Ok so I’ve not updated this blog for a while but it’s not like Im the first bloke to make a comeback on Easter Monday!

Easter is a great time of year, a time to eat chocolate eggs until you’re sick, drink Pimms on the balcony, and enjoy skiing in glorious sunshine with much less gear than you would normally have to carry! The only downside to Easter is that it acts as a watershed in the minds of holiday seekers and summons the end of the ski season. After a couple of hectic weeks on the computer, trying to fill all of our chalets for the last few days of the season, it has become clear that everyone is now thinking about summer holidays and booking ski chalets for winter 09/10. With that in mind we are now planning a couple of weeks of skiing and will update this site with photos as soon as I remember to carry a camera with me.

 Conditions have deteoriorated rapidly on the local slopes of Morzine and Les Gets (as you would expect when daytime temperatures have been hitting 20 celsius) and whilst many runs remain open it is now much more worthwhile heading up to the higher altitude skiing in Avoriaz. The pistes around there are still superb with a base of 2 metres in many places, and the off-piste snowcross areas around Le Fornet currently have perfect spring snow. In a surprising move the Swiss resort of Les Crosets has agreed to extend it’s season to match the closing date of Avoriaz on 26th April, and with Chatel doing the same with it’s upper sector of Pre la Joux and Plaine Dranse there will be hundreds of linked kilometres open until the last knockings. Anyone currently in the area should check out the stadium pistes and the gun-barrell  around the new 8 man lift in Les Crosets where conditions are as good as you would expect in mid-season, and if you’ve never attempted the Swiss Wall there may never be a better chance to do it. The snow is very soft and tends to forgive the mistakes!

With the end of the season approaching there will be more time for important social activities too and we made an early start on Wednesday last week when Sylvie and I went with Will, Emma and David to eat cake by the lakeside in Thonon. A nice afternoon was rounded off with a very French game of Petanque and I won on the basis that they are my balls and I’m going home!

I’ll do my best to keep you updated with all the goings-on in the next couple of weeks, both on and off the slopes, and in the meantime hope everyone has had a great bank holiday weekend.

Firstly, before harping on about the fabulous skiing let me just say that if anyone out there is reading this on an ‘Ipod Touch’ that they found in the snow somewhere near Les Gets please do send me a message. It has this page stored in it’s favourites and the owner would really like to get it back!

The last few days has seen a lull in our bookings at the chalets and whilst we could look on the negative side and panic about lack of enquiries, recession, credit crunch, depression blah blah blah, we thought it better to accept our free time gratefully and get out on the mountain. The businessman in me is tearing his hair out at the sight of empty beds, and yet the ski junkie in me is excited by the prospect of spending more time in our winter playground. What a strange Jekyll and Hyde sensation! Do I sit all day in front of the computer in case of any very last minute enquiries, or do I get my gear on and take advantage of the free time?

The upshot of that debate was to stop debating, get my backside in gear and get out on the slopes. Sylvie and I opted to spend as much time skiing as possible in the coming days. When I say ‘Skiing’ I mean it in the loosest possible sense as you will see from the photo below!

By mid-march in previous seasons we have seen the local slopes of this area suffering from the high temperatures. This year there is very little to complain about as the pictures below illustrate. The home run in to Morzine is a bit like mashed potato at the end of the ski day but otherwise we are enjoying some of the best conditions of the season. It seems to me that we are now reaching the stage of the season where paranoia sets in. Everyone booking holidays has suddenly started demanding high altitude resorts. One guy asked me for accommodation that was at a minimum altitude of 2000m, so the building work starts in the morning to raise our chalets up on big stilts!

Tomorrow we head to Flaine for a day out and so I will have something to compare the Portes du Soleil to, but at the moment I seriously doubt that anything will be able to beat the skiing that we have here on our doorstep. Watch this space and I’ll let you know when I get back!

As much as I like skiing without a jacket and topping up my tan on the chairlifts the early reports of spring conditions accross the Alps are very much premature. Make no mistake, there is a whole lot of winter left yet! It has been snowing constantly for over 24 hours now and shows no sign of letting up. The upper slopes had 30cm of fresh powder by breakfast time and this could be up to 50cm by the end of the day I imagine. The big question is why am I sitting at my computer and moping around my flat?! Unfortunately I have taken the sensible option of resting my aching limbs and trying to get rid of a couple of niggling injuries. If I still hurt tomorrow I will pop a nurofen and get up the mountain though. There’s plenty of time to rest in May!

Having my old chumburger Karl around last week was great and thank god he brough his gadgetry with him! Not only did we complete a full area tour of the Portes du Soleil in a day, we also have a vast array of statistics to bore you with courtesy of his ‘Run GPS’ software! After several aborted attempts to complete the circuit we finally got around the vast network in one very full day, without many of the normal restraining factors (birds, boarders, beginners etc). The day went something like this…

8.30am - We parked at the bottom of the Perrier chairlift at the far end of Les Gets, and waited for the lift to open. No cutting out Les Gets this time and if we were going to get all the way around in a day, we were going to do it the hard way. If it all went wrong, we at least hadSylvie on standby with a vehicle!

 8.45am - At the top of the chairlift the Morzine / Les Gets network opened up in front of us. Whilst the rest of the world were eating breakfast we had our pick of the perfect corduroy and gleefully made our way over the hill to Morzine, the first three runs taking place with hardly another soul in sight and chairlifts opening for the day just as we reached them.

9.45 am - We crossed Morzine and so far so good, not even ten o’clock and we were going against the crowds towards Super Morzine and the Avoriaz domain. As soon as we hit the Proclou lift though we joined the queue and with the sheer volume of people I secretly started to wonder if we are on a hiding to nothing, trying to complete the circuit during the French school holidays.

10.30 am - Having picked our way over the ridge from Avoriaz and descended in to the Chatel area, the slopes got gradually quieter again. This area has some of the best snow in the Portes du Soleil this year and it’s a pity that we didn’t have a bit longer to explore the off piste in and around the Plaine Dranse bowl. There was no time for pontificating though as Karl reminded me. We weren’t there for enjoyment, it was all about the achievement! Time was ticking on and we now needed to catch a bus accross the valley, connecting Linga with the Super Chatel side of the ski area.

11.15 am - Once through the busy resort of Chatel the ‘Barbossine’ beckoned. This long mogulled black run is one of my favourites and I’ve never seen it in such good condition. The wind had dropped, the sun was shining and we were virtually the only people skiing the perfectly formed moguls with a 10cm layer of powder on top.

12.00pm - From the summit of the Jorette lift the resort of Torgon was visible below and Lake Geneva looked stunning. On such a clear day the Chateau de Chillon can be seen jutting out in to the water. The top of the blue piste off the Jorette had a weird patch of rock and grass showing through despite loads of snowfall recently. Looks like someone got the snow cannon horribly wrong and washed away the snow!

12.45pm - Having circled around Torgon and La Chapelle we were back above Chatel on the Chalet Neuf plateau. As usual the snow was awesome up there and it is unfortunate that we couldn’t stay longer. Plenty of off piste yet to be tracked out. Morgins beckons.

2.00pm - After a quick stop in Morgins town centre to ‘water the horse’ we picked our way through the quiet slopes of Champoussin, just as the Dents du Midi emerged from the cloud. Anyone making an effort to access these slopes at the moment will be rewarded.

3 pm - The Pointe de L’Au chairlift was still closed and shows no sign of re-opening, so the temporary rope tow remains in place. We managed to prove that this torturous device can be avoided by a high traverse to the left off the ridge above the Aiguilles de Champeys chair.

3.30pm - Once past the diversion it was easy enough to drop down to Les Crosets and out the other side to the ridge above Avoriaz. Back on the French side the crowds re-appeared and the long descent from 2200m to 1200m at Prodain seemed more like a dodgem track. The legs were really feeling the burn at this point. Luckily the bus back to Morzine centre provides 10 minutes of relief.

4.30pm - After retracing the steps of our first few runs back to Les Gets we end up on the Grains D’Or chairlift with half an hour to spare. In the end we would have had time for lunch! A few hundred metres down the last run we divert in to a hidden gem of a restaurant called Le Paiika and wait for the crowds to disappear whilst drinking hot chocolate. The knee that has been hurting since midday-ish was ready to give up on me but it held out for a blast down Les Voroses back to the minibus. A long day but worthwhile.

And now the important bits… we travelled 54.5 miles, hit a top speed of 34.7 MPH, descending a total of 22,878 feet (not far short of the height of Everest), and we were actually moving for 5 hours and 28 minutes of the day. I’m not sure why I’m quoting these figures so acurately as the battery conked out between Morzine and Les Gets on the way home!

A superb day was rounded off with a pizza in Le Tyrolien (still the best in Morzine), a few Mont Blanc beers and an ice pack on my knee. What more could anyone ask for, except even more snow?! That is on the way later this week. Watch this space.

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words so click on the photos below to see my 4000 word essay on the phenomenal recent snowfalls! I can honestly say that I have had some of my best ever ski days in the Portes du Soleil in the last few days. My time spent with snowboarders in the past couple of seasons has had a strange effect though and despite the pistes being immaculate I have been heading off to the sides in search of the “pow”.  There’s been no shortage of it either, with 70cm falling at the back end of last week and another 40cm of fresh snow outside my apartment today. We have been blessed with perfect dry powder snow that is so forgiving and makes you feel like a world champion rider even when you are, in reality, simply trying to delay the imminent face plant! In my line of work as a chalet operator it is easy to get lazy and miss out on great ski days by catching up on sleep or watching an entire DVD series of Spooks, but I can’t wait to get on the mountain tomorrow and it would take a lot to stop me!

For anyone heading out to the Portes du Soleil in the coming days I would suggest looking at all the outposts that you have never managed to get to before… you know the places I mean, the ones at the far side of the map that seem tricky to get to without driving or skiing at breakneck speeds! Resorts such as Torgon, St Jean d’Aulps and La Chapelle d’Abondance are amongst the first to suffer when the snow fails, but at the moment they are all ‘picture postcard’. By putting in the effort to escape the hoardes of children on school holidays you will be rewarded with quieter slopes and untracked powder fields that can make a grown man cry.

Just a quick update on the conditions… It snowed over the weekend to give us 40cm of fresh snow and as I write it is bucketing down again. The slopes are surprisingly quiet considering the French school holidays have started and everything is coming together nicely for a big day tomorrow. The latest predictions are for at least another 10cm of snow tonight followed by sunshine in the morning. It is chalet day off in both of our catered chalets, and I am finally getting over the cold that has been lingering for weeks. No surprises for guessing what I’ll be doing in the morning… that’s right, Sudoku!

As the world’s most powerful people meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos the anti-capitalist brigade have been staging an illegal demonstration in downtown Geneva. Without wishing to decry the efforts of the protestors I must admit that the extent of my concern has been limited to the effect that the protest has had on traffic congestion for my many airport transfers! The closure of the city to traffic and the images of police using tear gas and water canons on the protestors serve as a reminder of just how lucky we are with the lifestyle we lead in the Alps. Just an hour away from the carnage the snow conditions are perfect (as they have been all season) and the closest we have come to rioting is when my good friend Jo and her 7 netball colleagues had pillow fights in one of our chalets last week.  To be honest, I didn’t even witness that and suspect that the whole story may have been fabricated (probably by Will or Chris!).

As I write it is snowing again and the pictures below speak a thousand words. They were all taken in the last week or so at various points around the Portes du Soleil. Having completed a pretty substantial tour of the entire area last Wednesday and Thursday I can’t honestly say that there aren’t any areas to avoid. The link between Les Crostes and Champoussin is tricky with the technical fault on the Pointe de l’Au chairlift forcing people in to a long tedious traverse, but on the plus side it is great excercise and we were rewarded with quiet slopes in Champoussin when we got there. I would be surprised if anyone can find fault in the pistes at the moment and with a light top-up of snow forecast for the coming days it looks as though we are in for a great February to follow on from what was an awesome January.

I must stop writing now and get back to Geneva. Don’t worry I am going to the airport again, not joining the ranks of the anti-globalization protestors. I might even stop off at McDonalds on the way back for a McCapitalist cheeseburger

Welcome back to this blog and I hope that everyone is enjoying what already looks like being another bumper year for snow. We are already four weeks in to the season but the gremlins in the works have only just been resolved, so check back here for regular updates on the piste conditions and goings-on off the slopes (barring any further technical hiccups). For today though I thought I would start by commenting on the topic that has fascinated so many of our guests already this season. 

 Thus far the season has been textbook, with cold temperatures, early snowfall and then loads of blue sky days. There is however one major factor that has cast doubts on the potential success of winter 08/09 in many people’s minds… the dreaded ‘credit crunch’! It is indeed true that the economy has seen happier times, and that the poor old Sterling has taken something of a hammering recently against the Euro, but I can’t help feeling that the media are making too much of this.  The notion that the British will stop skiing because of the state of the economy is flawed and fails to consider the fact that for many people a ski trip is more than ‘just a holiday’. It is an addiction, a passion and an integral part of our leisure time. A truly rational person may skip their pilgrimage to the white purveyor of pleasure this year, but since when has skiing been a rational activity anyway? It has always been an expensive pastime and the only difference now is that people are even more determined to seek out the best deals. In the same way that people may now choose to shop in Lidl and Aldi rather than Waitrose or Sainsbury’s, the average skier feeling the pinch this year will simply look to find better value for money rather than going without.  

Mountain restaurants may suffer as people opt to carry a packed lunch rather than pay over a tenner for a burger! Souvenir shops will struggle to sell whistling marmottes for the equivalent of twenty pounds, and more and more people are happy to forget the champagne, canapés and Molton Brown toiletries in favour of saving a small fortune on the cost of their chalet holiday. We at Host Savoie are operating three chalets this season and currently have plenty of special offers to tempt you. If you want a great value chalet holiday in an alpine home from home, with plenty of good homemade food and extra mile service, then give us a shout. We have the best team in the Alps without a doubt and alongside Sylvie and I this season we have Will, Kim and Emma, all of whom are as passionate as we are about giving everyone a great holiday. 

In conclusion, not even the stony face of the Chancellor can melt the wonderful snow that we are currently experiencing, and the Bank of England can do whatever it wants to the interest rates without killing our passion for the mountains, so get yourself to the Alps and ride out the hard times on the weapon of your choice! I look forward to keeping you up to date with the snow conditions and other goings-on, but for now thanks for reading and enjoy the season.

The Portes du Soleil closed for the season last Sunday with superb conditions for the final weekend. The slopes were surprisingly busy and the bars in Avoriaz even more so as everyone was keen to go out with a bang! Sylvie and I spent Saturday around Chatel and couldn’t have wished for better snow. On the way back to Lindarets we were still skiing over chalet roofs to get back to the car and the photos below show the stunning views. Its hard to believe that the mountain bike season opens in just over a month and surely this year there will be extra work for the piste basher drivers in scraping the snow away to make way for those lunatics on bikes!

The ski season is now over for me unfortunately, having spun it out that little bit longer with a fantastic three day trip to Zermatt. It is time to head back to the UK, catch up on the administrative side of running a chalet business, and see my doctor about the back problem that has been troubling me since hitting a mogul too hard several weeks ago! I hope that you had a great winter season wherever you skied and thanks for reading this blog. It has been a pleasure to write and looking back through my old posts has just reminded me how much I love the winter. Only 7 months to go before it all starts again! Enjoy the summer.

    Andy Turner

Following the departure of our last guests on Monday 14th April we have been getting in as much skiing as possible and not just here in the Portes du Soleil. Whilst the snow conditions here have been pretty much impeccable from mid-December it is always good to ski new places too and so in the space of 7 days we hit 3 of the biggest ski areas in France - namely the Portes du Soleil (obviously), the Grand Massif and the Espace Evasion Mont Blanc. In total these areas offer a total of over 1300 km of piste and we managed to ski 9 resorts, finding that the snow was great everywhere and that anyone who doesn’t enjoy these conditions is really in the wrong sport!

The final day of the season in Morzine/Les Gets was Sunday 13th April and I never would have believed that we would have been getting first tracks in powder at that time of year. That was exactly what happened though and the pictures below will deal a crushing blow to the ‘Global Warming’ brigade!

The following day saw a dramatic change in the weather as we headed to the upper reaches of the Portes du Soleil, skiing Avoriaz and Chatel in heavy snow and tons of fresh powder. We made our way through the trees above Pre la Joux and found that the pistes had a fresh layer of snow about a foot deep all the way to Linga on the outskirts of Chatel. These areas are still very much open at the moment and all links are complete with fantastic conditions. My ski day was cut short by needing to leave at 1pm for the airport but the photos below suggest that Sylvie, Jo and Chris had a lot of fun in my absence! I didn’t mind too much because I was back in time for the main event… Skidooing at Le Praz de Lys!

Incidentally, the Chris that I mention above is the very same old buddy that in the first week of March used his head as a brake on the slopes of a Chapelle. He is now back in the game and sporting a ‘Ribcap’ beanie hat to protect his head. For anyone who hasn’t seen these hats they are a great compromise between hat and helmet with fluid that hardens on impact. Expensive at £65 but well worth the investment. Incidentally, does anyone else think that Chris looks like a member of the royal family?!

On Thursday and Friday of last week Sylvie and I went on a two day road tour (ok so its a very small road tour!) with Andy and Will skiing the Grand Massif and Mont Blanc Evasion, with an overnight stop at Hotel Les Campenulles in Les Houches in between (a great overnight stop at a reasonable price - 30 Euros per person for B&B, and yet only 10 mins drive from Chamonix).  The Grand Massif Express at Samoens was our gateway to the awesome slopes of Samoens 1600 and the higher slopes of Flaine that were still covered in powder. The bowl at Flaine was surprisingly busier than expected but who can blame anyone for wanting to drag this season out as long as possible. The whole day had a feel of summer glacier skiing to it as we went quickly from the green of the valley and 15 degrees to the virtual whiteout at the top of the Grands Platieres with temperatures as low as -8 degrees. We skied hard and to be fair the snowboarders kept up most of the time when they weren’t lying down on the piste. I think I taught them a few tricks in the Jam Park though!

On Friday we headed up the beautiful valley beyond St Gervais to the resort of Les Contamines - a real alpine gem that I would recommend to anyone. On the valley floor we were worried that there would be no snow to ski on but it soon became apparent that a ride up the two stage cable car would open up yet another white paradise. Les Contamines has now closed for the season but I am really glad that we saw it and will certainly aim to get back next winter. The highlight of the day was the red run off the back of the Col du Joli to the tiny hamlet of Belleville. It would be very easy to miss this part of the piste map but it is a great experience to ski past the end of a dam and into what is essentially a hydro-electric station, before catching the one lift back up. It was like a summer’s day when we stopped for waffles at the bottom but the piste was a credit to the people who obviously work tirelessly on it.

We finally made it back to Morzine in time for a fantastic dinner at ‘L’Auberge de la Combe a Zore’, having stopped off in Megeve to find ice cream. I suppose its a bit of a cheat to include this in the list of 9 resorts! As I write we are still experiencing great skiing here in the Portes du Soleil and Andy & Will are out playing in the powder (yes we actually had another dump last night!) before heading back to the UK tomorrow morning. I will post some more pictures of our skiing before the slopes close at the end of this week but for now I will just sign off by saying a big thanks to both Will and Andy for their efforts this season. For all the great snow and however nice the chalets are there is nothing more important in a catered chalet holiday than the quality of the hosts. Andy & Will can go home knowing that they have made a massive difference to literally hundreds of people this winter, and Sylvie and I will be sad to become a team of two again for the summer. Cheers guys!