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Chamonix Snow Report: 19th March 2006

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

It's been a beautifully warm and sunny weekend in Chamonix as temperatures have continued to rise. This Sunday afternoon it reached 10ºc on our balcony in Argentiere; combined with the sunshine it felt even warmer than that.

Yesterday was almost as warm but still cold, and the snow was frozen early in the morning. We decided to head off on a little tour, over the back of Le Tour to Trient going over the Grands Autannes. The Grands Autannes is the ridge you can see to your right as you ride up the Autannes chairlift at Le Tour. We set off early and caught the first lift up at 9:00 so as to get the trip done in time to catch the 12:10 bus back to Vallorcine from Trient (it costs 5 euros). We hiked up the slope just in boots with crampons for the steeper top section; others were using skins but with the hard frozen snow I don't think that there was much advantage with them. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the top, leaving us an hour for the descent. The snow was a little crusty at the top, not very thick but enough to make it tricky. Once across the top traverse the snow improved, softer where the sun was on it and still relatively powdery considering how long it has been since the last snowfall. It was a little tracked, but nowhere near as tracked as the Col du Passon looked from Le Tour that morning, and there were maybe twenty tracks before us at the most. The snow was good all the way down to the main gully of the Nant Noir that leads to Trient. There had been some massive avalanches down into the fields as you approach Trient, and it is clear why there are no houses built there. We arrived at Trient in time for a quick lunchtime beer before catching the bus back to Vallorcine – all in a morning's work.

This morning I headed down to Chamonix for a few laps on the ski de fond trails. With the high temperatures I can't imagine that they will be able to keep the trails open for much longer down there. First thing in the morning they were good and not too slushy, even icy in places. But by 11:00 they were starting to get quite slushy where the sun was on them. The trails in Argentiere are in better condition, as it's that little bit colder than Chamonix, so I expect that they should be able to stay open for longer. In the afternoon I headed up the Grands Montets for some snowboarding. It was relatively warm up there too, although that's by Grands Montets standards, which means that the pistes weren't bullet proof ice and instead the snow was fairly soft on piste at mid mountain. At the top of the Bochard and Herse it was still hard packed and mogulled in a lot of places. There's a new piste marked out off the Herse; on the map it's the black run L2 called Pylones; all winter it's been too rocky to be marked but now it's up and running. It's pretty much 100% moguls, so for most of the skiing and boarding public it won't be a run that'll inspire leaps of joy but for a few twisted individuals it'll be fun. Thankfully the black run Combe in Combe de la Pendant has been bashed, all apart from one short section that is still heavily mogulled. It's a great run if you want to do a large amount of vertical in a very short space of time; today I think we did it in the quickest time ever. The slushiest run of the day was unsurprisingly Pierre a Ric; good at the top it rapidly became slushier and slushier on the way down. I thought I could see a few stones and dark patches beginning to come through but it wasn't anything serious enough to worry about. The slush cover was a good semi-solid one, bound to freeze back to concrete for tomorrow morning.

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Open
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

We will be keeping this Chamonix snow report updated often during the season, but if you want even more up-to-date news on the ski conditions, why not sign up for our Dump Alert? We'll email you each time it snows enough to significantly change the skiing conditions. It's great to know that the snow is falling in the run-up to your holiday, and it might even allow you to book a last-minute weekend when the snow is particularly good. The service is free, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

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

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 2

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 1050

  • Alt. Summit: 3000

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1250

  • High Temp.: 12

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050