Chamonix Snow Report: 24th November 2007

I have to say, the morning did not get off to a promising start with what can only be described as “pea soup” when I opened my curtains around 8am. With the prospect of skiing in a complete white out, you'll understand why I decided to forego first lift at 8.45am in favour of a more leisurely breakfast. Fuelled up and ready to go, I arrived in the GM car park at 9.30am to find about 150 cars had beaten me to it. Anticipating a morning of queuing for the only two lifts open – Lognan cable car and the Marmottans chairlift – I was delighted to walk straight onto both and in no time at all was at the top of the chair.

Despite the number of years I've been boarding, I still get a moment of tension when getting off my first chairlift of the season, wondering whether I will have completely lost the knack and will end up either taking out the poor person next to me or clinging onto them for dear life. (Fellow boarders will understand the fear!). It's the same with your first drag lift of the season…... Fortunately, I glided off with all the style and grace that my baggy pants would allow and strapped in for the first descent.

Considering the fog in Cham, unbelievably, at the top there were significant patches of blue sky and the visibility was really quite good. The light got a little flat at times but generally there was no problem at all in spotting those edge catching lumps and bumps before they got you. On the way up the chair, it was all looking very inviting. The Marmottans piste had been prepared but it still had about 10cms of fresh on top. The snow was that really creaky kind, not at all heavy but the type that packs down well as you slide over it - perfect snowman making snow for want of another way to describe it. Under the fresh stuff, the base was pretty firm with the odd hard packed spot in places. It was also possible to dip in and out of the powder along the edge of the piste which was really lovely and easily about a foot deep. Of course, off pisting this early on means dicing with no end of rocky hazards just below the surface and it's certainly not something to try with your brand new kit! This point was illustrated beautifully by a group of guys that had hiked up from the top of the chair to get some fresh tracks down the front face. One caught our attention with his cry of “Dude, this powders really deep!” and we're like “yeah, but dude, there's no base!” and then the entire chairlift watched as he tore the underside of his board off on his next turn! :O|

Further down, the Pierre a Ric run back to the car park has also got good coverage its entire length. Whilst the snow was noticeably harder that on the Marmottans, it was still easy to dig an edge in for some big GS turns. I LOVE this run! It's so much fun and during the season it often gets ignored until the end of the day when it can be crowded and lumpy. Top tip: If you take a few runs down it in the middle of the day, it's usually perfectly pisted and pretty much deserted. Today, it dropped back down into the cloud that is shrouding the valley and visibility reduced to about 30m in places. I always want to hoon down this run, which for any of you that are familiar with it; you'll know that lots of others get the same urge. However, with reduced visibility and pre-season legs, the speed had to be kept in check not wanting to fall victim to that “too fast, too soon” syndrome which invariably ends up in a trip to hospital! Talking of legs, mine were really aching today - I had to stop twice on the way down to rest my burning muscles. I thought that my summer of hiking and biking would have kept the old thighs in pretty good shape for boarding, but it doesn't seem to be the case. I know you're always told to do your exercises before coming away skiing but it really does make a difference. Whereas, I'm lucky enough to be here all the time and so don't have to think twice about heading home early if my legs are aching; if you're only here for a week, you don't want to be wasting precious time on the hill because your body is objecting to the exertion. Preparation, it's the only way, so make a start now while you've still got time!

All in all then, it was a pretty good first morning out and as I said at the start, I'll probably pop up again tomorrow. Weather isn't looking as good visibility wise for Sunday but it does look like we might be in for more snow down as low as 1000m. The warm fohn wind that blew all last week, made short work of the snow that fell in town ten days ago, so a top up would be nice. Meanwhile, in preparation for tomorrow, I will be spending an hour or so this afternoon doing some lunges and might I suggest that you all do the same! ;O)

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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