Chamonix Snow Report: 28th April 2012

It's a bit windy in Chamonix! Get the chickens in!

featured in Snow report Author Helen McGrory, Chamonix Reporter Updated 24 October 2014

Stepping outside this morning was like stepping into the opening scenes of the Wizard of Oz – it is blowing an absolute hoolie outside! Dust and debris everywhere and even an old Christmas tree went bouncing down the street! It is definitely not a day to let the chickens out and fortunately my own “Toto” was firmly on the lead or I fear she may have gone the same way as the Christmas tree....

What a difference from the start of the week when we were knee deep in fresh powder and still wrapped up in our winter layers. Despite the wind, I could easily have walked the dog in shorts and t-shirt this morning and the weather forecast says that today’s low will be 21 degrees and the high 27! Guess what – the foehn wind is in town and good grief is it making itself known!

It’s been building up for the last couple of days now and has affected lift openings on both Grands Montets and Flegere. Having witnessed the spectacular avalanche that the pisteurs set off on Floria earlier in the week, the CdMB decided just to close the area down for the season instead of continuing to run some of the lifts until this weekend. Since Wednesday, the top ticket at Grands Montets has remained closed with winds of up to 120km/h being measured at the very top. Bochard has also been closed for a couple of days and there have been slight delays in the opening of the remaining lifts but it has still been possible to ski. Until today that is. Everything in the valley is closed today with the exception of the Montenvers train. Grands Montets was on standby until 9am this morning but then the decision was made to keep the area closed for the day. With 70km/h winds at Lognan, I think it’s safe to say that I would probably have given skiing a miss today anyway!

So I’m doing a bit of a cheats report for you really from the comfort of my sofa, but I’ve just been taking a look at the webcams and I see that there are still some hardy ski tourers up there and conditions in Le Tour look quite beautiful! Alarmingly, the wind seems set to increase from “moderate” to “gale force” in the next 24 hours – if that’s the case then I fear this may be my last report as I don’t think my building is going to take much more of a battering!

If I can brave going outside, I think today is going to be a day to “do lunch”. I might even pop down to look at the Saturday market in a moment although I wonder if there will be anything left of the stalls with the gale that’s currently howling through town. In fact if I stand outside my house who knows what treats may come billowing down the street on the wind. If I’m really lucky – might even get a roast chicken!

Don’t forget we’ve still got another ten days of skiing to go this season until the closing party on the Grands Montets on Tuesday 8th May. There’s no doubt that there is still plenty snow up there to see us through these final days even with the foehn wind ripping through the valley. There’s quite a party planned for the end of season with the Brevent air bag being re-located to the Grands Montets snow park, freestyle demos, BBQ’s and live music & DJ’s on the hill. Alas, I don’t see any mention of the infamous water slide in this year’s festivities but it’s still going to be quite a send off for this unforgettable season.