Chamonix Snow Report: 24th January 2005
The snow has just kept on coming in Chamonix. Our garden in Chamonix centre now has a depth of 80cm, we probably received at least 60cm of snow down here in the last 2 days. This afternoon the cloud has finally started to clear and the valley looks amazing in its covering of deep snow. The forecast is for a bitterly cold night –18°c, so the snow should stay very cold, which is good for powder but not good for reducing the avalanche risk. There are rumours that in the past few days we've had two people die in avalanches here, so take care and pay attention to the warning signs.
Most of the higher lifts have remained closed because of the avalanche risk so we've been restricted to a fairly small area of Brevent. Yesterday we queued to go up the Brevent-Planpraz gondola and we were up at Brevent fairly early for the fresh powder. We took three or four runs off the Parsa chairlift, until it got very busy. Only Vioz was open from the Parsa lift and Blanchots to skier's left was closed off because of avalanche danger. There were a lot of people up there desperate for the powder and things were very hectic. I was hit by an out of control boarder who ran into me whilst I was standing at the side of the piste. My wife was also hit from behind, by an out of control skier. So it seems you need eyes in the back of your head on a powder day. We decided to head down, a hard thing to do when the snow as good as it was. We went down by Nants the black home run from Brevent; it was closed for grooming but we decided that we weren't too bothered about getting freshly groomed snow. We did have to avoid the piste basher on the way down - I don't think he was that pleased about it! Nants was in the best condition it's been in all season, no stones at all and the snow superb. When we got to the bottom we heard that they weren't allowing any new people up the gondola and onto the mountain, maybe because of the overcrowding.
Today with it still snowing this morning we decided to head back up to Brevent again, hopeful that more lifts would open by noon. There was more fresh powder up there and today Blanchots opened, so consequently things were a little less crowded. Midday arrived with Sources and Charlanon chairs opening, which meant more powder runs with most people opting for runs straight down the lift lines. Below Charlonon chair the powder must have been three feet deep with not a single rock touching the base of my board all day; the big rocks that we had jumped off earlier in the season have been buried. Today the snow was even better than yesterday with the lower temperatures keeping it light and cold; it was true powder. Even though the Brevent-Flegere liason had just opened I decided to head home a little early as it was snowing more heavily, my goggles were misting up and visibility was diminishing. As I passed the Col Cornu lift on the way down it still hadn't opened, so if it didn't open later in the afternoon there'll be some awesome riding to be had up there. Nants on my way down was officially open, with it being busier than yesterday but still in top condition. Although this run is classified as a black run it isn't very steep and in fact is so flat you may have to push in places. It is fairly long and narrow, however, most intermediate skiers and boarders would handle this run without too much trouble. Better skiers can take the shortcuts between the zigzagging cat tracks if they fancy something steeper. Use this run while you can as it is not often in good condition and rarely as excellent as it is now.
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
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
Stats
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Level 4
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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: 3000
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Alt. Last Snow: 1042
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High Temp.: 1
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Alt. High Temp.: 1042
