Chamonix Snow Report: 10th January 2006
Cold mornings, warm afternoons and blue sunny skies: that's what we've been experiencing over the past two days, and I expect it'll continue for a little while yet as we seem to have settled into one of those weather patterns that doesn't change for days on end. There's no snow forecast in the near future so I guess we'll have to make do with the sunshine! At night it's been getting quite chilly with temperatures dropping down to -8ºC at our house last night, but rising above freezing during the afternoon.
Yesterday we were back at Le Tour, which was beautiful in the afternoon sun; we stuck mainly to the pistes, which are still in excellent condition. The off piste was a little crunchy between the main pistes at the front of Le Tour, but an excursion from top of the Aiguillette poma towards the top of the Vallorcine gondola saw us find a few patches of light, powdery snow: the trees and shady aspect keeping it in good nick. It was noticeably quieter up there now that the weekend crowds have gone, and it certainly feels like it's the off-peak season again.
Today we had an afternoon at Les Chosalets, which is a beginners' slope near the Grands Montets car park: it's got its own bus stop, you'll hear the computerised bus conductor say, “Prochaine arret, Les Chosalet … Les Chosalets”. It's served by two draglifts, one very slow, short one and a longer, faster one. The slope is sunny, wide and gentle, and it fitted our criteria of being good for complete beginners (ones that have never snowboarded before) but more importantly being near to our house in Argentiere. It's only at 1250m altitude and has no artificial snow; nevertheless it's in superb shape right now. The piste was well groomed and in the sunny areas was soft and forgiving for those making their first turns. The upper section of the run is a little shadier especially towards the end of the afternoon, when the snow quickly went crusty again in the cold. There's a little Buvette (drink and sandwich bar) at the foot of the slope, which provided the necessary coke to get us through the afternoon. For beginners it's much better to come to a little slope like this on the first day and just pay for a half-day lift ticket (10.50euros) than buy the much more expensive chamski pass. Tomorrow we're back to Le Tour, but this time to the La Vormaine green slopes at the bottom of Le Tour. The slopes are a bit longer than at Les Chosalets but just as gentle, and a good progression in difficulty before we head up to the blue runs below the Autannes chair higher up at Le Tour. Black runs here we come!
Piste Maps for Chamonix (pdf format), Les Houches (jpg format), Cross-country skiing (pdf format), and Mountain-bike trails (pdf format)
Current status for opening of Pistes & Lifts
Chamonix Webcam Index
Useful Links
Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
French Avalanche Research Institute
Meteo France - Mountain weather and avalanche conditions bulletins (in French)
Henry's Avalanche Talk - popular avalanche training sessions based in French Alps as well as translation of current avalanche conditions
PisteHors.com - Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding News in English for the French Alps. Excellent coverage of avalanche safety and advice
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
Stats
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Level 2
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 1050
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Alt. Summit: 3000
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Alt. Last Snow: 1250
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High Temp.: 3
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
