Chamonix Snow Report: 14th February 2006
Holiday season is in full swing in Chamonix with the place feeling like the whole world is here; there are even reported sightings of Glenn Plake in town. So to avoid the queues at the lifts this morning a small group of highly trained athletes and myself headed into the backcountry for a little off-piste action. Our destination was Trient in Switzerland. It took a little forward planning with one of us leaving a car at the car park in Trient; it all went smoothly apart from a customs inspection at the border, remember your passport! We drove back to Vallorcine and headed up the gondola there to start the trip.
It was fairly busy at Vallorcine but no queue, unlike what you will normally find at Le Tour in peak season where you may have to queue for some time. A few warm-up runs on the piste confirmed my suspicions that it was going to be busy today. There were longer queues for the Autannes chair and the Tete de Balme chair than there have been all season. The pistes were in a fairly good state, softening up nicely as the temperature rose above freezing in today's bright sun. The usual bitterly cold wind was absent today and it felt very warm up at Le Tour in the morning.
We started up the Balme drag lift and then hiked for few minutes up to the Refuge de Col de Balme; they don't take kindly to picnickers using their tables so watch out for the owners (they do steak and frites for 9 euros by the way!). We headed straight over the border down to Trient. The snow at the top was good. The slope is out of the sun most of the time so stays in good shape, we even had a few powdery turns. However, as we headed into the narrow gully that leads to Trient the snow became hard packed. Further down there were some very icy sections too, and plenty of evidence of old avalanches. The gully is a serious terrain trap and should only be entered with a guide and/or when you know that the conditions are safe: today there was a yellow flag signifying a level 1 or 2 risk. We bumped into another group entering the main gully from the tree on skier's right, and they seemed to be having problems getting through the bushes as it's a quite steep at the sides. Check the book Mont Blanc and the Aiguille Rouges: a guide for skiers by Anselme Baud for more information on routes to Trient from Le Tour.
For the afternoon I headed down to Chamonix to try some ski de fond. It was warm: my car thermometer was telling me +6ºC, which may not be that accurate but it certainly felt mild. The snow is getting a little thin in places and on some of the upper sections of the red run it was slushy. The trails were pretty busy too: a mixture of teenagers, old folk and superfit guys in full lycra one-piece suits. In a few places it became a little congested as some of the guys who perhaps should have been in Turin forced their way through the slower ones.
Things look like they will be changing soon as some serious snow is expected in the next few days starting on Wednesday night. I hope the rain forecast at lower altitudes doesn't do too much damage but hey there'll be powder higher up the mountains!
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
Useful Links
Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
French Avalanche Research Institute
Meteo France - Mountain weather and avalanche conditions bulletins (in French)
Henry's Avalanche Talk - popular avalanche training sessions based in French Alps as well as translation of current avalanche conditions
PisteHors.com - Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding News in English for the French Alps. Excellent coverage of avalanche safety and advice
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
Stats
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Level 2
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 1050
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Alt. Summit: 3000
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Alt. Last Snow: 1250
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High Temp.: 6
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
