Chamonix Snow Report: 19th November 2007

I had a little nose around the area this weekend to see for myself just how much snow had come down. I was keen to take advantage of the weekend opening of the Flegere cable car and check out the condition of the pistes up there. As I mentioned in my last report, the cable car will be open every weekend until December 9th but for pedestrians only and I understand that the lifties were actually refusing access to anyone trying to go up with skis this weekend. Having said that, as I arrived at the base station in Les Praz, a very happy looking French man came sliding into the car park having obviously just skied down the black “Praz Trail” back to the valley floor. He must have skinned up as when we arrived at the top station, there was literally one set of tracks in the corduroy on the newly bashed Evettes piste. Whilst I'm sure he enjoyed some great powder turns on the route down, based on the volume of snow that had fallen in town, I actually expected to see a lot more snow up there. Don't get me wrong, for November, the coverage was very impressive and the bashers had clearly been hard at work on the initial base preparation. Whilst there was inevitably the odd patchy area showing through it's a real promising start.

However, from what I could see from Flegere and from what I'd heard, Le Tour was where the real action was to be found. It was getting late in the afternoon so I was racing the setting sun in order to get a couple of snaps for you before the light went. It was cold up there, -6 at 4pm, but the snow was phenomenal – soft and squeaky and where the bashers had been, it was the sort that lets your edges sink in just enough to properly let rip! I'd spoken to a neighbour who'd skinned up to Charamillon on Thursday and when he could stop grinning enough to speak, he said the powder was well above knee level coming down the front face. There were quite a number of skiers there on Saturday making the most of the deserted area but to give you the full effect, I came across these great photographs on Snowheads.com which will explain more than words ever can.

Sunday dawned another beautiful day but for some reason, I shelved our tentative plans to go and ski in Verbier for the day after receiving a slightly less than favourable report on Saturday night from someone who works over there. Two lessons were learned; 1) Never listen to drunk people - they always exaggerate either for better or worse, and 2) when you wake up to a day like Sunday was (ie. perfect!), it's always worth going up! I'm such an idiot!! And I have been kicking myself ever since as friends have subsequently regaled me with stories of a fabulous day up the hill. Whilst there are only a couple of lifts open for skiing, with the liaison lift links you can get a pretty decent circuit out of it. Our reporter in Verbier has popped his version of conditions on our sister site www.seeverbier.com. I also spoke to someone else who ventured over to Les Gets on Saturday and came back with equally glowing reports of conditions in the Portes du Soleil, although the lift queues seemed to be much longer there than they were in Verbier. Our Morzine reporter hiked up to Avoriaz just after last weeks heavy dump and took some pretty impressive pictures of the powder at 1850m. So as you can see conditions in and around the Northern Alps are quite incredible for the middle of November. Now all we are waiting for it the nod from the Compagnie du Mont Blanc as to whether they will be opening up Grands Montets this coming weekend. It was certainly looking promising from Flegere and their snow cannons have been in action for a couple of weeks so we're feeling optimistic. As soon as we hear, I'll pop details in the news for you and you can be sure that I won't be listening to any drunken eejits next week – I'll be up there for myself!

So what did I do on Sunday instead of skiing in Verbier? Did chores and went for a run – big whoop! Although having said that it was particularly beautiful along the Promenade de l'Arve to Les Houches as the trees were shedding their snowy coats in a constant shower of glitter – it was like running through a fairytale! This trail makes up part of the 17kms of winter walking paths that are cleared all winter for anyone that doesn't want to ski or board, and the gentle gradient for the majority of the way makes it suitable for anyone. So with Lily Allen in my headphones, it seemed so fitting as she sang “sun is in the sky, oh why, oh why, would I want to be anywhere else?” (I la la laa'd over the next verse about mugging old ladies for their shopping….. :O| ) but when it comes down to it, when you're lucky enough to spend any length of time in Chamonix, why would you want to be anywhere else?

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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