Chamonix Snow Report: 25th December 2006
It's been a warm and sunny Christmas in Chamonix. No new snow yet, and we really could use it. Nevertheless, the lift system has slowly been grinding into action with more and more lifts opening. I'm not sure how wise this is as the main motivation for opening lifts cannot be to provide access to well-groomed and snowy slopes. Today, for example, saw us heading up the newly opened Herse chairlift only to find the upper part of the Combes piste a nightmare of moguls and rocks on the piste, it was much better further down but it really wasn't worth the price of the rocks on the upper section. I'd not recommend this run to anyone until we have another snowfall. Elsewhere at Grands Montets there are far better pickings: the Bochard piste for example is still a bit rocky at the top section but otherwise is very good for the remaining 90%, albeit a little icy. There's plenty of loose powdery snow on top to push around and today the snow cannons were still running, keeping the snow levels topped up. The lack of snow cannons on Combes is probably the reason for it being so poor.
The weather has been surprisingly warm here and I've been having trouble reconciling what our thermometer says with the weather forecast temperatures. For example we've been having afternoon temperatures of +8ºC when the forecast has been for +1ºC. The warm temperatures were more noticeable at Le Tour yesterday. The snow had softened up nicely and was a little too soft for some, verging on spring slush, but not quite. We finally made it up the Autannes chair for the first time this season (we tried Le Tour on Saturday but the high winds had caused the Autannes chair to shut down). There was a firm icy base higher up at Le Tour on the Ecuries piste. The wind had blown away a lot of the loose snow and there were a few grassy patches where the snow was thin, but it was better than dodging the rocks at Grands Montets.
Yesterday we tried Les Houches as it's now included on the Chamonix unlimited lift pass. It was very cold lower down in Les Houches, mainly as it's in shade for most of the day with a permanent frost on the trees. However, once we had made it up the mountain on the chairlifts to the top, we were in sunshine and it was pleasantly warm. There was some snow up there, not deep but acceptable and free from the rocks that you find at Grands Montets. Being quite grassy terrain the worst thing to look out for was vegetation sticking through the snow. We did a few runs on the pistes served by the Chamois drag lift; they were a little roughly groomed and bumpy but not so bad, just in need of a little more snow. The hardest run at Les Houches was the Kandahar: it's the run used on the world cup downhill race. It was very icy, which is how they like it, but tough on a snowboard; the snow cover was good too, mainly made up of artificial snow. It's a cold run, in the shade all the way down, and tiring on the legs, so once was enough for us. When you ride down you'll notice the orange netting at the sides, which goes up about 30 feet, and if you need that then you're in trouble. The Kandahar race is scheduled to take place on the 20–21 of January.
The Christmas crowds have not arrived, and it's not as busy as it usually is at this time of year; people have probably been scared off by the stories of no snow. To clarify this, there is snow here, but just not that much. The snow cannons have managed to make the runs skiable but there aren't very many runs open yet; it'll take a few good snowfalls to fix this properly and allow all of the lifts to 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
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
Stats
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Level 1
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 1972
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Alt. Summit: 2800
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Alt. Last Snow: 2800
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High Temp.: 2
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
