Chamonix Snow Report: 10th January 2007

So today we set off up the mountain to find the fresh snow. All too sadly the snow line was well over 2000m and there were clear signs below the Cornu chairlift of the rain that fell even at this altitude. Looking across the valley from Brevent we could see that the snow line had risen halfway up to the Plan du Midi; so definitely no off-piste down to Chamonix from there until the next big snowfall. Predictably with today's temperature forecast to be a balmy +7ºC we had spring conditions in January. There was slush and heavy wet snow everywhere except where it was still frozen into hard ice from the night before. The off-piste I tried also had pretty heavy souplike snow: it seems too early in the season to be riding that. Whilst it wasn't great fun to ride, it wasn't bad either, and it was soft enough to sustain a few headplants without too much pain.

There were more than the usual number of snowboarders out today, throwing themselves off kickers, trying out flips; the wet, soft snow made it forgiving on those who only got halfway round. The cat tracks at Flegere weren't looking that good with quite a few rocks and stones showing up now. The tracks themselves were looking pretty thin and brown in places as was the Liaison piste from Flegere to the Liaison cable car. We had a ride through Combe Lachenal, which wasn't bad at the top; it had wet and heavy snow from top to the bottom but if you caught a section that wasn't tracked it was smooth and enjoyable. There were a few rocks poking through at the top where you wouldn't expect them and the lower section had quite a few patches of mud and stones coming through. All the lifts seem to be running now even the Floria lift at the very top of Flegere; we didn't do any runs from there but heard that they were in good shape in the morning.

At Brevent the pistes were a little less worn than Flegere and they were definitely better covered with snow. The Combe de la Charlanon is very good right now, with 100% cover and not a brown patch in sight; the snow was probably the firmest here because it catches the least sun. Even the heavy snow off-piste was ok here: it's a challenge to keep the front up and not go over the nose of your board but that's all part of the excitement. The Cornu had good snow for most of its length; it was just a little thin where it narrows to a cat track, but after that it was good again. Again there were plenty of snowboarders making use of the soft springlike snow to practise their tricks on the little drops and banks around the Cornu. The new Cornu chairlift was doing a great job of being queueless, and it was quiet all afternoon at Brevent and Flegere. The only problem came at the end of the day when we decided to download to the valley. There was a long queue at the Flegere–Les Praz cable car so we quickly headed to Brevent to take the Gondola down only to find even longer queues backing up onto the piste. It took us about 1 hour to get down. The gondola was running slowly, possibly because it was windy, we don't know, but next time we'll be heading down a little earlier than just before the lifts close to try to avoid it.

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

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Open
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

We will be keeping this Chamonix snow report updated often during the season, but if you want even more up-to-date news on the ski conditions, why not sign up for our Dump Alert? We'll email you each time it snows enough to significantly change the skiing conditions. It's great to know that the snow is falling in the run-up to your holiday, and it might even allow you to book a last-minute weekend when the snow is particularly good. The service is free, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

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