Chamonix Snow Report: 14th April 2012

Having had such a great day at Grands Montets on Wednesday, that’s where I went back to after more snow fell on Thursday night. The webcams on the Brevent/Flegere side of the valley were looking very uninspiring and it did seem that GM had the best visibility as well as ultimately the best snow.

Car park was much busier than earlier in the week but there were still no queues (mainly down to the ridiculous time I eventually rocked up I imagine....). The Tabe chair is still shut and has been all week but there doesn’t appear to be any explanation as to why – Compagnie du Mont Blanc keeping an eye on their leccie bill perhaps? Anyway, the Plan Roujon chair took us to where we wanted to go, namely the Dream Forest and the Pendant. The forest was indeed looking rather dreamy but it was pretty well tracked and it was here that I realised something was seriously up with my legs. In order to avoid colliding with a tree I had to bail into the more open expanses around the Pendant chairlift.

The Remuaz black run that passes directly underneath the chairlift is usually large moguls and had a warning banner at the top declaring “very hard snow”. Not on Friday it wasn’t – it was turn after turn of proper spring pow – much heavier than the stuff that fell earlier in the week but it was also later in the day and lower down than my earlier forays. It was hard work, especially on the shonky set of pins that I was trying to snowboard with. The very bottom section of the piste is now closed but it was still skiable on Friday due to all the new snow; however it was a mass of big soft bumps and the odd brown patch here and there. The alternative – the Arolles blue track – has very brown snow cover in places at the bottom hinting that the end is probably nigh for the Pendant chairlift which is kind of normal for this time in the season. Thankfully you can still make the most of the fabulous back bowls on this side of the mountain even once the lift has closed, as there is the liaison track that (with a bit of speed) takes you through the tunnel and back to the Coqs blue and the Plan Roujon/Tabé chairs.

Higher up off the Herse and the snow was lighter, but again not as light as it had been on Wednesday and it was far more tracked out too. One of my favourite spots skiers' right of Blanchots, right under the cliffs, was covered by a good 25cms of new snow and it was a fun descent of choppy bumps all the way down to the track back to Lognan. As before, the snow got noticeably heavier the closer you got to the track and my thighs were becoming noticeably more painful as I struggled to keep linking turns in the heavier snow. In a bit of a huff, I called it a day, albeit a rather short one!

Pierre a Ric is still holding out all the way back down to the car park but it is a bit sketchy in places and really sticky towards the bottom. The result is that rather disconcerting stop/start feeling that is bad enough on a snowboard but on skis is even worse if your legs are getting stuck in different places and at different times.

Today is definitely a sofa day – it’s been raining on and off in town for most of the day and the visibility on the hill is at best reduced, and at worst a total white out. No thank you, even if there is another dusting of snow up there today. Tomorrow looks like it’ll be more of the same but at least the dreary weather is depositing more and more snow on the slopes – if the forecast is correct (and it’s usually pretty good) between 25-55cm is due to fall by Sunday night. I’m going back to the scene of the crime again tonight – Chambre 9 – to see if I can rectify this issue with my legs. For one night only the Balboas are back in town so hopefully a night of cocktails and dancing on tables to our favourite après ski band will restore things to normal. Don’t hold out much hope for my head in the morning though....