Chamonix Snow Report: 27th March 2005
If the flora and fauna are to be believed, spring really is here now and we can stop hoping for a powdery reprieve: primroses and crocuses are appearing, and every morning we are woken up if not by the noisy frog in our neighbour's garden then by a variety of birds sorting out territorial disputes on the roof. It's been raining on and off for several days now, and while the temperatures are a little lower today than of late (maximum +11ºc, presumably due to the cloud cover), the mild weather continues. As a result, our garden's snow gauge is now simply a ski pole stuck in the ground, as the snow around it has melted completely.
Rain overnight fell as snow above roughly 1900m, and the Compagnie du Mont Blanc website claimed 40cm of fresh at the Aiguille du Midi and 20cm at both Bochard and the top of Grand Montets this morning. Fresh snow has been such a rarity recently that not getting up for it is almost criminal, but the clocks going forward and last night spent watching the ice hockey (followed by several conciliation beers after Megeve beat Chamonix 3-1) ruled out an early start this morning. The conditions were less than inspiring when we eventually got up – rain at the house, the mountains in cloud. The town is really busy for the Easter weekend, and we didn't fancy packed buses to or car parks at either Grands Montets or Le Tour so we opted for a walk up to the Chamonix-Planpraz gondola to Brevent after lunch.
Given the numbers of people in town, Brevent was surprisingly quiet, and there were no lift queues. The conditions undoubtedly accounted for this. Visibility was intermittently poor, but there were bright patches and we even (fleetingly) saw some blue sky. You could see that some fresh snow had fallen, and at the sides of Cornu piste it was unexpectedly deep albeit wet, but the grey, unfrozen slush from yesterday was clearly visible underneath. Riding it was heavy going for us on boards and must have been horrible for the few skiers who were braving it today. The wet snow really grabbed your base, making forward motion a slow process. We took a ride up the Col Cornu chair with the intention of riding down the Charlanon piste but the latter was shut due to avalanche risk. The same went for the Chamois piste off the Cornu chair so we took the only route down, via Cornu itself. Loose, heavy wet snow was piled up at the sides so everyone was sticking to the middle, which was scraped bare in places as a result. Vioz piste from the top of the Altitude 2000 chair down to the Parsa chair was better in that it seemed less wet, although it has some vegetation poking through in places.
As we left to go home, light but apparently fluffy snow was falling at Planpraz. Needless to say, as we rode down the gondola it turned to rain but if it means snow up top we are not complaining as it will help to keep the season going a bit longer. It looks like we are in for a cloudy and possibly showery week. Whilst we may not get massive quantities of fresh, at least the cloud will stop the sun from stealing what we do have.
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
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
Stats
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Level 3
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 3000
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Alt. Last Snow: 1042
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High Temp.: 11
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Alt. High Temp.: 1042
