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Chamonix Snow Report: 11th February 2007

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

It's been a reasonably snowy weekend here in Chamonix, not quite heavy enough to describe as dumping down but the snow has been falling, which is the main thing. The temperature hasn't been all that cold, with precipitation alternating between sleet, rain and then snow again at the level of the town. Higher up though it's definitely been falling as snow and this morning the snow line was clearly visible on the trees just above the town. The snow has stopped falling now, and the clouds broke up and the sun broke through this afternoon. It's still fairly cloudy and looks as though we could be in for some more snow soon: we've been forecast more.

We headed over to Flegere this morning in the hope of getting some fresh powder lines but we were scuppered by the wind: the whole of Flegere had closed down because of the high wind affecting the lifts; we'd heard that Brevent had shut down too. The alternatives were Le Tour, but it can be miserably cold if it's windy, and Grands Montets is the obvious choice, albeit potentially very busy on a Sunday, but perversely we decided to head back to Les Houches. In many ways it is the polar opposite of Grands Montets: Les Houches is more of a family resort with, small, rustic restaurants, pretty tree-lined pistes. Whereas Grands Montets is all extreme glacier skiing, steeps, rocks, and impersonal self-service restaurants. Sometimes us gnarly snow reporters just need to take it easy for day!

We headed up the Prarion lift first; again, as when we were last here, we walked straight on, no queues at all. In no time we were at the top and heading down the Kandahar piste. At first it was soft but not too slushy; however, further down the mountain the snow became unbelievable sticky, almost like treacle. It wasn't just me though: my friend's skis were sticking too. It was warm too, and I had far too many clothes on and that combined with the sticky, heavy snow made it hard work.

The snow cover itself was good in places and bad in others. The lower runs that had benefited from artificial snow were well covered because they had a good base, whereas the runs without cannons were patchy in places, which meant you had to keep your eyes open for rocks coming through. The higher runs, served by the top draglifts Chamois and Cha, all had very good snow. Off piste there was even some good powder, the only problem was the very flat terrain at the top of Les Houches is less than ideal for riding in powder. Nevertheless we found a few rollers and rock drops near and in between the pistes that provided us with some fun. Lower down the snow off piste could never have been described as powder, more like soup. I'm sure with the right kind of wax it could be fun but today it was like hitting the brakes every time I ventured into the fresh snow.

All of the time up at Les Houches it never seemed particularly windy and it made me wonder why some of the lifts elsewhere are so affected by the wind. Practically all of the lifts were running with the exception of the Crozat chair, which was only running for the very top section.

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

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 3

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 2000

  • Alt. Summit: 2800

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1900

  • High Temp.: 3

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050