Spring has finally arrived in the Alps April 30th, 2012
It hasn’t snowed for over a week now and the sun has been shining in Chatel for most of the time, maybe spring has arrived again. We had a taster of spring back in March but winter definitely made a sustained comeback in April.
Snow tires and ski rack are off the car now, bring on the sunshine. Although forecasting rain coming for the rest of the week, at least it might wash some of the snow away in preparation for the summer biking season.
Fantastic End to the 2012 Ski Season April 24th, 2012
The ski lifts closed in the Portes du Soleil on Sunday, which is an absolute shame because the mountain is still fully loaded with snow. On the final day we where treated to 30 cms of fresh powder and sunny skies. For the past 2 weeks it has been powder skiing almost every day, it has snowed most nights and then had sunny spells during the daytime.
As I mentioned in my previous post it’s been an excellent season, there will be a many people who will remember this year for their superb ski holidays.
It’s still snowing today down to the resort level, at this rate its going to be a quite a while until the mountain is suitable for mountain biking and I expect it will be a very muddy start to the summer biking season.
Late Season Snow in Chatel April 10th, 2012
All in all it’s been a very good ski season in Chatel and the Portes du Soleil, late season has been fun too with a mix of conditions.
The start of March was really warm with fantastic spring skiing to be had on the off piste after it have softened in the sun, then mid-month we were treated to an unpredicted 40cms of fresh powder for a few days. I always love it when the forecast says a maximum of 10cms and you wake up in the morning to over a foot of fresh snow. A couple of the best days skiing of the season.
More sunshine for the end of March, before a slightly disappointing rainy first week of April. Although the rain did mainly come in the night so although the slopes where slushy in the daytime at least there wasn’t too much skiing in the rain.
But we’ve had a little bit of snow since and the pistes are in great shape again, plus a fair bit of snow forecast in the next few days. So we’ll see what turns up but there’s still potential for a last bit of fresh powder this season.