Chamonix Snow Report: 15th February 2008

A trip to Les Houches on Wednesday provided good sport. We had to park a little further from the Prarion gondola than usual but we were pleased to get straight onto the lift with no waiting. The snow is largely holding up well. The pisteurs had obviously been hard at work dragging snow from the sides of the piste where necessary. We didn't ski the off piste but it did not look much fun. The pistes however were fine. One of the runs on the back side was closed for lack of snow but in the main the pistes were hard and fast to ski on. In places the smooth hard packed base had a covering of loose snow and you needed to pick your spot to turn, these conditions tend to favor faster skiers and can be hard work for boarders.

As we had visitors we decided to pick up a discounted tunnel ticket from the office of the Compagnie du Mont Blanc at Montenvers and check out Courmayeur on Thursday. We were not disappointed. Courmayeur has an extensive system of snow making and it had obviously been in use, there were large mounds of artificial snow all over. The technology of snow making has improved in recent years. When I first came across artificial snow it was quite unpleasant and seemed to consist of a sort of refrozen slush, but nowadays the cannons produce something closer to the real thing, more akin to dense powder snow.

We had a picnic lunch on the top of the Cresta D'Arp and were treated to some magnificent views of the Italian side of Mont Blanc which is very different from the French side being made up of huge rock faces and soaring ridges. The off piste runs from here looked amazing, and they did not seem to have had much traffic. We did not do them so I can not comment on their condition. The pistes in Courmayeur are also holding up well. There was mostly a reasonable thickness of loose snow over the hard base to provide good skiing and riding. There are a few sections of hard pack on the Val Veny side but nothing too bad.

The avalanche level in Chamonix has been 2, moderate and was 3, considerable in Courmayeur. The weather seems set to stay sunny for some days to come with long range forecasts indicating no new disturbances until the end of next week, and even that without any great level of certainty.

Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our latest Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Open
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.

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