Chamonix Snow Report: 25th January 2008
The cabin inched in painfully slowly from around 15m out, a glance up to the top of Grands Montets, revealed exactly why- it was blowing a gale at the summit, and they were being ultra careful docking the full bin at the top. All the reserved places, for the day, on the top section of the cable car had been allocated by noon. The wait in the unreserved queue, was however only about 20mins, and it was well worth the wait.
Despite the hooley that was blowing, the snow on the top was superb; the exit from the plateau had been made easier, the icy moguls present on our last visit had gone but the snow on the initial steep section was still quite hard. In contrast the large snow field below the summit of Grands Montets was soft, with large patches of wind-blown powder like huge puddles, and great to ski on. This along with the black Pylons run on the front face was the best snow we found all day on Friday.
Elsewhere, the off piste served by the Herse chair while not the paradise of Wednesday was still good, if a little chopped. Above the Plan Joran the gullies were fun, but the powder we enjoyed here earlier in the week had virtually gone, in its place was tracked terrain, with the best of it to be found in the trees. The conditions on piste are still good, remaining flat and mainly packed powder over a hard base. Some pistes are however starting to sport patches of hard snow. Love them or hate them, moguls, are beginning to form on the steeper unpisted pitches of the black runs.
There are two free ski test centres at Grands Montets. The one at the Lognan is exclusively Dynastar and you must have a voucher from one of the Dynastar stockists in the valley if you want to test some skis. The other, just below the Plan Joran restaurant has both Scott and Movement skis to try and are happy for you just to turn up, as long as you leave some security such as a credit card. It's a great idea to try out different skis if you are thinking of buying.
I have heard reports that the great off piste conditions of mid week, have also all but disappeared in the other resorts in the valley. Le Tour is getting scoured clean by the wind, and the off piste at Flegere was reported as crusty today. The on piste however is still good. Some friends that did the Vallee Blanch yesterday with a guide reported that it was fairly busy; but they did find fresh powder while descending from the Heilbronner.
The avalanche threat level, was posted today (Friday) as 3, considerable. Meteo France is forecasting this to drop to 2, moderate, for the weekend, but double check on the lift station notice boards.
The weather is set to remain warm and bright for this weekend and into next week with no further snow forecast. This will please the organisers of the big ski races at Les Houches on Saturday and Sunday, as this event has had to be cancelled due to poor weather in recent years. This is a great day out, best to go by public transport, and go early, the races start at noon on Saturday and 11am on Sunday.
Full details here-
www.chamonixworldcup.com/
Useful Information
Useful Links
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
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
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.
Stats
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Level 3
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0
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Total Pistes: 75
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 2700
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Alt. Last Snow: 2700
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High Temp.: 4
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
