Le 7 Laux ski resort closed on March 29th due to storm Nelson. Lord Nelson? The perfidious Albion has struck again, ruining the locals' plans for skiing.

Short ski tour with tot to get some air not far from home. We climbed up on closed pistes / off piste and skied down on piste. Surprised at how few people were about.

Trip with Mike to the Pas de la Coche and beyond! The road is blocked at 1230 m but possible to drive around the barrier to the summer car park at 1330 meters.

Zero portage, not bad for a 20th May at 1600 meters! I basically did a tour of the Roche Noire, a lot of km for not much vertical.

Back to Pipay but we are a bit restricted by the lockdown.

Tot was busy in the morning so we went out right after lunch. It had snowed 5-7cm. There were a lot of purges some of which had crossed the ski runs.

Tot had bad memories of this climb from earlier in the season but with lockdown imminent I didn't fancy going elsewhere.

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.

36:36 for the climb compared to my record of 32:20 (for both skating and classic). Not bad at all and my 6th best time. I put it down to better technique as well as fitness.

I saw a TR on skitour which spoke of parking at the reservoirs and snow from 1500 meters.