Chamonix Snow Report: 12th April 2005

Yesterday saw the snow at lower levels getting pretty sticky late in the afternoon. At Le Tour, the lower part of the home run back to Le Tour was worst for this, and it felt like glue; the lower part of Esserts was similarly grabby. The snow in the morning was good though and plenty slippery enough. The pistes were all in great condition and very well covered after the recent snowfall, even the ones that had previously had some very brown patches. Ecuries, which runs under the Autannes chair, was still diverted across the L'Arve drag, although it didn't seem necessary with the new snow. Mid-afternoon we hiked the Tete de Balme and rode the front side of it; the snow was a little heavy but fairly untracked; however, it was just starting to exhibit sticky snow syndrome so we decided not to repeat it.

Today, the snow on the pistes at Grands Montets was superb. At midday it was possible to divide Combes (under the Herse chair) into three distinct sections of snow quality. The top third had a perfect cold, firm base with a slightly softer top layer ideal for holding an edge on and carving hard; this snow didn't appear to have gone through a freeze/thaw process. The middle section was very hard, icy and difficult to hold an edge on, but it did begin to soften up. The lower third was basically the same as the middle but had been softened more fully by the sun thus making it easy get an edge.

As the snow was so good we headed up to the top of Grands Montets on the cable car. No queue to go up was a pretty good start as the last time we'd considered it, at Easter, the queue was an hour long! We planned to take the Pylones run but were seduced by the snow on Point de Vue once we were up there. It was excellent, not too bumpy on the top section (it can sometimes become very moguled). The quality of the snow was superb: cold and not a hint of iciness. The untracked snow was a little crusty, but it was a thin crust and we easily broke through. The views of the Argentiere glacier are amazing from here and it doesn't matter how often you do this run, the glacier and peaks always manage to look stunning. Lower down the moguls reappeared but weren't too nasty as they seemed to have been constructed out of softer snow than normal. The lower section was pisted and smooth, good for a final blast before joining the Combes cat track.

In general the pistes are in as good a condition as they've been all winter, with the exception of the lowest runs to the valley; last week's snow has really reinvigorated the runs that were starting to look tired. For example, the runs around Plan Joran look like it's February again: strange as it's nearly mid April and not many weeks are left until the end of the season. With more snow expected at the end of the week we may be in for an excellent close to the season.

Useful Links
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.

Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office