Chamonix Snow Report: 16th March 2006
The weather has settled down into a predictable pattern of clear cold mornings and warm sunny afternoons. It's becoming more and more like typical spring conditions, and whilst it's not quite slush in the afternoon and ice in the morning, it's not far off it.
Yesterday I went up to Grands Montets, which is in shade for most of the winter, but now it's finally starting to catch the sun in the afternoons. It made for a warm and pleasant Boss des Bosses competition there yesterday, unless you were caught up in the monster snowball fight among the spectators. The bumps course is made especially for the competition, which is between several resorts, and even Glenn Plake graced the event with his mohican. Can you believe that they actually build moguls? As if there aren't plenty at the Grands Montets! The sun shone on Chamonix and they won. I didn't spend much time watching except for from the lifts, preferring to ride my new snowboard instead. The conditions on piste were great for testing it out – a mixture of smooth pistes for carving, like the red runs Bochard and Combes. There were some steep bumps on Chamois in the Combe de la Pendant to try out quick, short-radius turns. The snow on piste is generally in a superb state, and even the harder packed sections aren't bad as there's plenty of soft loose snow there too. The lifts were all free from queues when I was there and the general atmosphere is much more laid back now the half-term holidays are over. The off piste wasn't massively tempting, as it resembles hard pack now; it's a case of hiking if you want powder and there were plenty of people heading over the Col du Passon in order to get to the fresh snow above Le Tour.
Today, an even warmer day than yesterday, I headed up to Le Tour to make the most of the sun and gentle pistes. At the front, the runs were softening up nicely by midday – not slushy but firm enough to hold an edge without skidding out and to lay down some carved turns. I still miss the gullies that had provided so many good jumps earlier in the season; with all the extra snow we've had it's a shame that most of the good hits have gone. At the end of the day, Caisets, the red run down to Le Tour, had started to get fairly slushy, which may appeal to some but not others. I found it great fun, and almost like powder in the way you can push the snow around. The Vallorcine side was firmer than the front side; the Belle Place red run at the back was almost icy on the upper shadier section. There were plenty of very large lumps of debris to the sides of the run from where the cornice that looms above had been bombed by the pisteurs. Again it was fairly quiet at Le Tour, although intermittent stoppages on the Autannes chair made for some longer line-ups than expected from the number of people up there. There were a few people hiking at le Tour for fresh tracks, including some over the back of the Grands Autannes. There were also plenty of trails down from the Col du Passon.
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.: 7
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
