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Chamonix Snow Report: 29th December 2008

featured in Snow report Author Tom Wilson-North, Updated

The last few days that I've been out to my car, there's been a thin layer of snow on top of it. Nothing to write home about - although, I suppose, that is exactly what I'm doing - but enough to make me ten minutes late for work from scraping and brushing.

Pistes are fast and brittle; off-piste slopes are bony and hard. There's not a lot of soft snow left up there, and most of the loose stuff on the surface has been consolidated into the base, so it's up to the sun to do it's warming work and melt the top layer. This melting makes it nice for us to slide on.

Sun, fortunately, is something that there's plenty of right now; and it's dead easy to predict when it's going to get good. Thanks to the Aiguille du Midi and it's neighbouring peaks, the sun's not up until around ten. Then it needs an hour to get to work softening the snow. Hitting the hill around eleven will give you soft, crisp, non-slushy snow which you can really get an edge into.

We had an interesting lunchbreak at Vallorcine yesterday. First run was fast and smooth; second run we headed off-piste below the Tete de Balme chair. Soon, we came across a skier lying bunched up on the ground. He was having an unhappy time of things and was groaning in pain. He was holding his left shoulder which looked wonky. He said he'd sent his wife to get help a few minutes ago. I left my friend with him and ran back up to the piste and put cross-skis up. After a minute or two, no-one had shown up so I called Compagnie du Mont Blanc's Montenvers office on my mobile, and asked for a patroller. He arrived four minutes later, then another patroller with a sled. The two guys were having difficulty moving the skier because he was in such pain, so called for a doctor. Literally minutes later a helicopter landed with a medic inside, who put the skier's shoulder back together. Turned out it was dislocated The team then put him in the sled, took him to the heli and flew him down to Chamonix hospital. Twenty-five minutes after we'd found the guy, my friend and I were alone on the ground again, thinking, "Did that really just happen?".

A remarkable job from the unsung heroes that look after us day-in, day-out. Enjoy the photos, and don't let it be you next time.

Tom

PS With hindsight, I could have got a patroller down quicker had I had the CMB Emergency number in my phone. It's 04 50 54 04 73; put it in your mobile now. This gets you straight through to someone who can locate you and dispatch help.

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 2

Snow Report
  • 1

  • Total Pistes: 75

  • Alt. Resort: 1972

  • Alt. Summit: 2700

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1050

  • 0

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050