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December 22nd 2008
Just back from a short break in Samoens. Wow! The most snow I've ever seen in the resort. We skied perfect powder every day and skied right to the valley in Morillon, Sixt and Samoens (yes the black to the village is open and well covered). And whilst the more mature amongst us settled down for an apres ski drink, the youngsters spent two evenings building an igloo in the garden. So thanks to Rob Bonham and Pip and John Rowlands for all their hard work. Well done lads. Funny how the entrance is just the right size for them and not me..... December 11th 2008
Winter has more than arrived in Samoens with amazing pre season conditions. The road to Les Gets (1100m) was only passable with great care last weekend and there was great powder right the way down to the village. It has just kept on snowing. I have already dug the hot tub out twice! The picture was taken on the road above Sixt at about 900m........Samoens opens this weekend, 10 days ahead of schedule. April 19th 2008
Samoens closes tomorrow after a memorable season. Today there was fresh snow. It was still possible to ski to Morillon 1100 and the slopes at Flaine, which remain open for another week, are in excellent shape. Our minds are now turning to other, more summery, mountain activities but maybe also a little bit of ski touring. Well, with so much great snow, it would be rude not to! March 16th 2008
Just back from Samoens and amazed to hear people complaining about snow in other resorts. Sure it was warm and slushy at the bottom but we still skied all the way down to Morillon 1100 without a bare patch in sight. Not only that but the north facing skiing... Aigle Noir, Chamois and Marmottes at Samoens; Agate on Lindars Nord: Styx and the off piste at Gers, was in tremendous shape with flattering dry snow under sunny skies. A good time was definitely had by all. It's snowing today and the forecast for a week's time is for a major dump down to low levels. Looks like a long season. March 6th 2008
The long dry spell in February gave everyone the opportunity to enjoy the conditions that had built up this season. As March commenced rain and then snow fell in large amounts, right down to the village once more. Conditions are currently superb and more snow is forecast for the coming week. The picture shows the predominantly north facing side of Tete de Saix where Samoens' excellent black runs can be seen in absolutely perfect shape. February 3rd 2008
Early February and I'm fast running out of superlatives. Just back from an extended trip. Loads of sun, excellent dry snow coverage right down to the bottom at Morillon 1100 and just when I'm starting to think that snow will be needed soon........ 30 cm of fresh powder to enjoy in low temperatures under sunny skies. The area is now sporting excellent pistes, some sizeable moguls, great off piste itineraries and a season to die for. What more could I ask? OK lets be picky, can't wait for the Combe de Gers and Lindars Nord to open. It can't be long now. January 14th 2008The season is living up to expectation. I skied The Grand Massif 10-12 January. Two days of sun with excellent snow coverage and dry powder high up was followed by a day of blizzards when another 2 feet fell on the lower and intermediate slopes. I was just disappointed not to be there on Sunday to cut tracks in the fresh powder at Flaine under clear blue skies.December 20th 2007
Just back from a few days in Samoens. No need to exaggerate. Perfect snow conditions, low temperatures (-12deg C at the chalet), sun and empty slopes. A fantastic season looms. December 6th 2007
Samoens' skiing is sporting an excellent early season covering of snow right down to 1000m and the forecast for the next few days is for further heavy falls. Such is the quantity of snow that The Grand massif express will be opening a week early...just in time for me to arrive. Good news indeed. It looks like being an excellent season and certainly the first time I have skied Europe in November, as seen in the picture above. November 18th 2007
After last year's early season snow famine we've all been waiting to see what this year holds. Well glory be! I was in Samoens last weekend to witness the first snows and they have been substantial. Anyone who's glanced at the webcams will have seen people skiing! Snow fell right down to the village and has been followed by bitter cold. Some warming and lower level rain is forecast next week but this is only to be expected in November. What next week's weather should do is to add further snow to the upper slopes and, assuming a following freeze, encase the lower ground and stones is a base of ice on which future snow can accumulate to produce perfect pistes. Here are a couple of photos to emphasise the point!
May 7th 2007The ski season is well and truly over as a quick look at the webcams will confirm! Thanks to everyone who used the chalet and looked after it well. The April skiers didn't get much new snow but were blessed with glorious blue skies and sun.It was a strange season but every cloud has a silver lining. Samoens is now glorious in the spring weather with temperatures up to 30 degrees and some of the high altitude refuges are taking advantage of the early disappearance of snow and opening up in early May. Time to hit the summits! March 21st 2007With three recent trips to Samoens myself I can testify that the best skiing of the season is now available. Just over a week ago I enjoyed perfect powder conditions on The Combe de Gers and a combination of powder and moguls under the Lindars Nord and Diamant Noir chairs. Of course that's all changed now because it hasn't stopped snowing this week! The cold northerly airstream has brought snow as low as Geneva and the prospects are now fantastic. Too late if you want a last minute deal at Chalet Claud because we're full until the end of the season. Never mind, there's always next year!
February 8th 2007Just back from Samoens 1st-4th of this month, I found very low overnight temperatures, reasonable snow and lots of sun. The snow levels remained thin but there was good coverage on most runs above 1500m and lower down wherever there were snow cannons. The skiing above Flaine was in good shape if a little icy towards the end of the day and North facing slopes still had some reasonable off piste. Since I got back it has snowed lightly more or less continuously, mostly with a freezing level below 1200m. Further snow is forecast so conditions should continue to improve. We still need that really heavy dump though!
January 25th 2007A heavy snowfall in the last two days has dramatically improved the skiing and put so much snow on the roof that the satellite dish has misbehaved. Who cares as long as there's powder? Having said that even when the resort was at it's very worst (last week), we still found some excellent skiing above 1800m between Samoens and Flaine and above Flaine itself. You just have to know where to look. Hopefully the season will now kick off properly as the forecast is cold for the week to come. Here's a photo from when the skiing was bad!
January 8th 2007Just back from a surprisingly good week in Samoens. Snow finally arrived in significant quantitities right down to 500m on January 2nd. A sunny powder day on Weds 3rd was followed by another 18 hours of heavy snow down to 1100m. Two more sunny powder days to enjoy. There is now a reasonable but thin base of snow but some of the rockier runs are in need of better cover. The bottom line is that there is good skiing to be had and the links are all open but some runs are best avoided if you're using your own skis. Still here a few snaps to prove the point.
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