A person is skiing down a snow covered slope with mountains in the background

People skiing down a snow covered slope with trees in the foreground

A snowy landscape with a few footprints in the snow

A person skiing down a snowy hill with trees in the background

People skiing down a snowy slope with trees in the background

Chamonix Snow Report: 26th March 2008

featured in Snow report Author Jim Brady, Updated 24 October 2014

We had the best start to the season for decades, allegedly, then the mid winter heat wave hit, great for the half term families, now winter seems to be going out with a bang. After yesterday's fabulous day on the mountain, the weather improved today and promised even better conditions. As the Tete de Balme area at Le Tour had been closed yesterday we headed there today in search of untracked snow.

Cham Meteo promised sunshine and that's what we got, all day. The air temperature was zero at the car and probably –5°C on the hill but felt much colder in the fresh wind that was blowing. But no complaint about the cold as it is keeping the snow in perfect condition.

The snow on piste is fantastic everywhere, lightly packed powder and simply a joy to ski on. Off piste we found what we had come looking for, plenty of untracked powder, ranging from the very light to the slightly stiff, depending on the aspect. It's around a foot deep most places but we found a few spots where it was two or three times that. There are places where it is wind affected, mainly on the ridges, also there are many wind lips and wind scoured holes around, which gives you something to think about as you hoon around.

The best conditions are to be found on the north and east facing slopes: south and west facing ones have stiffer snow from the effects of the sun. The low temperatures and strong winds meant the chairs at Le Tour were quite chilly places to be today. The best run we had today was on the north side of the east ridge of the Aiguilette Posettes. The trees on the north side of the Tete de Balme were also great fun.

Towards the end of the afternoon the wind freshened even more and started to move the snow around creating some interesting and delightful conditions on piste with powder snow blowing in drifts here and there. I spotted a kite skier in the area at the bottom of the Possettes drag have a great time in the strong winds.

The avalanche level was reduced to 3, considerable, today.

The forecast is for another 15-20cm tonight and a fine afternoon tomorrow after a showery morning. Temperatures are also set to rise slightly longer term further disturbances are expected at the start of next week-yes!

Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our latest Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!