The Villages and the Seasons

 It's Thursday 24th March and as we're drawing to the close of our adventure I thought I'd share a few thoughts on skiing through the 2023 season here in Grand Massif.  Of course we've only been here for one season and they tell me it's been an unusual year in the Alps as we've experienced weather conditions which have probably been affected by global warming and climate change.  And that's one of the things with living in this area that life is very affected by weather and natural environment and we have certainly noticed and experienced lots of changes.  One day it can be fabulous sunshine and the next a very heavy downpour.

Prior to our arrival in the area the Grand Massif had hardly had any snow and I’m told the slopes were pretty un-skiable through Christmas and New Year.  If you've read our other blogs you will know that we had a massive dump of snow, continuous for about 3 days, just after we arrived in Samoens in January and that this was then followed by a very cold spell which lasted over a month through February.  The clear blue ski's made for picturesque ski conditions and ultimately hard, and sometimes icy, pistes.  And then since early March we've had rain and some snow in higher places.  I must admit I was wondering how Le Giffre river would be sustained with the lack of rain in February but March has certainly made up for this with lots of days of heavy rain throughout the valley.

It's interesting how these changing conditions have led to us enjoying different ski areas and previously we have shared videos and stories of our enjoying pistes in Le Carroz.  In March, as the school holidays and busy times for families ended, we did a bit more exploring in Morrillon, which is the neighbouring resort to Samoens.  And we found that we began to really love the slopes there too.  There are a number of blues, with some reds too, which all connect up and allow a variation of route, all linked by either smaller or longer chair lifts (such as the Biollaires or the Sairon).  Morrillon also has pistes that run right down to the bottom of the gondola in the town and although these could get a little slushy on warmer days they were really nice to ski.  Below there are some you tube clips of some of the Morrillon runs we've enjoyed.

The other thing we started to do in March was enjoy a morning coffee and break at different mountain restaurants and below is a photo from one of our favourites which is tucked away at the top of the Bergin chair lift and I've also included a you tube clip from the piste with the same name.  Sometimes in these bluebird days it's difficult to keep your eyes on the slopes as everything is so beautiful.

So March has been a month that we've enjoyed skiing the Morrillon slopes and we've appreciated how and why these slopes and this resort are so popular with families and those learning to ski as they offer gentle and rolling runs which can be broken up into smaller bite size chunks and there are a range of places to stop and get refreshment.  But, as the crowds have lessened in March we've also found greater pleasure in the Samoens slopes too.  Previously we would largely use the Chariande Express chair lift as the main route to the other areas and then the runs down from the top (the Tete De Saix) as the way home on the afternoon, often with crowded bottle neck pistes to manipulate in the process.  But during March as the chair lift became less busy we would explore the different routes - blue, red and even the occasional black and enjoy the really good spring snow that they afforded us as a result of being around 2000 metres.  Below are some you tube clips of some of these runs.  They're a bit longer because that is the way Samoens is organised.  And I've also included another photo from one of our fave piste resteraunts coffee stops in Samoens, hope you enjoy.

And finally I thought I'd share a little gem that we found almost by accident one day having found that the campsite in Morrillon / Verchaix didn't suit our needs.  We had kept hearing about the Verclan Gondola and when we drove up there (probably about 100m above Samoens) we found a lovely little hamlet with a very quiet gondola - we literally walked straight on in the morning.  And best of all there was a lovely red run down, pretty much to the car park and a very welcoming mountain restaurant where we could enjoy a little apres and also a nice meal out one night.  Below are some pics from our experiences there. 😁

Skiing in early spring is certainly different to the hard and sometimes icy slopes in Jan and Feb.  Whilst we have experienced a little more snow in March, and I'm sure this has been welcomed by the pisteurs (the teams who manage the slopes - who do an amazing job), often it melts sooner with the warmer air temp and so can create a softer snow.  We've heard the term spring snow and this does also require slightly different technique as your skis can get caught in it especially when it gets hotter and sticky.  You can probably see this in some of the later videos on our you tube channel.

This blog was written by Chris