Chamonix Snow Report: 26th March 2006

After a rowdy night at the ice hockey, I was caught out by the time change this morning, so I didn't make it out until around noon. The car park at Flegere was full but I walked straight onto the cable car and once I got up there it seemed that some long long lunches were being had as the pistes never got as busy as they might have on such a gorgeous day. (Having said that, when I caught the bus home at around 4pm, the cars for Grands Montets were parked right out past our house near Chosalets, so up there it was undoubtedly a different story.)

First up I rode the Index chair and came down through Combe Lachenal. This run is pretty much my favourite in the whole valley. It is a long, wide red with a good steepish section at the top to get you thinking and a more mellow section lower down for carving. At lunchtime the sun had softened it up considerably and the piles of slush were in the early stages of mogul formation, but I had great fun slashing sugary turns. Then I made a beeline for my next favourites – the red Charlanon and its black sister run Charlanon Variante. The latter is right on the edge of my steepness comfort zone and it is always good to go there to see if I am getting any better! Unfortunately, they were both shut today due to avalanche risk, as were several of the more exposed runs at Brevent and Flegere. On warm days such as these, the rocks of the Aiguilles Rouges that run along the back of the ski area heat up and send down avalanches, sometimes close to the pistes immediately below and the pisteurs take no chances. I saw a couple of slides today, including a narrow, slow one running like lava under the Brevent-Flegere liaison lift, and much evidence of others.

The snow lower down, especially on the runs linking Flegere and Brevent, such as Retour Brevent and Source, was unpleasantly sticky with the heat so I took a ride up Col Cornu to get a bit higher and then made my way to the Brevent-Planpraz cable car to get higher still. The Charles Bozon was in lovely condition, even the steep usually mogulled section. I had been hearing lots of moaning on the lifts about the heavy wet snow but for myself I'll take soft, slushy stuff over hard pack any day.

As I made my way back to Flegere to take the cable car down, I noticed a few, small and isolated brown patches emerging on Vioz and even the odd stone here and there on some of the lower, liaison pistes. Once again, I walked straight onto the cable car (something you can't always expect to do on a busy day), and when I arrived back in the Flegere car park, a little ahead of lift closing, many of the cars had already gone. Perhaps the heat had beaten many people.

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