A person wearing a hat that says the north on it

A group of people sitting at tables with mountains in the background

The sun is shining brightly over the snowy mountains

Chamonix Snow Report: 10th February 2011

featured in Snow report Author Kieran Sharp, Updated 24 October 2014

Ehhhhh yeah so yeah still no new snow across the Alps yet, ok so it has been a pretty bad January and February however we had a wicked start to the season end of November and pretty much all of December which has meant that the base has taken a long time to disappear. Down low and on the south facing slope this has happened fairly rapidly, but up high where the guys have been on top of the snow making and scrapping snow from off-piste to on it, has meant we have kept a lot of the pistes in good condition. If the conditions we are facing at the moment presented themselves back in 2007 after a terrible start to the season, we would have no skiing what so ever!

Someone said to me in the bar the other day that apparently there is an amount of snow dedicated to the Alps and it either comes in a few big dumps or spread out over the whole season topping the snow up every week. If this is true and our snow dance tomorrow evening works we should be in for mostly epic powder days for the rest of the season!

You might be thinking this is shocking! and I'm sure the news back in the UK is reporting how bad it is, but hey look on the bright side we have loads of sun, people are coming from all over the Alps to Chamonix despite the conditions for the best snow possible in Europe, and compare some of the pictures to what you might see in New Zealand!

Similar stories still remain for the Grand Montets being in good condition early morning on the freshly groomed stuff after a good snow making from the night previous, or heading there late afternoon for when the rest of the hill softens up slightly. Spring conditions await you over on the south facing hills of Brevent and Flegere but watch out for many wee stones and grassy patches! Hitting Le Tour like I did today you would think would turn in to soup in the afternoon and might be softer in the morning. However because of the freeze thaw over in this area and the glaciers in the area cooling the air temperature down substantially its actually quite hard packed in the morning but really nice, soft, and jibby in the afternoon. Why not head over for some great views and brilliant lunch spots with some of the most amazing views looking all the way down the valley.

If you are in the valley at this present moment in time then you absolutely must head down to the square in Chamonix outside La Terrasse bar tomorrow evening (Friday 11th Feb), for Snow Dance 2011! Commencing at precisely 2100hrs for an acoustic filled snow dance lasting 10 minutes followed by a respectful 1 minute silence in order to materialise lots of fresh snow to arrive very soon in the valley. La Terrasse bar will very kindly be serving Jagers on their terrace for just €2 to help appease the snow gods, so if you want snow you better come down, as no show = no snow!

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Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!