Tignes Snow Report: 15th March 2013

Sadly enough for us, even this has been confusing. One day, blue skies will reign in the morning, getting us pumped for goggle tan sessions and the next minute, we’ll find ourselves with complete whiteout conditions, unable to differentiate between forwards and backwards. On other days we’ll be ready for -25 degree weather, wind blowing up a frenzy, and will have on every single item from our snowboard kit, only to be sweating up a storm an hour later under the heat of the sun at 7 degrees. We have learned our lessons and are now completely prepared for the unexpected, we have been out riding almost every day, changing our missions to match the weather.

On Sunday, we left the boys behind and headed to the park under an absolutely amazing blue sky. It wasn’t that we didn’t want their company while working on tricks, but we were heading to the Valpark for the Queen of the Park sessions hosted by Val d’Isère and the UCPA while sponsored by Roxy. This one-day camp is for women of all ages in Chamonix, Les 2 Alpes, Val Thorens, and Val D’Isère with any skiing and riding level, to begin working their way through the park. With UCPA coaches focusing on freestyle skiing and riding technique, the goal is to have each person develop at her own speed while meeting new girls to ride with in the future. The day was a huge success as over 35 girls showed up. Getting split into skiers and boarders in the morning, the day involved some tricks, wipe outs, and treats as raffle winners got to walk away with sweet Roxy gear simply for having been involved. Some of us quickly exchanged phone numbers while others focused on getting better with every single run, and all of us walked away ready to able to take on the park one more time in the days to come. I would say, mission accomplished!

With the last couple of days being spent indoors due to the poor visibility and slushy snow mixtures we’ve been coming across, our last good day was on Wednesday. After the 10 centimeters that fell the night before, we decided to check out some of the off-piste runs we haven’t been able to take on due to poor snow conditions recently. We just couldn’t handle being on pistes anymore!

Our first mission was to head into the Vallonais, a section reachable only after a super long traverse that passes over the Grand Vallon in the Fornet. After checking with the pisteurs who confirmed that the snowpack was stable and semi-tracked out, we headed up. While traversing that section on a snowboard was the biggest pain in the butt I have experienced in a while, well, only second to the one I experienced in the park after repeatedly ruining my 360s, the view from the top was definitely worth it. I won’t lie, the snow was crunchy, windblown, frozen over, and plain old gross, but the scenery surrounding us was worth the trek.

From there we headed back into town to take the Solaise Express and wandered over to the Danaïde for the first time this season. With how cold it has been in the last couple of days, we stuck to the sections bathing in the sun, hoping to take advantage of the softer snow. After some nice turns in the gulley, we headed out for one last promenade- the one to Grand Marnier of course!

This was one of those times where a good old Chocolat Navane was totally well deserved…

Enjoy the weekend - the weather forecast suggests we're in for another dump of snow in the next few days. Up to 30cm is expected...