Chamonix Snow Report: 21st April 2006

Yesterday and today we have been riding at Le Tour in order to make the most of the area before we're restricted to Grands Montets, which becomes the only resort open as of Monday. Le Tour is in remarkably good condition given the time of year, and in fact the snow cover now is better than in the early part of the season. It's hard to imagine that it's closing given that it is so good. The snow itself is slush for most of the day now, with the sweet spot being between about 11:00 and 2:00 as it softens from ice back to slush.

The home run Caisets becomes very slushy at lunchtime, although the cover all the way down is very good on this, one of the sunniest pistes in Le Tour. The higher pistes like Ecuries are a little icy to start with in the morning but soften up nicely by midday and don't really turn too slushy by the afternoon. The track Liaison Balme, which leads around to the back, was quite sticky and as it's also so flat there were skiers poling their way along and snowboarders having to unstrap today.

We headed up the Aiguillette draglift just before it closed at 1:00 and found the snow down the ridge towards the Vallorcine gondola to be in good shape, just on the turning point from ice to slush with the top few centimetres softened by the sun. The snow on the Vallorcine side was less slushy but even Esserts became slushy and sticky by the middle of the afternoon. The top half of Belle Place, probably the shadiest run in Le Tour, was still perfect with a firm base to ride on, but lower down where it cuts through the trees it was softer.

Today has been very warm, 20ºC in Chamonix with a Foehn wind closing the Flegere cable car for a while: one reason why we ended up at Le Tour today instead of Flegere. It's 5:30 as I write this report and almost all the snow has melted around our house in Argentiere. It's still a high 15ºC on our balcony and our neighbours are busy out in their gardens. If you want some last-minute skiing before the season closes, conditions here couldn't really be any more pleasant: good snow and sunny, warm weather.

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