Chamonix Snow Report: 23rd January 2007
After nearly three weeks the dry spell in Chamonix seems to have finally come to an end. This morning, at first, I was a little disappointed as there was none of the forecast snow on the ground, although there were a few flakes falling here and there. It was noticeably colder than yesterday, which seemed promising as I left the house to go to Grands Montets. There was a low layer of cloud in the valley too, and as it was pretty quiet up at Grands Montets, this had apparently deterred many skiers and snowboarders.
I took the Plan Joran chairlift up, not out of choice but because the Lognan cable car was closed for the whole day for cable maintenance; probably something to do with the cable having been replaced at the beginning of the season. As we rode up the chair we entered the zero-visibility fog band but luckily it wasn't that thick and we came out above it at the top. We went straight up the Bochard after the obligatory ride through the park: the third tabletop seems to have had more kick put on it, nice! Going up the Bochard seemed like a crazy idea as it was in thick cloud. The top section was a little clearer but for a time visibility was down to a few metres. It couldn't have been snowing for very long as there was probably only 5–10 cm of fresh with even less at the bottom, but there were piles of loose stuff to turn on and more at the edges of the piste. With the cold temperatures, the fresh snow was dry and light.
The top of Grands Montets was next on our list as we were sure that there would be deeper fresh snow up there. No queues today for the top cable car and I'm really enjoying not having to pay the extra for the top ticket: it's much less hassle now. It was snowing moderately heavily up at the top and there had been more snow than at the Bochard, maybe 10–15 cm, and it was a little deeper than that where it was windloaded. Our first run was down Pylones, which was surprisingly good given that there wasn't really that much new snow. If you didn't turn too hard you could avoid hitting the crust below.
As the afternoon wore on, the snow started to fall more heavily all the way down to Lognan. We took a couple more runs down the Point de Vue, which seemed to be a little better off for snow than Pylones. Visibility wasn't bad for either of the runs, as you could easily see for a few hundred metres; the light was good enough for picking out the bumps too. The snow was starting to build up and hitting the crust below the fresh snow was only a problem on the lower half of the run. By heading a little off to the sides of the piste we were able to find some good turns in the soft snow: watch out for the crevasses though if you head off piste up here.
When we headed down we decided not to take the shortcut past the Chalet Refuge de Lognan (or Hotel), as we suspected that there had not been enough snow to cover the crust. Instead we took the Pierre a Ric down. It has to be said that in spite of the piles of sugary snow that are fun to ride on, it's in a sorry state. Stones, and bald icy patches aren't what most people look for; fortunately the snow that's falling now as I type will hopefully spruce it up and bury the nasty stuff. It was snowing all the way down to Argentiere at 4pm, and at 7pm it is snowing at our house in Chamonix. It's -1ºC here, and our drive has 5–10 cm of fresh snow on it. There's a general feeling of excitement in the town with people messing about and throwing snowballs: Chamonix finally looks like a ski resort again, at last.
Useful Information
Useful Links
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
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
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
Stats
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Level 2
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 2800
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Alt. Last Snow: 2800
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High Temp.: -1
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
