A snowy landscape with a blue sky and mountains in the background

A view of a snowy mountain from a ski lift

A ski lift with a purple sky in the background

Chamonix Snow Report: 11th February 2010

featured in Snow report Author Kieran Sharp, Updated 24 October 2014

We have had another couple of days of snow, not an amazing dump, around 10-15cm of fresh in places, but enough to have some fun in and a fairly clear but very cold day today making fun a possibility! Looking at the snow fall over the past couple of days, whilst not fat big fluffy flakes, it had been consistent enough to make us think that we could be in for a big pow day today and we had some big plans last night to hit the backcountry if it turned out clear. Unfortunately the wind seemed to have stripped a lot of snow away and made wind slab avalanches more likely in some of the key areas where we were hoping to ride, so we decided to stay within the ski area hitting drops and spinning off cat tracks in semi clear conditions.

We headed up Grand Montets fairly early after seeing that the skies were fairly clear> We then spent most f the day hitting the same lines underneath the Herse and either side of the Bochard, trying some tricks off wind lips and off the side of the cat tracks, with the security of landing in some fairly nice soft snow. Starting off on the Bochard and sticking fairly close to the piste there is a nice cat track which runs along the ridge line with lots of bends to help with spinning around landing in to the fresh. Everyone was pushing their riding, spinning a little more or grabbing a bit which was wicked as it made everyone try a bit harder, pushing their own riding to new levels even if nothing was being landed!

After getting a good few runs down this side we headed over in the direction of the Herse lift which has loads of cat tracks with more possibilities of spinning both ways, encouraging us all to get out of our comfort zone of spinning in one direction all the time! There was also a lot more fresh over this side with the wind blowing more snow in to this area, so we took advantage of this riding for a bit underneath the lift, jumping off some of the rocks in this area.

After having our fill of the Herse we headed for the slightly longer route the other side of the Bochard heading toward the Pendant lift. Still finding cat tracks and sides of pistes to launch ourselves off, taking it slightly faster and higher but heading more toward some of the Cornice drops in the area. If jumping off cornices it should be noted that they are created by the wind and just at the sweet spot after landing off a cornice is the sweet spot for the wind slab avalanche! So take care and check snow stability and if you don't know don't go! After a theme of spinning it was time to start thinking about dropping off the cornices and getting a little bit upside down. The way the cornices were shaped it was a good approach and landing to try a front flip or two, so we took it in turns and had a few goes attempting this. Most of us managed to get all the way round but not many were landed successfully. Still, conditions were perfect to have a go in relatively soft landing areas!

After mastering a fair few flips and feeling good about the whole day, it was the cold that got the better of us in the end and so we decided to head down for a scorching hot bath!

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