A person skiing down a snowy slope with trees in the background

A person riding a snowboard down a snowy hill

A black and white photo of a ski lift going up a snowy mountain

A person skiing down a snowy slope with mountains in the background

Two people skiing down a snowy slope with a mountain in the background

Chamonix Snow Report: 19th March 2008

featured in Snow report Author Jim Brady, Updated 24 October 2014

Lots of excitement today at Grands Montets, with teams of the best boarders, skiers and telemarkers from resorts across the Alps, converging on the place for the annual Boss des Bosses, bumps competition. So while all my Chamonet colleagues were working hard covering the event I sloped off to Le Tour to check out how the snow has been shaping up since it stopped falling on Monday.

The news is good, the piste bashers have been hard at work, and all the runs are in excellent condition with a soft packed layer of powder making for great riding and skiing everywhere. Two runs which often sport large patches of hard pack the red, Belle Place, and the blue Esserts left hand variation, are both in superb nick.

The off piste is more variable, with the best riding and skiing to be found on the colder north facing slopes. As usual fresh lines are becoming harder to find, but the tracked areas are still providing great sport due to the snow remaining very light. The off piste on the west facing slopes while looking quite inviting, has suffered a thaw-freeze cycle which has resulted it becoming either crusty or heavy depending on altitude.

The weather today was sunny and cold; there was a heavy frost on my car first thing, the first for quite a while. The day continued cold, made worse by a freshening wind blowing from the south west. There was also some cloud swirling around again adding to the chilly feel. But don't get me wrong the cold did not spoil a superb day on the mountain, just need an extra layer.

As we head into the busy Easter weekend, the runs are in good fettle; the weather forecast however is less positive, at least in the short term. After a predicted fine day tomorrow, a heavy fall of snow is expected on Friday, with further snow showers expected over the weekend combined with falling temperatures.

The avalanche threat level today was 3, considerable. Meteo France is forecasting for it to drop to 2, moderate for the next couple of days then rise sharply on Friday. I have noticed dotted around the mountain, info points manned by the piste security staff in their blue and orange jackets, I am sure they would be delighted to offer further advice on runs and snow conditions.

And Boss des Bosses- well Chamonix came second to Zermatt, good effort to all concerned.

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