I think I can safely say that snow isn't a problem in the Alps this year,
certainly not in Flaine.

I also /need/ some all-mountain skis and another week's off-piste training.

I tried hiring a pair of older Scott Crusade skis for a day - surprisingly
light and even carved a quite well on piste, albeit in near-perfect snow.

I also later tried a pair of Dynastar Cham-87 skis: I was suspicious of the
discreet "Rocker technology" logo, but they were fine in fluffy powder (and
there was a lot of that around), on red-run bumps and scraped-hard red home
runs, and they carved well, maybe better than the Scotts.

Trouble is, I was finding my powder legs afer 3-4 years of mostly on-piste
skiing using carving skis, and despite a week's off-piste traning several
years ago, I'm not that experienced, so the subjective feel of the skis might
have changed over the week and it's probably not a fair comparison. I really
liked the Scotts - a revelation in powder after my own skis, but the Dynastars
might be the better all-rounder.

Doesn't it echo in here, now?
--

Pip