On the first chairlift ride the day before the official face inspection, many of the skiers (some of whom have already spent several winters in Chamonix) were surprised at how little snow there was on the mountain. For the most part, there was no more than 40 cm of snow cover as a base. Many areas were barely filled in and most of the slopes were often still interspersed with small rocks. It quickly became clear that last year's contest face would not be skiable. In the afternoon, however, the first flags and construction work revealed which face would be ridden. The face offers some features but few very technical passages and is shorter than most FWT faces. Two start gates were defined to allow the riders to ride different and challenging lines on the short competition slope. Until the first forerunner entered the face on the day of the face inspection, many riders were still very skeptical about what the snow conditions would be like in the new contest face. However, the first sprayy turns from head judge Martin McFly Winkler gave everyone confidence for the competition the following day.
On contest day, the riders had to get up early: due to a forecast good but short window of good weather, the start was brought forward to eight thirty. This meant that the riders had to take the first lift at 6:00 a.m. and some had already completed their first warm-up laps well before sunrise. The first rays of sunshine then hit the contest face at around 7:30 am. However, as on the previous days, there was dense cloud cover in the valley, which delayed the start of the helicopters and therefore the start of the competition until shortly before 9 a.m.
