Chamonix Snow Report: 17th February 2012

Up on the hill it’s been a similar story. We had a nice little top up of fresh snow on Wednesday with around 20cms settling above mid station. Whilst that was a lovely treat, it didn’t end up being quite the powder day that we had hoped for as you were very quickly through to the harder packed snow underneath. But hey, 20cms is still 20cms and with the world and their wife about to descend on us this weekend, all top ups are gratefully received.

I’ve been quite surprised that this week hasn’t been busier on the hill, actually. It’s the first week of the French school holidays but it hasn’t been too painful at all. The car park at the Grands Montets was half empty earlier in the week and even though it had filled up considerably today, there were still no real queues to speak of at any of the lifts but the pistes did get quite busy this afternoon after lunch. In fact the only real shocker that I’ve heard of this week was the wait at the Le Tour gondola at the start of the week (I refer you back to my previous report – this area is best avoided on a Sunday/Monday morning as ski school groups are there in their droves). And my other tip about skiing through lunch time will really help you make the most of the mountain when everyone else has stopped to eat.

On Grands Montets today though it was really mild up top, not a breath of wind all day and easily warm enough to catch some rays in the deckchairs at Lognan. Positively spring like! Plenty, plenty of snow everywhere still and the only rocks I’ve come across this week are on the ski outs from Brevent & Flegere which is kind of to be expected until we get another decent sized top up of snow. On GM the off piste is still fun to play on if you stick to the shady spots; I had a little dabble into the Lavancher bowl this afternoon but it was pretty crusty and a bit of a bone shaker so that was a once only attempt before heading back to the piste.

Next week is going to be a different story – it will definitely be busy both on and off the slopes but it looks like we should be getting a bit more snow Saturday night/Sunday but nothing that is likely to require a snorkel the following morning. The weekend is promising to be very cold again in the morning but the temperature inversion we’ve enjoyed for the last couple of days is continuing, so it should still feel quite mild up on the hill as the day progresses. Time to finally open up those clothing vents!