A person skiing down a snowy slope with ski lifts in the background

People skiing down a snow covered slope in the mountains

A ski lift going up a snow covered mountain

Chamonix Snow Report: 25th April 2005

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

The weather here has become very changeable and cool but not cold enough to snow all the way down to the bottom of the valley. It rained overnight in town but this morning looking up to the sides of the valley the snow line was quite clear on trees about 1700m up, meaning some fresh snow on the ski areas for today. Another bit of good news this morning was that the Grands Montets website is now saying there will be no closed days on the 3rd, 4th and 5th May, and that the lifts will stay open every day until the close of season on the 8th May.

With cloud blowing through today visibility was never going to be good so we set off to Grands Montets not expecting too much. As we arrived at the top on the Plan Joran chair we were plunged into a heavy snow shower and visibility deteriorated. It didn't clear again until we were riding down the Bochard piste when all of a sudden the sun came out and there was blue sky and 100% visibility. This allowed us to spot some good off piste sections where the recent 10–20cm of snow had drifted in the strong winds and left some caches of soft powder on leeward ridges; these were unexpectedly good.

The top of Grands Montets beckoned as we could see large sections of untracked off piste and we knew it was going to be good snow. Up we went; only a short wait these days for the top cable car and we were on our way up. Unfortunately, whilst we rode up the cable car the visibility went as quickly as it had come. When we arrived at the top it was a full-on whiteout. The snow up there was better than at Lognan as it was colder and drier, a little crusty from the wind but the crust thin enough to break. It was fairly choppy on the piste but because the snow was light it wasn't a problem. We followed Pylones around to the front and then headed off piste below the cliff skier's right. The snow in this section was a little tracked but the cliff helped to aid visibility until we popped out below the cloud and we could see the sections of untracked powder waiting for us. The slope here is great for high speed sweeping turns and that's exactly what we did, descending the slope in no time. The snow was good enough that we did laps of the same run for the rest of the afternoon, finding more untracked sections each time. Lower down towards Lognan the fresh snow was less deep maybe only 10cm or so, but below the fresh the old snow was still soft and pleasant enough. Obviously with the snow as plentiful as it is all the pistes up at Grands Montets are in superb condition. The exception is Pierre a Ric, which has now, sadly, closed for the season although as there were fresh ski tracks going down some people obviously can't quite believe it's closed.

Useful Links
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.

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