Chamonix Snow Report: 29th March 2013

Last weekend I had some lovely friends out to visit for a weekend of skiing and birthday fun. After some fun après ski on the Friday at Chambre Neuf we got up bright and early to head up the Mountain. With peaks of sun poking through the cloud and the visibility being quite bright we decided to head up Brevent and Flegere. Backpacks filled with the ultimate sandwiches we hopped on the bus at the Planards car park and made our way around town to the Plan Praz bubble.

From the top of the bubble we headed straight over to the Cornu via the Vioz piste. The snow seemed to be a little wet and heavy, mainly due to the warm temperatures that we have been having but it was nicely pisted with no moguls making it much easier to navigate your way down. Heading up the Cornu chairlift the sun started to peak through giving us slightly more visibility and better views over the Chamonix valley, which is not a bad thing as the view never fails to stun me, even with some clouds hanging around. From the top of the Cornu we scooted off down the Charlanons red piste. The snow on the run was much less heavy and in places had some icy patches but, over all it was a good fun piste to head down and provided a bit more of a challenge. We headed off back down to the Cornu chairlift via the Sources piste and this time we decided to take the Cornu red piste down from the top. This run happens to be one of my favourites of the Brevent/Flegere area, it is long, steep in places, flatter in others and is almost always in great condition and today it definitely did not disappoint.

After a few of the more challenging red runs on the Brevent side of the mountain we thought about popping up the Brevent cable car which has the excellent Bozon piste down. Unfortunately the clouds had closed in and the top of the cable car was out of sight and one of the best things about going all the way to the top is the view – It has such a beautiful view over the mountains and on a clear day it is a must! So with the cloud looming over the top we thought we would give our legs a bit of a rest and head down the blue Blanchots piste which is just to the right of the Parsa chairlift and Stade Poma (one little warning the Parsa chairlift is a little slow so make sure you have some fun company with you!). The piste was in such lovely condition; we all whizzed straight down and thought it was worthy of another lap.

After our hefty sandwiches at the mid station at Brevent (yum) we decided to head over to the Flegere and see what the snow was like over there. Hopping on the Liasion cable car from Brevent, up the Evettes and you are in Flegere. The Index chairlift was next on the agenda. The runs down from the Index this season have been in such lovely condition with great snow and with some being groomed and some with moguls it is great for everyone from intermediates to advanced skiers. We chose to go down the Pylones red piste which was great, with not many people on and with soft snow that was lighter than on other parts of the mountain it was lovely. Once at the bottom of the Pylones we decided to head back up the Index lift and with the end of the day edging closer we took a pause at the top for some fun mountain photos! After our bout of silliness we went skiers right from the top of the Index and down the Lachenal red piste to get back to the Liason. The snow on this run at this time of year is usually soft and heavy as it has the sun beaming down on it for most of the day, but we thought we would give it a go anyway. As I have mentioned before I think the Lachenal is more of a black piste but with hardly anyone on it, it was definitnely made easier. As predicted though the snow was heavy and slushy, mainly towards the end of the piste. With heavy and tired legs we headed over to the Plan Praz bubbles to have some much needed Vin Chaud at the bottom of Brevent.

On Monday with the heavy clouds and bad visibility we had a choice to head over to Les Houches or Grands Montets. Having taking Sunday off from skiing we decided to go to Grands Montets. Having parked up in the nearly empty car park (this should have been a sign) we headed up the Lognan cable car. As the cable car creeped upwards the visibility got worse and worse. The clouds had come in and you could hardly see any of the Chamonix valley below. At the top of the cable car we headed over to the Marmottons chairlift from the top here we made our way down the blue Coqs piste at a very slow and steady pace as it was hard to see what was under your skis and on the piste! Once we got down to the tree lined area of the Coqs the visibility instantly got better.

We thought we would do a few laps of the Coqs piste as the trees really do provide some visibility on days like today. Sticking to this side of the mountain we stayed to blue pistes and headed down the Arolles and down to the Retour Pendant chairlift. From the top of this lift we thought it was time for a hot chocolate and break from the cloud, so we headed to the mid station to warm up and have a rest. We didn’t want to be defeated by the cloud so we made our last run a long one by going up the Herse and scooting down the red Combes piste and the Pierre a Ric home run. Although the cloud made our day slightly shorter and the visibility was not great the snow was in such lovely condition everywhere we went. It was soft and lovely and if the sun had just peaked through a little it would have been a great day!

I did not ski on Wednesday, which was the sunny day of this week; with blue bird skies I was taken out Husky Sledging as a birthday treat. Run by Evolution 2 you get your own individual husky sledge and you get 45-50 minutes of husky sledging fun. It was great!!! I would definitely recommend it as a present treat or just if you fancy doing something a little different.

This weekend the cloud is unfortunately not due to lift on Saturday but with some fresh snow yesterday the snow will be in fab condition. On Sunday you may see a spot of sunshine here and there but Monday is due to be the sunny day and with all this snow, I think it is going to be yet another good week in Chamonix!