Another blue sky powder day in La Plagne

Days like that don’t come around very often and certainly not in the middle of April but it seems yet again my negativity was ill founded, at least one of you out there has some good karma stored up with the snow gods and your prayers were answered. The forecast rain over the weekend never came, Sunday turned into another snow dump of a day and Monday morning dawned with blue skies and powder for everyone, it would seem that La Plagne loves us and wanted us to see the season out on style!

A shockingly bad visibility day on Sunday coupled with a down pouring of snow didn’t start the week off great for any holiday makers arriving for the last week of lifts, but Monday, beautiful powdery Monday! I had a friend out to visit and so actually made it up and out for first lifts on Monday morning, and oh my god, am I glad that I did. We got to the Grande Rochette bubble just as it was opening and got the legitimate first bubble of the day, we had plans of heading over to Bellecote but as we rode up the bubble we saw that the black run Rochette had not been pisted and was an untouched powder playfield. A quick change of plans and there we were laying fresh tracks all the way down the black, riding fresh powder under a blue sky in the middle of April, for the second time in under a week! La Plagne definitely loves us.

There was obviously no other choice for it as soon as we reached the end of Rochette we jumped back on the bubble to do it again, and again, it’s an often overlooked run and this day was no exception, no one else but us had spotted how good it was and we lay the first second and third lines of fresh tracks down it before eventually a 20 strong ski school followed us down and eradicated any remaining powder in one swift snow ploughing swoop. It was time to move on; up the Verdon Nord we went and had fresh tracks down the side of Mercedes, up the Becoin and fresh tracks down the side of the Stade. By 12 noon my legs were powder burning and I was late for work but I’d already had a great day and just as I had to quit and head inside the clouds rolled back in and visibility dropped as yet another snow shower enveloped La Plagne.

Enter Tuesday, 19th of April, yet another exceptional, truly bluebird day, a scattering of powder covered the off piste although it had fallen too early to coat the pistes which were freshly groomed and surprisingly icy in first hours of the day. A remarkably cold Monday night had not affected the powder which was still wonderfully fluffy and light but had frozen the pistes solid. We were up early for first lifts again and were expecting it to be slushy from the start but we were riding some seriously hard pistes until at least 11am, even down the Montblanc and over in Champagny the cords were bullet proof. Also since the snow pack is lessening the runs are taking on more of the shape of the ground beneath, that plus the fact that some of the pisties have clearly stopped giving 100% has led to some very oddly shaped pistes with ridges, rollers and gouges where before they were nothing but smooth. Be careful if the runs remain that way, I know at least one collarbone which has fallen victim to a random ditch in the piste, keep your eyes open and dodge those divots! 

By the afternoons slush had returned to claim the mountain as its own and since I find slush infinitely preferable to ice I had a wonderful afternoon, visiting all my favourite pistes and areas of resort just in case that was my last chance. There is now only 4 days of open lifts remaining and the forecast if a little hit and miss. The rain that keeps being predicted seems to keep pushing back and back and hopefully will continue to do so until Sunday when no one will care any more. That or it will turn to snow; at the moment it looks like the lifts will be closing as snow still dumps down on us.

4 days and counting left of the season and it’s still looking damn good out there. Offer up your thanks to La Plagne for coming through for us this week and those of you with good karma; keep up the powder prayers until Sunday!