Chamonix Snow Report: 10th March 2009

Unfortunately, getting back to your chalet from your Chamonix ski experience is rarely that easy. The high resorts of Brevent, Flégère, Les Grands Montets and Le Tour soar up from around town, and are accessed by cable car or gondola from valley level. When there's good snow, as there has been this year, it's possible to ski out all the way back to the town...if not your chalet's back door.

The ski-outs have been open all winter, so we were surprised to see a big CLOSED sign at the start of the Les Nants home run on Sunday. The weather had been great all weekend; a pair of sunny days on top of a good few days of heavy snowfall down to town. We allowed ourselves to be persuaded by a friend that it was in fact open, apart from the top section, and we looped around through the woods to join the homerun lower down. And what a mistake it was. Five minutes of pleasantly slushy snow gave way to the occasional choc-chip of rock showing through, then full-on dodging chunks of stone whilst getting hung up on some of the stickiest snow we've ever ridden.

The moral of the story? Closed means closed. And no matter how much you need a hot shower and a dose of after-sun, take the gondola / cable car download option from Brevent and Flégère. For up-to-the-minute info, check out the lift status page.

CREAM CHEESE
The heavy snow of the end of last week was rapidly baked out in the sunny, south-facing resorts of Brevent-Flégère. A couple of lines that we picked out in the Chamois bowl at Brévent (just a short traverse from the Cornu chair) would have been brilliant a few hours before, although when we hit them around lunchtime they had got heavy and mushy, the untouched stuff having the same consistency of freshly-opened Philadelphia and the chopped up stuff being more like mashed potato.

That's not to say there's no fresh snow in the valley. On the contrary; there's plenty...all on top of a fat base that'll provide plenty of sport well into May. Right now though, the freshies are most abundant in the north facing resort of Les Grands Montets, particularly off the 'Top' cable car. The aspects up here don't get a great deal of sun, so the snow stays colder for longer, making it much softer and better for skiing in. If off-piste is your thing, the front face, under the cables, is a great little adventure - just remember it's on a glacier, with crevasses and seracs all over the place (particularly to skiers left) - so go with a mountain guide if you're in doubt.

As I write the snow is piling up on the terrace outside my house in Chamonix; a good 20cm is down in town, and a chance encounter with a couple of Flégère pisteurs ealier on gave me the indication that there's at least three times as much up the mountain. Sixty centimetres of fresh snow sounds like good times; I'm up to Brevent tomorrow to get a first-hand look. I'll let you know how I get on. Meanwhile, keep an eye on the weather to make sure to bring out the right lens to enjoy this snow to the fullest.

See you out there!

Tom