Midday conditions were totally different from the morning. The foehn had started and the snow was soup like in the sun but not too sticky and waterlogged in places.

Shadowing day with a private lesson group of skate beginners then on classic with the ski club.

Decided to do a quick tour around the pistes, not great skiing, very hard work especially on the climbs.

With the Montbonnot school again. Today 2 hours on classic, they were a bit tired.

Start of the school vacation so where to go? Skiing? Lake? Finally skiing with a trip back to Allevard for lunch at the excellent Squirrel restaurant.

Most of the small ski areas have been suffering from lack of snow but the Grand Plan actually is at a similar altitude to the 7 Laux so within the fortunate range where the snow has fallen enough to b

L said it would be interesting to come on Saturday and so I was set for a long session, first with the SNC groups (saw some old friends from last year) then with the SNC kids.

Second day shadowing. We had a different group of kids, this time on skate skis. Main problem was balance, although they were not bad. L.

I'm doing some shadowing with the Ecole de Porte after my BASI Nordic course. Started by helping with the laser Biathlon then moved on to a 2 hour session with the schoolkids who were doing classic.

After a quiet weekend a return to the Col de Porte for a lunch ski - currently very little open in the Chartreuse so I'm using my season pass when and where I can.