Powder turns at Flegere!

Blue skies and fresh snow!

I've spent the past 2 days doing laps at Flegere with my friend UK Freerider extraordinaire James Stentiford and posse. Its been surprisingly good considering how little fresh snow we've had recently. Fleger is one of the least rocky areas for this time of the year and there's some surprisingly good Off Piste to be had up there at the moment. However, after our 2 sessions up there yesterday and today its looking a little tracked out and we could do with some more snow to fill it back in.

Had some nice powder turns today though, real nice, you have to be very wary of what's under foot so a little caution isn't a bad thing. A lot of the rock bands haven't filled in so you have to weave your way around quite a few big drops but all in all it was pretty good fun.

There are touring and hiking tracks leading off to all the usual spots already, some keen teams out there that must be hiking both in and out for a few turns. I think that I'll wait a little before heading out too far. Its only going to get better with more snow and there's no rush.

Quite cold this morning, -17C here in Les Houches and pretty cold up the hill. For the avalanche aware this shallow snowpack and cold temps (= big temerature gradients) will be ringing the warning bells for growing depth hoar and surface hoar that will possibly now plague the Northern slopes in weeks and months to come. Something to think about when dropping into big descents later in the season. Might be worth digging a snowpit or two to check things out.

Christmas is nearly upon us and my courses start very soon now, kicking off with a 3 day tech clinic between Christmas and New Year and then into the thick of it with the regular calendar of courses through until April and into May.

There are a few spaces left here and there so if you're looking to join a course get in touch and we'll see what we can do.

Ruth has been away and so if you're waiting for a response from the office you can expect her to be in touch early this week.

Snow is forecast this week both sides of Mont Blanc to things should be good for the early season courses. If today is anything to go by and you know where to look you'll be in for a good one!

All good in Chamonix!

Neil.