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Chamonix Snow Report: 16th January 2005

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

Another blue sky today and we went to Grand Montets, for the usual reason, i.e. we haven't been there lately (GM is not such an inviting prospect in times of no snow as it is very rocky and tends towards icyness, so we have been avoiding it), but also because we thought you might be getting bored on hearing about Le Tour. The weather was warm and sunny and there was no wind to speak of. Good weather tends to bring out weekend visitors but there didn't seem to be too many people about today (although when we tried to go to Le Tour yesterday we gave up in disgust after we discovered the car park was overflowing almost down to Monroc so there are extra people about).

First we took the Plan Joran chair up from the bottom. It wasn't open from the very bottom, next to the cable car, so we walked to the intermediary station just a hundred yards or so up from the end of the Pierre a Ric piste. This closure seems to be normal in quiet times and must help keep the Compagnie du Mont Blanc electric bill down or something. Riding up the chair we noticed that a few valiant souls had recently (and foolishly in our opinion) attempted the couloir skier's left of the lift line. The entrance chute (watch out for it about two-thirds of the way up on the left) crosses the lift line and there were telltale signs of the first person down having sideslipped and taken all the snow with them. This couloir always looks like a good idea from the lift until you get in it and have to pick your way down through bushes and find yourself dangling of icy waterfalls.

We took a ride up the Bochard. The good news is that there is now snow-making all the way up. This is beginning to have an impact although there is still one very rocky section near the top that the pisteurs have created a cat-track diversion around. I unearthed some surprise rocks on the way down and the run is pretty hard and icy in places with not much loose stuff but it is improving.

The top cable car is now open and there appeared to be virtually no queues for it. We contemplated taking a ride up until we read the sign informing us that the top section of the pistes up there is icy (a run down the Bochard red run with blunt edges satisfied our urge for masochistic ice ‘fun' and we weren't ready for more). We did take a ride up the Herse chair and watched some people picking their way down through the moguls that have already formed on the black Pylones run under the cable car lift line. None of them looked especially happy at the run they had just had so we felt justified in choosing to hang onto the 5 euros each we would have spent on a top ticket.

The forecast is for 20-30 centimetres at 1800 metres this coming Tuesday so we're all pretty hopeful that this time of blue skies and working on the goggle marks will be history fairly soon!

Useful Links
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.

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: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 2000

  • Alt. Summit: 2500

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1042

  • High Temp.: 9

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1042