The snow is here! : 7th December 2011

Winter has finally set in here in Chamonix. It has been snowing in town for two days straight now.

Starting last Saturday, the snow came down to Plan de l'Aiguille and kept creeping its way down until it finally hit the valley for the first time this season on Monday. Argentiere has been getting quite a dump too, with about half a metre in areas. And, of course, this is all just down in the valley floor, so it bodes well for the planned opening of Grands Montets this Saturday, 10th December. All other lifts are still scheduled to open on 17th December.

But if you want to get up into the mountains to have a walk around, you can take the Train du Montenvers to the Mer de Glace. This is currently running uphill at 10h00, 12h00, 14h00, 15h00 and 16h00. From the 17th it will also be back to its normal frequency of every hour or 20-30 minutes, depending on demand.

Of course, if you can't wait until the weekend, there are some open neighbouring resorts already experiencing great conditions and snowfall. Last weekend I popped over to Cervinia in Italy to check out the slopes. It was a beautiful sunny day and with good early snow conditions, the riding on-piste was excellent for the first of the season. It's only a 1.5 - 2 hour drive from Chamonix, so makes for a good day trip during the inter-season.

I found the Theodulpass area particularly good to play around on, as it’s filled with lots of small natural features and kickers, and there is even a small rail park to the bottom of the run. The pistes were in good condition, with a nice snow pack and with intermittent snow forecast for the next few weeks it's looking good over the other side of the alps too.

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