It's sunny spring skiing time in Chamonix

Wednesday and Thursday's strong winds had scoured the initial pitch of the Vallée Blanche but, once past this, the snow was mostly OK, with only a few patches of sastrugi or overly hard snow. Over by the entrance to the Toule Glacier and Italy, the wind has again had its way and the usually benign descent to the stairs onto the glacier is a little more interesting than normal, with most opting to use the in situ rope to pass the steep and firm descent to the stairs. Once negotiated, the Toule glacier gave its usual spring snow sweetness back to the mid station of the Skyway lift. Just time your descent correctly, it gets very warm very quickly over there!

The Vallée Blanche back to Chamonix has been well skied, with moguls through the narrowest points but a clear skiable line all the way back to the Montenvers gondola stairs. Despite these good conditions, there's still plenty of crevasses to fall into so unless you're competent and confident in your glacier travel skills, best to hire a guide.

With its stable, predictable weather and snowpack, spring means ski touring. If you're looking for untracked powder then there's still hope even this long after the last real snowfall. Sheltered north-facing slopes above 2000m that haven't been exposed to too much wind still hold good snow. Maybe not blower, cold smoke powder but still pretty good. The exit from the Berard valley to Le Buet is still holding up, although the lower narrow sections next to the river seem to be catching a few folks out and sending them for an early bath. Pretty much all the main ski touring spots around the valley are now well traced but if you look just a little further afield into Valais or towards Les Contamines there are a few options left for the committed powder hunter.

Firm snow in the morning, slushier snow in the afternoon – spring means park laps. The Le Tour snowpark is the only real choice for the valley's park rats. The main blue and red lines have a variety of modules, and most of those modules have a few options for creative interpretation too. The largest black kicker line was under reconstruction on Monday but work looked nearly finished. If, like me, your best park days are behind you, then to rider's right of the Le Tour park is a banked slalom line making the most of the natural terrain which also has all manner of natural lips, hips and banks to play with. Just remember the sun hits the banks at different intensities...

As the school holidays have been and Easter vacation has not yet started, spring means empty pistes. St Gervais and its linked resorts of St Nicolas de Veroce, Megeve and Combloux may not have the vertical relief or off-piste cachet that Chamonix enjoys but they have got some cracking pistes. With a different view of the Mont Blanc Massif to one side and the Aravis chain of mountains on the other, they're almost as scenic as Chamonix too. We stuck mostly to the St Nicolas area where, in between some fairly flat linking pistes, you can find some great wide open red pistes with no one about to share them with. The piste back from Bettex to St Gervais town has closed for the season but the up-and-download on the lift is quick and the melted-out piste below 1000m altitude is a fair price to pay for the warmer spring snow higher up the hill. Definitely worth the trip over for holders of the Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass just now.

Spring means stable weather? Well, looking at the forecast for the rest of the month it seems to. The general consensus is that the weather will stay mostly sunny and increasingly warm in the afternoons through until Saturday, although maybe with some strong north-east winds at higher altitudes that will affect the north-facing snow that's currently still in good condition. After the weekend, there are some rumours of a return to snowier weather as we go into April but maybe that's just the forecasting algorithms playing us for fools.

So, spring means lots of things. Maybe we can settle on spring means spring. Meaningless platitude, but it sounds nice. Whatever it means, I'm sure we can all agree to enjoy it while it lasts.

NB: Exploring beyond the ski resort boundaries is an amazing experience for anyone who's physically fit and has mastered the pistes well enough. There are, however, risks associated with venturing outside the safety of the marked/patrolled ski area, including awareness of your actions on those below you on the slopes. Mountain guides are professionally qualified and have extensive knowledge of the local terrain to provide you with the safest and most enjoyable possible experience in the mountains; as a visitor here we highly recommend you hiring one. Many ski schools also provide instruction in off-piste skiing, avalanche safety and mountaineering techniques. Make your time in the mountains unforgettable for the right reasons, ski safe!

Off-piste skiing and mountaineering are dangerous. The opinions expressed in these articles are very much time and condition-specific and the content is not intended in any way to be a substitute for hiring a mountain guide, undergoing professional mountaineering training and/or the individual's own backcountry decision making.