Chamonix Snow Report: 13th January

First up Jemima made it up to Le Tour on Saturday..
"Having heard good things about Balme from friends that had skied it earlier on in the week, I decided to head over to Le Tour on Saturday. Despite not making it up the mountain until 11am, following a night at the Jekyll to see the awesome Thrill Collins, it was blissfully quiet. The rumours were true, the snow was pretty good over there, a little slushy in places but otherwise soft with hardly any ice in sight.  Sunny Grand Montets on Sunday was much firmer and their was a fair amount of ice on piste. Off piste it was pretty tracked out but there were plenty of mogules to keep you entertained and practice your technique on. Bring on the snow tonight!"

Lorne heads up the Aiguille du Midi now that things have filled in and the snow has got a bit safer. It's recommended to have crampons for the walk down the arete, as the snow is pretty hard packed and only the first half is roped.

"We decided that the Gros Rognon route would be the safest and least skied and that was exactly right as we got nice windblown snow the whole way down and it really hadn’t been too tracked since the last top-up of snow.  Grand Envers will always be my go-to route off the Midi but Gros Rognon is fast becoming another favourite; just fast & cruisey wide-open turns, excellent fun and nothing too serious.
We stepped up past the Requin Hut on several friends’ recommendation for the safest route out, then through the first exit couloir which had slightly slabby snow above it and some crust in it but was fine to ski.  The James Bond track back to town is very bare at the moment so we just took the train home to Montenvers.  We bumped into a mate of Phil’s who had skied the Classic Vallee Blanche solo after his partner lost a ski down the Frendo while gearing up (something about the brake falling off), who said there has been a lot of guided traffic down the Classic and through the Salle A Manger so that sounds pretty safe now too."

Meanwhile Megan fancied a ristretto so headed over to Courmayeur, on the other side of the Mont Blanc, where she managed to get a few turns at the same time.
"I'd say snow coverage seems to be slightly better in Courmayeur than in Chamonix. Pistes were still fairly icy, especially on the Val Veny side before the sun hit them. In the afternoon, the lower down runs started to soften a lot in the sun, giving variable conditions from ice to slush. "

Seven Twenty Productions made it up Les Houches this morning to give a live piste preview, check out the video for snow conditions from Les Houches.