Chamonix Snow Report: 19th February 2006
The near-continuous snowfall of the last few days seems to have finally come to an end and the ski areas are starting to reopen after yesterday's nearly complete shutdown. On Saturday there were only the low nursery slopes in the valley open, so for most of us it was a day when we had to think of something else to do. Some drove off to other nearby lower resorts like Les Houches, Les Contamines or Saint Gervais. We chose to head off on some snowshoes for the afternoon. There are plenty of walking trails in Chamonix and with a map they're easy to follow and are well signposted. There's a route called the Petit Balcon Sud that connects Argentiere to Chamonix (and beyond): it's fairly low in the valley but has a few climbs in it. It was fantastic to be out in the fresh snow, which was noticeably wetter and less deep the closer we got to Chamonix. The snowshoes worked well and made it easy to walk through snow that was thigh deep in places. Overall it took us around two and a half hours to get to Chamonix. We spotted one snowboarder who had hiked Praz at Flegere and rode down, and there was a guy skinning up on touring skis as we approached Chamonix too. It was snowing on and off but not really heavily yesterday afternoon, and the sun even came out briefly allowing us a glimpse of the Aiguille du Midi.
Today was the big day when Grands Montets finally opened up the higher lifts with the exception of the top cable car, which remains closed. We headed up, and queues were remarkably absent given that it was Sunday and normally crowded. When we arrived, Bochard and Herse were running: we couldn't believe it. Retour Pendant opened a little later. Our first run was up the Bochard. At the top there's been a massive slab avalanche that has run down onto the piste. The crown wall looked to be at least a metre deep and good reminder of the reason why the avalanche danger is still at level 4. We followed the ridge between Bochard and Combe de la Pendant which was pretty wind blown, however it improved dramatically when we dropped into the Cigar (the long wide gully that runs in line with the rocky ridge skier's left). It's normally mogulled, but today it was full of the lightest powder, superb. In fact there were plenty of powder stashes to be found lower down as everyone was heading up onto the higher lifts. Combe de la Pendant was good too although still fairly rocky, and there were some good stashes of powder to be had between the chopped up leftovers if you looked in the right places. The Dream Forest (trees between Retour Pendant and Plan Roujon) was still superb and possibly the best it's been all season: multiple pillow lines served on a bed of light fluffy powder were on the menu today. The Hotel Variant was also great, the section just above and below the hotel being the least tracked when we rode it. The top section just above the Italian bowl is still much rockier than normal, but the snow was light even though it was chopped up in some busier sections. Canadian bowl had less powdery snow in it, as the wind seemed to have compacted it. And it was seriously windy up there later in the afternoon, enough to close the Bochard early at about 3:45pm.
The pistes are obviously all in great shape with all the new snow, and plenty of people sticking to the marked runs today. All day we kept looking across to Flegere, nothing was moving. Now, what I should say is that it'll be rubbish there when it opens, and I hope no one goes there. But, I think everyone knows how good the snow will be so there'll be no getting away with that. To my two American friends, I hope you had an epic day on your fat skis!
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 4
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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.: 4
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
