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Chamonix Snow Report: 15th March 2007

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

The warm sunny weather has continued through the week with temperatures rising gradually. The thermometer in our garden was reading 18ºC at 4pm this afternoon. It should be bad for the snow but it's not as bad as it sounds: temperatures have been dropping below zero overnight and the snow has been going through the classic spring freeze–thaw cycle.

Today rather than enjoy the slush at Brevent and Flegere I headed up to Grands Montets in order to find some snow that wasn't too slushy. It was a little bit of a surprise as I rode up the chairlifts from Argentiere to see how hardpacked and mogulled the off piste was looking: it's been a while since I last visited Grands Montets and back then the off piste was much softer. Early in the morning the pistes were fairly firm and hardpacked so it was a case of taking it a little easy until the sun started to soften the snow up.

First, I rode the Herse chairlift for a few runs; it had less of a queue than the Bochard, and a few good jumps on and around the cat tracks to play on. The Combes piste was very hard and icy at the top but it had the usual lumps of loose snow scattered around to make things interesting. The Pylones piste has been marked with poles now. It's not the usual kind of piste though as it never gets groomed and is now a mogul field for the deviants that like skiing moguls. With a good dump of powder it's fun once the moguls are buried otherwise I'd recommend giving it a wide berth unless you're that way inclined.

Bochard was similar to Combes but perhaps a little less hardpacked. It had plenty of piles of soft loose snow too, and a splattering of moguls off the sides of the piste. The queue to get on the lift was a little busier than the Herse but moved fairly quickly; however, gone are the days of having a gondola to oneself, and now as many people as possible squeeze in.

The snow park was the highlight of the day for me. As the snow softened by midday, not only did the pistes improve greatly but also the jumps in the snow park became less like icy monsters waiting to cripple me. There's a large selection of jumps and rails in the park now and they are all being very well maintained by the pisteurs in charge. I saw them throughout the day working to keep to jumps in good shape. There are easy rollers for beginners and the jumps and rails are graded in difficulty from blue to black just as the pistes are graded, so work up gradually to the hard ones. The park is looking very popular too, so be sure when you drop in that it's clear and safe.

I also noticed that at the top of the Plan Joran chairlift there was some kind of avalanche-dog training going on; I could hear them for miles away. It's good to see them up on the mountain doing their thing, and they seem to enjoy it too. I headed off the mountain on the Pierre a Ric a little earlier than most and it was in pretty good shape considering the heat, but the lowest section was very slushy. Snow cover though was still good, and there was no sign of rocks or mud patches so it's a good as could be hoped for. The warm weather's set to continue for a few days more but it does look like we're in for a cooler spell earlier next week with some fresh snow too.


Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our all new 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

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 2

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 75

  • Alt. Resort: 2000

  • Alt. Summit: 2800

  • Alt. Last Snow: 2000

  • High Temp.: 18

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050