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Chamonix Snow Report: 20th April 2005

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

Fresh snow continues to fall in Chamonix –10cm at our house this morning and the thermometer read 2ºc. Typically this means much, much more up on the mountain so off we headed to Grands Montets for yet another day of fresh powder.

With it being the end of the season there's barely anyone around, even a few seasonaires have gone home already. This is great news for anyone still here or clever enough to come out for a late holiday as the lift queues are almost non-existent. We walked straight onto the Argentiere-Lognan cablecar without waiting and then onto the Lognan-Grands Montets cablecar after only waiting for 5 minutes. The top cablecar is now free so we took full advantage of that today and rode it for most of the day, only taking the Herse chair a couple of times just so we could sit down for a bit. The queues for the top cable car grew through the day and on our last ride at about 2pm we waited about 20 minutes.

It was snowing all day up at Grands Montets. Light, fluffy dry powder at the top, just the way it looks in the magazines. Even on our late arrival at about 11am there were still large sections untracked or barely tracked making it difficult to decide exactly where to ride. We tried Pylones first and even on the piste the powder was fantastic, about half a metre deep on top of all the other snow we've had in the past week. The snow to the side of the Pylones was less tracked and even better. As we got lower down and passed the top of the Herse chair the snow started to get heavier and lost its light powdery quality, although it was still very, very good. Lower down still, towards Lognan it was less deep, maybe 20-30cm or so, and heavier, although in the large untracked areas we found it was still smooth and easy to ride. However, you could feel the firmer old snow underneath in places.

Point de Vue was excellent too. Although there had been a fair amount of traffic down it when we rode it, the light snow was still easy to ride despite it being a bit chopped up and bumpy. On one run we took a detour off piste to skier's right of Point de Vue; here the snow was barely tracked at all and the powder was perfect – bottomless, light and smooth to ride. As it's on a glacier this area is crevassed so you need to be very careful with your routefinding, especially as on days like today the visibility can go very quickly. The visibility at the top of Grands Montets was good, and whilst it wasn't sunny the sun was almost poking through the clouds until we descended lower down towards Lognan where the cloud thickened and visibility became worse.

Our last run was inevitably down Pierre a Ric, which seems to have nine lives. Last night's snow is keeping it going a little bit longer with the top section still in very good condition. The lower half is the least stony it's been for some time, although I still managed to clip a few stones and rocks on it today. Long may Pierre a Ric live, and now I'm wondering if it might just make it to the end of the season?

By the time I got home the 10cm of snow in our garden had melted away and the snow had stopped falling. It's still grey and overcast late this afternoon but tomorrow's due to be warm and sunny so I expect the slopes will be busier again.


Useful Links
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.

Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 4

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 2000

  • Alt. Summit: 3000

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1042

  • High Temp.: 2

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1042