last day of winter

It's official: tomorrow is the spring equinox. In the valley, crocuses, primroses and daffodils are insouciant of the risk of snow any time up to May.

After ignoring our grease balls all winter, the birds (including a "new" visitor - possibly a female blackcap) are finally attacking them with gusto. It's the time of year when everyone wants to shake off winter - and at the same time enjoy the last of the winter landscapes. Next month the unstoppable tide of spring will sweep up from the valley, and high-altitude crocus will push through the mottled slush and mud.

So today I took myself up to Chamrousse for my second, and probably last, day of down-hilling this season. The pistes were empty but the full-on sun meant the snow was pretty slushy. For this or other reasons I found it very hard to relax into a rhythm. Applying everything I know about the correct position and weight transfer I still felt awkward. I think I probably didn't want to move at all, or at least not that fast. Not ideal for skiing! And the pollution was the worst I've ever seen it - a brown smog extending beyond the top of the Chartreuse and Vercors massifs, so that the Mont Aiguille was barely visible.

Despite this, the mountains were glorious.