A mountain covered in snow and ice with a blue sky in the background

A view of a snow covered city from a ski lift

Chamonix Snow Report: 23rd February 2005

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated 26 May 2016

We had a little fresh snow yesterday and there was about 20cm of soft stuff off piste up at Flegere. The weather was overcast and the light was variable with occasional spells of very flat light followed by intermittent sunshine. The best snow off piste was skier's left of the Floria draglift. This area had been skied and ridden a little but even the most tracked bits were soft. Underneath the fresh it was a bit cruddy but this wasn't too much of a problem. Up at the top of Flegere it seems the kicker builders have been at work and some very large jumps are being built, including a massive kicker across a catrack; it's a shame we didn't see anyone jumping it as it would have been pretty spectacular. Brevent was also good. All the pistes were in good shape with the exception of the ones back down to the valley floor. Charles Bozon is one of my favourites at the moment as it has great snow; I'm even enjoying its moguls at the moment! Once again things were pretty quiet for the time of year and it didn't feel like peak season at all. There was a queue going up to Brevent on the gondola but we only waited 10–15 minutes.

It was –10ºc this morning on our balcony and after an aborted trip to Le Tour (I left my lift pass at home) we decided to give the Vallee Blanche a try as some friends did it yesterday and they told us that the narrow ridge or arrete that you have to walk down from the Aiguille du Midi is now equipped with ropes (so far it hasn't been and the walk down without ropes would be very dangerous). We didn't leave to go up there until just after midday and the cloud was starting to roll in so we were feeling a little cautious as it's not the best place to be in poor visibility. If you haven't done this route before you really ought to take a guide to show you the way as, not least because of the crevasses and the threat of falling seracs, it can be dangerous on the glacier. You often see people following other groups, but it's not safe to assume they know where they are going! As we arrived at the top it was -24ºc. From the arrete we could see that the glaciers are in quite a poor state with lots of open crevasses that weren't visible last winter. We decided not to ride down the Vallee Blanche but instead play safe and go down on the cablecar. With the aid of a guide it would have been ok but on our own we didn't feel like taking the risk. There were a few people up there and one guy I spoke to had been down the Petit Envers route and apparently it was good snow there 3 days ago but it did have 2 or 3 tight spots around some crevasses.

Even if you don't ski down from the Aiguille du Midi I'd recommend taking a ride up the cablecar just for the spectacular views. Things have clouded over this evening in Chamonix after this morning's clear blue sky, it looks like we may have a little bit more snow again.

Useful Links
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.

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