for the “safe” Savoie option rather then the risky Isere. Good choice. Did you take the drag lift from Pralognan or skin all the way?

Well the Savoie avalanche forecast was pretty favorable for the SW-facing Grands Couloirs. I loaded waypoints for two other tours nearby into my GPS—so I wouldn’t feel pushed to climb the G.C. unless everything looked secure.

From Pralognan I took first the detachable-quad lift, then the new detachable-6 lift ("Genepi") up to les Barmettes. Started climbing on skins at around 2000m.

looking east to the Glacier des Grands Couloirs

closer look shows ... a key benefit of starting late:
unpaid volunteer slope stability testers

a couple hours more climbing, still not yet to the steep section

still time for more aggressive slope stability testing with multiple skiers simultaneous turning impact on a giant 42-degree slope

Another benefit of late start ... idea for a different descent variation

though the normal route didn’t look so bad either

two other lift-assisted skiers still following me

finally the exit from the steep section

at the summit, my skin tracks, with southern panorama

and some more of my tracks on the way down

But really it makes more sense to do it starting earlier from the Refuge Felix Faure.

Ken

Sat at work planning my last trip of the season, let us know when that “spring snow arrives”

Short answer is that it’s probably already here, but maybe not the way you’re looking for. Example: On a warm halfway sunny day, drive to Orelle (a ski station which faces generally south). Purchase a single-ride ticket, wait till a little later in the morning (the trick is to know how late). Take the gondola up to Plan Bouchet, skin up the Pierre Lory valley (nice ambiance), then climb a steeper slope to the top of the Pointe Bouchet lift (optionally could try to climb Pt Bouchet peak above it). Then ski the groomed pistes back down to Plan Bouchet, choosing the time when they have warmed to the depth of mushiness you prefer.

South-facing groomed pistes transform the quickest after lots of new snow like we’ve got.

Funny how after my first post above saying that I wouldn’t recommend going back to Grande Casse normal route very soon, somebody did go—and found bad skiing (reported on skitour.fr) - (so Maybe some of the French skiers should read pistehors.com.)

Meanwhile I’m still busy looking for the last gasp of winter snow.

Ken

Sancy going into spring snow (that was yesterday, now it’s done).

But definitely, spring doesn’t always means spring snow. In that respect, last Monday was absolutely terrific - and, thanks Mountain Gods, French public holiday. I have captured
some turns of Claudie and Fred on video

Friday was very warm, as you can see from these ladies

I actually saw a women in Chamrousse snowboarding in a bikini but didn’t take a photo.

Snow was nearly spring like on south-east facing slopes, but the cloud cover to 2000m was stopping a really good refreeze. The warm weather has lead to purges on most of the steep slopes so there is a risk of finding either hard snow or avalanche debris. Time to sharpen those crampon points and make sure you have couteaux in your rucksack.

Skied some nice powder today on North-facing between 2900m + 3800m (some wind-blown), then fairly decent spring snow on W-facing around 1700-2300m. Hope we’ll soon be seeing better transformation and at higher altitudes.

Ken

In the Isere we’ve seen about 15cm of news snow over the last 36 hours. Snow was settled today at 900m, you could probably ski down to 1000-1100 meters in some places with a bit of luck and care. We were skiing in Chamrousse. Great conditions, fresh powder on a firm and fairly smooth base. Probably ideal conditions for some of the steeper routes. I understand it snowed more like 40cm in the Devoluy for anyone down that way.

Sancy couloir skiing in excellent spring conditions for the last 2 weeks.

The ski resorts will close on Sunday but the cable car should keep running for some time.

Just got back from 3 days in the Savoie, not somewhere I ski too much, too many ski lifts!

Friday and Saturday had a descent refreeze with good grip on south facing slopes but it gets hot quick. You want to be descending east facing slopes from 9am. Lots of purging on Friday from the Aiguille Rouge on the south-east face. Probably a purge every 5 minutes. I’m sure you could use chaos theory to predict the frequency of the purges.

Friday we skied a north slope under the Aiguille St Esprit, quite steep. Snow was heavy powder, very tiring.

Saturday we climbed to Mont Pourri. Powder on the face, climbed to the Col des Roches, still ok at 13h30 and skied the north-west slopes to the Grand Col in good snow conditions.

Sunday we traversed out from the Refuge du Mont Pourri (unguared until early June) over the Crete des Lanchettes, descending a steepish couloir then climbing to the Aiguille Grive where we skied the n/w face. Virtually no refreeze due to warm temperatures and cloud cover during part of the night. Snow was acceptable on the n/w faces and south facing slopes didn’t seem to bad but really not great conditions.

The rest of the month promises to be warm but with clear nights the refreeze should be ok.

Massif Central and Pyrenees are to get pounded over the next 48 hours. Snow line will be round 700-800 meters with at least 50cm of snow forecast. A last blast before the summer?

Corsica has also been pounded.

Meteo France has issued an avalanche alert for the cental and eastern Pyrenees until at least 13h tomorrow. Many cols are blocked and Spanish regions are also on alert. It is the latest snow since 1985 in the region. The snow has been accompanied by high winds. Roads into Andorra were also cut.

A dump in May is not exceptional on Sancy - at least from what I have seen in the last years.
May snow in Sancy
As a matter of fact, we are getting it

Last week was excellent in Oisans with typical spring conditions and timing requirements, but that was finished on Saturday…

With fresh snow dumping almost everywhere, this is not a good week for ski touring but it should be great for high altitude raids in the second part of the month!

Nice photos Eric.

There has been around 20-30cm at 2200 in the Northern Alps. More snow on the border areas such as the Haute-Maurienne (more like 60cm) and a similar amount in the South but with temperatures all over the place. Pretty typical for a Mediterranean low with weather coming in from the east - the Italian side of the mountains must have had a lot of snow.

There were strong winds from the East to South-East on Wednesday. Beware of Windslab on West to North-East faces above 2000 meters.

However most snow in the Pyrenees, over 80cm in some areas.

Take care out there, especially for purges when the sun comes out.