Season Diary - Day 21

Henry

Mar 112 min read

Tuesday 11th March 2025 - Flaine, France

Spring skiing is always more tricky than skiing in mid-winter, especially when trying to plan routes. In mid-winter, the snow remains consistent from top to bottom, thanks to consistently cold temperatures throughout.

However, come spring, the warmth of the sun causes the snow quality to deteriorate quickly, especially on sun drenched slopes. This has been the case over the past couple of days here in Flaine - the north-facing Flaine bowl has stayed relatively fresh, but down near the resort where the angle changes and the sun hits it early, the beginner slopes have been slushy first thing.

Slush is fine though. It's what often accompanies slush that causes skiers and snowboarders problems - moguls.

Moguls are bumps in the snow that form as skiers scrape snow off the surface of the piste when turning. The spray of snow builds up and builds up, before a piste can become covered top to tail and side to side in bumps.

It's really tempting to try and ski moguls by staying in the troughs and following them. But by doing this you will find yourself trapped and "railling" your skis, unable to turn independently.

Instead, aim to chart a course where you turn on the mogul, ideally wrapping around just shy of the top. You'll find it's much easier to turn and pivot your skis here, partly because they're not railed into the trough but also because there's simply less ski touching the snow.

Good technique is key here. Balance and body position is everything for starters, as this enables you to turn your skis beneath you. You need to work hard to pivot your skis, too - old school, French-style body swinging skiing has no place here.

Finally, don't forget your pole plant. Moguls change direction quickly, and as a result it's really easy to be thrown off balance; a good pole plant is a really easy win to pull you forward and keep your legs and body separate.

Some more snow and colder weather is on its way towards the end of this week, hopefully firming up pistes and reducing the likelihood of moguls especially early in the day.

Good riddance.

I hate the things.