Chamonix Snow Report: 17th December 2006

Yesterday, we managed to find some great snow up on Grands Montets. There's not much of a base yet but still we were tempted off to the sides of the Bochard piste where the snow was silky and light. I clipped a few rocks – so watch out off piste. It wasn't massively deep but about 20–30 cm is plenty to have fun with, and at least you don't have to worry about digging yourself out when you fall.

The fly in the ointment of some otherwise good snowboarding was the upper section of the Bochard piste. As was the case at the beginning of last season, the upper section seems to struggle this early to get enough snow to cover the huge rocks and boulders that normally get buried later. The pisteurs' solution to the problem is to place straw bales in front of the larger obstacles and place black and yellow poles above the smaller rocks. It makes for some interesting riding as you slalom between the hazards; by the afternoon on Saturday this had caused some monster moguls to build up here. This section can easily be avoided by ducking the rope into the Combe de la Pendant and hanging a skier's right down the cat track you'll find there; this rejoins the Bochard piste just below the problem section.

Overnight on Saturday it rained down in the valley raising my hopes that we'd wake up to see the valley white or at least the snow line visible; instead this morning it looked like nothing had happened when I looked out the window. Yesterday's sunny weather had been replaced by overcast and grey skies, and it felt fairly mild. However, up on Grands Montets the rain had fallen as snow – not much but every little helps right now. The snow cannons must have been running 24 hrs as the rocky sector at the top of Bochard was a little less rocky and the bales of straw looked like they were starting to get buried. The lower section of Bochard was still as icy as yesterday and where it meets the top of the Marmotton chair a few skiers and boarders were testing out the seats of their pants. The shortcut that avoids this section takes a left further up the Bochard piste just before the right turn with the orange netting. Yesterday the shortcut was covered in fresh snow – a little choppy but basically good stuff. Today it was starting to look like the mogul field it'll be until whenever we next have a big fall of snow. The mogul field wasn't in full maturity yet as the bumps were still reasonably soft.

The best of the riding today was around the mid mountain; higher up there were still too many exposed rocks for my liking. We spent the best part of the day riding the Tabe and Marmotton chairlifts, not the fastest chairs in the world but no queues meant that we had plenty of runs. The run off of the Tabe had some good snow on it but the best was the powder just to the sides of the piste: soft, boot deep with plenty of little bumps and jumps to have fun on. In places, especially on the steeper sections, the piste was starting to look a little thin by the end of the afternoon but nothing the groomers won't sort out overnight. Marmotton piste was in excellent shape: well groomed and perfect for laying down some sweeping carved turns.

The flurries that had been forecast for the afternoon never arrived, even though it looked promising as menacing cloud built up. The visibility started to go and we headed down. The Pierre a Ric home run isn't open yet so we had to download on the Plan Joran chairlift. Overall, it was a genuinely good opening weekend, if a little later than expected. Now I can't wait for the rest to open.

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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