PA #15 phase two

Summary

We’re in the middle of PowderAlert #15 and this is my powder advice for this weekend:

• Friday and Saturday: southern Alps central, western Alps south, western Alps central and the western Alps north

• Sunday and Monday: western Alps south, western Alps central and the western Alps north.

After two great days in Alagna, where we could ride lines in the trees that haven’t been possible in years, we arrived in good old La Grave after a long ride. Due to the heavy snowfall that came with PowderAlert #15, the Col de Lauteret was closed and we were forced to drive to Chambéry-Greboble to the ‘Queen of the Ecrins’. And this lady didn’t age a single day and is looking as good as always.

It was a powder day with around 20-40 centimeters of freshies and the around 100 hungry riders had to work hard to track everything, before they could enjoy a beer in Le Castillan and see La Meije disappear into the clouds. The second phase of PowderAlert #15 is on its way. The warm front will come in and you could see the first high clouds already on Thursday. The wind from the south is getting stronger and stronger and an active front will enter the Alps this morning. First in the French southern Alps, but it will expand into the rest of the French Alps, the west of Switzerland and the southern Alps (like: again) later.Phase 2 PowderAlert #15

The snow line will be around 1800 meters at first, but it will drop towards 800-1000 meters later on and the sun will come out from the west in the evening. Phase three of PowderAlert #15 will come in on Saturday, in the western Alps. Don’t expect really cold powder. The wind will kick in from time to time and the temperature is going up and down, but you’ll probably manage to find some really nice snow. Your best chances will be in the larch forests of the western and southern Alps, that already have a lot of snow. The base is thick and good and you’ll be able to find some dry snow here. Watch out for the wind! There’s still a lot of drift snow to be found in the higher alpine.

The western jet stream will be on for the long term, so the western Alps can expect a lot of freshies the next ten days. The systems are not really consistent, so there will be warm fronts bringing snow to the southern Alps and cold fronts bringing some snow to the northern Alps every now and then. It’s not really a period of cold smoke blower. But it will be a period in which the snow cover will grow more and more which allows us to ride pillows in the trees deep into March. Alright, the mountain is calling. I’m gonna ride some powder!

Stay stoked

Morris