Chamonix Snow Report: 18th April 2012

It’s quite hard to get motivated to go up the hill when you open your curtains to grey dampness. I have no problem boarding in heavy snow but sitting on a chairlift in the rain is not my idea of fun. Having said that, it’s been quite a bit colder these last few days and the snow line had dropped back down to around 1200m again this morning so there is certainly no chance of it raining on the slopes in the next few days.

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time at Grands Montets recently but I suddenly realised that April is ticking by fast and that Brevent/Flegere, Les Houches and Le Tour will all be closing this weekend. With that in mind I went up the valley to Le Tour a couple of days ago where the webcams were hinting that you might at least be able to see your hand in front of your face. And you could. Well, at least on the bottom half of the runs down the front. As we climbed higher on the Autannes chair, the visibility went from almost sunny, to a bit flat and murky, to complete white out at the top and it was cold on the chair lift too with a biting wind whipping at us all the way up. There had been some fresh snow overnight as well but because the wind had been blowing a bit of a hoolie, it was all rather crusty and not as enticing as we had hoped (especially as we were negotiating our way down as good as blind). The pistes were a bit scratchy up top but as the vis improved so did the quality of the snow and the bottom section was perfect for some fast smooth turns as the snow softened. Over the back and the visibility was about as bad as I think I’ve ever seen it – even the trees weren’t providing much in the way of definition and we really were clinging to those markers, grateful that we knew the lay of the land. Even so, it’s amazing how easily you can get completely disorientated in white out conditions if you find yourself on the wrong side of a marker.

Whilst it has been rather grey and murky in town this week and the clouds have hung fairly heavy on the Brevent/Flegere side of the valley, there was almost a cloud inversion on GM yesterday and certainly if you were up the Midi it was an absolute bluebird. Always worth a peek at the Chamonix webcams before you write the day off. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get up the hill yesterday to see for myself, but by all accounts it was pretty nice up there. Around a foot of fresh snow off the very top lift and fresh lines to be had in the sunshine. Rats :O(

A couple of people have commented that they think I’m being overly positive on the condition of the snow at the moment but the truth is - I like spring skiing! I’d much rather be boarding through soft, slushier snow that on hard pack or ice and we genuinely have had a lot of snow fall in the last week/ten days. It’s not the light fluffy powder that we get in January but it has still been halfway up our shins, there are still hardly any rocks or bare patches showing on the prepared areas and you can still get face shots at times on the higher, steeper runs. That to me is not something to grumble about.

And given that there is still the best part of a metre of snow at all the mid-stations, it always makes it a little bit sad when the areas start to close down. It’s incredible how quickly the pistes deteriorate once they are no longer prepared. The ski out at Le Tour has been closed for a couple of weeks now and has large expanses of grass the length of it, however, the nursery slopes at La Vormaine just beside the car park are still well covered and open for beginner skiers.

There’s quite a bit going on then this weekend as the areas begin to wind up for the season; check out this week’s après ski report for where the closing parties are on the hill and be prepared for it to keep on snowing right up until that last lift closes.