Chamonix Snow Report: 27th February 2008

We headed to Grands Montets this afternoon, up into the freezing clouds. By 2pm it had started snowing and snowing steadily. The Meteo normally very reliable in short term forecasting had missed it, they had however put a health warning on today's forecast stating “outlook uncertain, even short term”.

The net result of the snowfall was that there was about 5cm of fresh snow above 1500m and although the visibility was poor at best, the snow on and off piste was good, a layer of heavy powder, the best way I can describe the snow is that it was the type of that is perfect in a snowball fight.

We were having a ski lesson with the BASS ski school who as well as high standard individual and group lessons, run a Seasonnaire Program and Instructor Development sessions. We were focusing today on bumps, we first had a look below the Herse chair but while the snow was good the visibility was atrocious, so we retreated to the area above the Plan Joran restaurant, where the slightly lower altitude plus the trees helped enormously, we lapped the same wide gully all afternoon on some large but quite soft bumps thanks to the new snow.

When we finally retreated down the home run, the Pierre a Ric, it was in quite a state, a mixture of slushy moguls, near whiteout visibility, and too many people, made the decent “interesting. We finally ducked into the Marmottons café at the bottom for a hard earned chocolat chaud, which tasted, just the best.

Apologies for the photos, they might just as well be in black and white, but they are typical of the day!

The forecast continues to be uncertain, except that it is pretty definite that a major change is happening, away from the clear blue skies we enjoyed over half term, which must be good news for the snow conditions in the long run.

The last photo on the right is a bunch of instructors having a lesson watching another instructor skiing down.

Question- How many ski instructors does it take to change a light bulb?
Answer- 17, one to hold the ladder, one to screw in the bulb, and 15 to admire the turns. Sorry you had to be there.

The advice is still head for Grands Montets for the best of the snow, and stay high, it got better today and there is more to come.

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!

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