A person riding a snowboard down a snowy hill

A snowboarder is skiing down a snow covered slope

The sun is shining through the clouds over a snowy mountain

Chamonix Snow Report: 19th January 2011

featured in Snow report Author Kieran Sharp, Updated 24 October 2014

Some lovely sunny days, soft snow, and pretty much spring conditions await you here in Chamonix, and with slopes pretty much to yourself combined with cheaper flights and accommodation, it's a great time to come over. With warmer temperatures in the valley it doesn't mean there is no snow, it has wiped out a couple of the lower runs like the home run at Brevent and Flegere, but up the mountain there are still many possibilities to ride.

No snow down low but there are still plenty of opportunities up high and if you use a bit of local knowledge or acquire the services of a qualified guide then you might even be able to find secret wee stashes of powder! There is a lot of moaning about this particularly warm January, however this does mean that you can still ride and even enjoy some of the activities normally performed in the summer time, like biking, climbing and walking. All the birds are in the valley and it feels great just to be outside in what seems like spring time, and with no more ice on the footpaths you can walk around a little less cautiously than you might have been here in previous weeks.

The past few days I have been trying to find soft patches of snow to ride, but in all fairness the pistes are in pretty good nick especially early in the morning so a bit of carvey jibey type stuff is good bet. Practicing ollies and spinning around the sides of the piste have been great fun. A good spot for this is round the back side of Le Tour where we were today. There is a long fairly flat blue piste run through the trees and there are plenty of humps, bumps, and rocks to play around on. If this is your type of thing hiring the services of Blue Mile Snowsports they will Snowboard host you around the valley finding some of the best spots to jib, and all while being filmed in High Definition 1080p cameras.

We spent the whole of today lapping the piste that runs through the trees as it was so much fun, finding some of the best jibs, and seeing how creative your mates can be at finding their own for you to copy. After a 6 laps of this run we decided to head for a cup of fine coffee in the small restaurant in the Balme area, which has such a lovely setting and is a great spot to sit, eat some local cheese, drink some great coffee and admire the beautiful sunny views. However we were ushered to sit out on the snow as we were only ordering one meal and a load of coffee between us, and even though this time of year is quiet and not many clients are around, they still demanded that we move away from the restaurant area, so we traversed back to the main area and got ourselves some great food with equally amazing views! After a hard days jibing we made our way to the fantastic bar Le Rusticana in Argentiere to enjoy some great nachos and beer at happy hour prices!

Just to let you know that while I uploaded this report its started snowing!

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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!