Chamonix Snow Report: 24th March 2006

Considering we were promised a week of rain, it hasn't been too disgusting down in the valley. Furthermore, rain in the day and into the night on Wednesday resulted in reports of a surprising amount of fresh at Le Tour and Grands Montets on Thursday morning. I wouldn't know anything about that, however, as it was the last day of our visiting family's holiday, and as it was the only remotely sunny one they had this week it seemed churlish not to take them up the Aiguille du Midi. We went up around 2.30 pm and whilst there were still some skiers, boarders and parapenters along with us tourists riding the lift, it wasn't at all busy. We watched a few skiers skidding and sliding down what looks like a slick but otherwise well-equipped arête. After they made it safely down, two lifties came out with shovels and started digging some steps into the walk down. I haven't been down the Vallee Blanche yet this year and I must say that it looked pretty inviting yesterday. The fresh snow and blue skies had obviously attracted a fair number of people up there during the day, as there were lots of tracks.

This morning dawned grey, mild and rainy (2 degrees C on our balcony in Argentiere). After yesterday's sunshine and fresh snow, I had been hatching a plan to take the top ticket at Grands Montets for the first time this year, but a layer of thick cloud stuck at about 1500 m did not make this look like such a good idea. (The 5 euros it costs to get up constitutes a serious investment at this stage in the season.) The car park at Grands Montets was not even half full and whilst the cable car queue was out to the door, I walked straight on to the Plan Joran chair. Obviously this was because most people prefer not to sit in the rain when they have a choice but about a third of the way up the chair the rain began to turn to snow.

The big board at the bottom was claiming 5 cm of fresh and -1 deg. C and I reckon this was about right. I made my way up the Herse first and the red run down, Combes, was deserted (as I was out on my own today, I had to sit there for many minutes, like a policeman with a speed gun, waiting for someone to go by to photograph for this report). The piste was firm but not icy and even though it was already 10.30 it still had a fresh covering of untouched snow in places. A ride up the Bochard next revealed that the skiers out today really don't like riding chairs in the rain, because the red run off the gondola was the busiest of all, so instead I went into the Combe de la Pendant on the black run, Chamois. For my trouble I had a perfectly groomed, mogul free piste almost totally to myself, and even managed to get some fresh at the sides. When the black turns into the blue Arolles run lower down in Pendant the piste was nothing short of horrible, however – it looked and felt like it had been groomed, rained on and partially frozen. The result was an uncomfortable mixture of icy and greasy. After Arolles I didn't have high hopes for Pierre a Ric, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. On about the first third the snow thrown up by passing skiers and boarders was rather humid and so bobbly and squeaky, but thereafter it had softened up into a nice crystallized slush that is excellent for pushing around safe in the knowledge that you won't lose an edge.

In sum, in spite of an inauspicious, rainy and murky start, the riding was surprisingly good today and the coming-and-going visibility wasn't great but it wasn't terrible either. We're forecast more cloud and some showers tomorrow becoming clearer on Sunday so we could be in for a passable weekend.

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