Chamonix Snow Report: 18th April 2010

With the closing of Brevent, Flegere area happening in just 7 days it seemed like a good idea to pay it our last respects on one of the easily accessible powder fields before it became impossible to do. There has been a wee bit of snow the other day but mostly it has stayed sunny and warm so getting up early to do this route was necessary as we didn't want to get caught in any late afternoon avalanches which are becoming frequent at the moment, especially on the south facing slopes in the area. I have done this route many times before and it is often quit good even weeks after a dump as there are two gullies which are sheltered from the sun pretty much all day meaning that powder can be found when everywhere else is slush (or ice early in the morning). I would strongly recommend using a guide at this time of year as there is large instabilities in the snow pack at the moment and so late on in the season it is now possible that the entire snow pack could give way, even though this route is very easy to access and a lot of people do it, it should not be taken lightly.

You can access the route from the top of the Cornu lift in the Brevent ski area where if you head slightly left on exiting the lift you will find some footprints and a rope to the left hand side of the large rock in front of you. From here you follow the ridge line up until you can see over the backside of Brevent, where you begin a fairly short traversing walk to the first bowl, or carry on a little longer round the corner to get to the higher second bowl with a longer decent and a better angle to the slope. Once we reached our destination at the second bowl we got our gear together and checked out a nice cornice drop at the top of the route which seemed a perfect opportunity for a flip! Unfortunately the camera wasn't set to multi shoot so only a pre-take off picture is available! (photos courtesy of Gary Warnock).

We had an epic run down in some fresh undisturbed powder before exiting in to the Flegere area where we then met lots and lots of slush, which was still good and forgiving to ride, it was a great way to say goodbye to two great ski areas for the season and to get that last little bit of powder possibility before the week is out, I'm sure we will have another visit before these wonderful hills shut. We got the cable car down as the home run is shut at the moment due to thin/no snow cover! And made our way for some wicked Après ski at the Rhododendrons bar just opposite the Flegere cable car.

Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!