When I arrived at the car-park it was already full at 10am although some people were starting to leave saying the snow had become unskiably soft.

The pistes over at the Cross Country lodge were too soft to ski as they are south facing.

The main reason to climb to the Cochette is the view. That said on a day of fresh snow the forest either side of the summit trail is skiable and the avalanche risk is not huge.

I couldn't believe le Sappey would still be open. It had rained to 2500 meters and we'd had warm storm force winds for days. I still had my doubts at the car park.

A return to St Hilaire du Touvet, this is becoming a habit but it had been raining for days with a lot of avalanche activity. We would also avoid the scrum of cars at le Sappey or Barrioz.

Day 6 of my observation with the Ecole de Porte. I was with Nathan. First off a group of 2 good skiers so it was a change to do a tour of techniques in particular cornering and descending.

First off I beached my car on deep snow, trying to turn for the parking. I should have immediately parked when I saw the road was white.

From the Pont des Cottaves (1111m) follow a trail on the right bank of the river to a clearing at 1150m (bottom of an old chair lift) then turn slightly SW to follow a ski piste that crosses the Charm

After my classic ski on the Herse I wanted to go back on ski it skating but a blizzard arrived out of nowhere so I settled for 5 loops of the Green piste at the Col de Marcieu.

Nice snow for an early morning classic ski working a bit on technique.