Chamonix Snow Report: 13th February 2009

Today the pea soup stopped and the necessity of skiing with a white cane or Golden Retriever came to an end. Waking up with sunshine streaming through my windows, I hightailed it to work, keen to dispense with the morning as quickly as possible and get some great riding in over our three-hour lunchbreak.

We spent time discussing where to go to make the most of the preposterous amounts of snow that had fallen at altitude. Option one was the Grands Envers, a variation of the classic Chamonix route the Vallée Blanche. This was quickly discounted after a phone call from a friend who was stuck on the flat section after the Salle A Manger, obliged to scoot his snowboard one-footed for half an hour in very high winds. What about Brevent, prehaps? A big possibility, although sadly rejected after seeing a guy come in who had done the L'ENSA couloir in the Brevent bowl four (four!) times by 12.15, reporting tracked-out snow on all aspects and all stashes pillaged.

It was looking like we'd missed the snow, until someone suggested Près Du Rocher. The PDR is a little-known route from the Aiguille du Midi midstation back down to Chamonix town. If you fancy it, it's definitely one to do with a guide as the exit is hard to find and there are lots of cliffs around. From the Aiguille midstation, we traversed out and dropped in to some of the deepest, sweetest, untracked windblown powder I've ever ridden in Chamonix. Leaning back hard, pushing as hard as I could in my turns, I was nowhere near the bottom and had to let out a cough every few turns to get rid of the dusty, dry powder hanging in my lungs. After fifty or sixty untracked, steep, super-stable turns at Mach 15, we jumped into the woods to follow tracks down to the town. The wooded traverse turned out to be an extremely unpleasant iced-out boardercross of shoops, jumps and berms. Finally, however, we made it back down to town and jumped straight back on the lift to do it all again.

In the end, after a good couple of runs at PDR, we called it good and headed to Belouga for a quick filthy caloriefest of a lunch. Belouga is practically in institution amongst the unhealthy slobs of the valley, your correspondent included. The concept is simple; place a burger and various fillings inside a bun and grill it beyond recognition, then add a hand-made sauce to wake the whole concoction up a bit. It's a brilliant calorie-hit to take your mind off your burning back leg, and is open until 1am for the inevitable post-boozer hunger pangs. More on Chamonix Eating here.

So, in summary, my snow report for today is positive. The snow is white, deep and dry, and there's plenty of it. As it gets tracked over the next few days, get creative with your ideas for riding; there will be fresh stuff left off the top lift at Les Grands Montets, although Brevent and Flégère are pretty tracked out by now. There might be some good sport to be had between the groomers at Le Tour, and especially over the backside of the resort at Vallorcine.

Wherever you end up tomorrow, enjoy.

See you in the lineup!

Tom