Chamonix Snow Report: 28th March 2007
Afternoon temperatures are starting to rise now in Chamonix and we seem to have shifted away from the very cold weather of last week. We've not had much new snow (apart from a dusting on Tuesday morning) for a little while but the snow is still very good because of the deep snowpack above 1800m. On the slopes it's been a mixture of sunny spells and cloud, bringing with it a few moments of fog or flat light. The weather seems to be following the spring pattern of cumulous cloud building up on the slopes through the afternoon as temperatures rise, which dissipates ready for the next day.
Yesterday we had a great time at Grands Montets. Off piste is choppy and starting to develop soft moguls on pretty much most of the steepish slopes. There still doesn't seem to have been any severe freeze–thaw cycles so there's not much icy crust to worry about: however, if you find any fresh powder let me know where as I couldn't see any. We never made it to the top of Grands Montets yesterday as the runs up there aren't groomed and we expected them to be a tad too bumpy for our tastes.
The pistes are where the action is at the moment and they are in fabulous condition, and all the lifts at Grands Montets are open, as are all the pistes. I didn't find many icy patches, except for the usual icy section on Bochard just above the Marmotton chairlift. The pistes are all well groomed with not a mogul in site. It's fairly quiet on the pistes too, apart from the super high-speed skiers carving at breakneck pace; watch out for them as they appear from nowhere and disappear just as quickly. I've even spotted a few hardbooters on snowboards laying down the turns and carving up the immaculate pistes. I almost miss the bumps on the pistes as that does have the effect of making things feel a little safer by slowing people down.
The highlight of the day on Tuesday was the snowpark, which just keeps on getting better. On days like these when there's not much powder around, the snowpark is really the next best thing and it's great that Chamonix has finally built a decent park. They've managed to squeeze a few more table tops in since I was last there, making for some really interesting lines through: there are table tops of all sizes, hips, rollers, banked turns and various different rails. There were some very, very good snowboarders in the park yesterday including a few well-known British riders, and watching them lay down 720s, front flips and rodeos is just what you need to get the motivation to push your own limits that little bit extra and try that trick you've been meaning to get dialled. The park has been getting quite busy at times, so keep your eyes on what lines other people are taking and make sure you don't start on the black jumps before you've got the blue and red ones sussed. We saw three separate injuries yesterday so make sure you're not one of them and make the best of the spring snow.
Useful Information
Useful Links
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
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
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
Stats
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Level 2
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0
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Total Pistes: 75
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 2800
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Alt. Last Snow: 2000
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High Temp.: 12
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
