Having a great time despite freeze thaw conditions. With 5 blue bird days in a row and such spectacular scenery, I guess I count myself lucky even with the limited off piste skiing. If you wait until just the right time of day the bump skiing can be fantastic! Sorry if you take this wrong snowboard friends, but the bumps here are long and round and perfect. They are definitely pre-snowboard bumps. Perhaps there are few boarders here, or perhaps they just stay away when there is no fresh snow. Irregardless, the long bump runs off the Valet Gondola are perfect!
Most of the steeps are closed because of hard conditions or, ironically because of wet slab conditions in the late afternoons. There is much evidence of large wet slides even on relatively low angle terrain. Everything is going to the ground or rock! My best run of the week was on a 2500' steep at 5pm that was probably closed at the time (very little signage)
La Plagnes has the most beautiful Alpine I have ever seen. It is just mind blowing how many chairs you have to go up to get to the Glacier. And it is maddening to have to mostly take the groomed runs down! While eating a late 2:30 lunch at glacier chair, a patroller opened a steep bump run that I had to hop on! I was reminded that there really are 4' frozen bumps in the "natural" terrain in Europe! It was quite clear why nobody but me and 2 other guys "took advantage" of this opening.
One more day of sunshine and then we are moving to Chamonix to ski on Sunday and Monday. Big snow is in the forecast so it could be real good or...
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