A snowy landscape with a mountain in the background

A person walking through a snowy forest with the sun shining through the trees

A black and white dog standing in the snow looking at the camera

A snowy landscape with trees and mountains in the background

Two people skiing down a snowy path in the mountains

Chamonix Snow Report: 11th December 2006

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated 26 May 2016

Even though the lifts aren't running yet, finally, it feels as though the winter season has started. We arrived in Chamonix on Thursday to a very brown and snowless valley, but by Saturday it had literally changed overnight. It's now the snowy white valley that you'd expect to see. We had about a foot of snow on our car by midnight Friday; we cleared it off and by the morning there was another foot of snow on it. The diggers were hard at work clearing the snow early on Saturday morning, probably one of the few times when I'm happy to be woken up at 6am.

The snow finally stopped falling by Sunday morning and we woke to clear skies and a pristine-looking valley. With no lifts open yet we thought there may be one or two people hiking up to get some fresh tracks so we drove up to Le Tour to have a look. The car park was pretty busy with people getting into their gear and the home run looked almost tracked out – plenty of people had already been down and there were more skinning up or going up on snowshoes. Later in the day we noticed tracks down from the very top of the Tete de Balme. It's a long hike up there, but probably well worth the effort.

We decided to go for a snowshoe hike ourselves but instead we went to Argentiere and up the beginners' slope at Chosalets. There were a few people here messing around on sledges and snowboards, but it was fairly quiet. The snow was super light and easy to walk in with snowshoes; it's been below freezing all day so it was fluffy and powdery. It must be amazing higher up on the mountain where it's deeper. On Chosalets the snow came up to just below my knee, so not bad and good enough to ski or board on; it's just a bit of a lottery with buried rocks as there's no base below.

We picked up a follower in the form of a Bernese Mountain dog, who seemed to be enjoying the snow and he followed us all the way up the Pierre a Ric, and made for a good companion. Nobody that we spoke to knew who he belonged to, but they all recognised him. If he is yours then, what a great dog you have. The Pierre a Ric is the home run that comes down from the Grands Montets ski area to Argentiere. There was evidence of some hiking up there before us and we encountered half a dozen skiers coming down as we were going up. Despite the snow being perfect powder the skiers were having trouble with a nasty crust. It seemed the snow cannons have been running and put a crust of artificial snow on top of the powder: it looked firm but every once in a while our snowshoes would break through. On the way down the snow cannons started up one by one; I suppose the CdMB need to make as much snow as they can. We also noticed the chairlift running, but no one was on it, and I guess they were just servicing it; nevertheless it's good to know that everything is getting ready for when it does actually open.

The cable car that has caused all of the problems with the delayed opening looks like it's being worked on. One of the cables is missing although there was no one around actually working on it so they seem pretty relaxed about the whole thing. It is Sunday and I guess they need a day off. Hopefully they will stay on target for the opening scheduled for the 20th December; fingers crossed.

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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