A group of skiers are standing in front of a sign that says

A group of people skiing in the snow with trees in the background

A snowy hillside with trees in the background

A snowy landscape with trees and a building in the distance

A group of people skiing down a snow covered slope

Chamonix Snow Report: 2nd January 2007

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated 26 May 2016

The New Year has brought with it a very welcome and much needed snow storm in Chamonix. It started almost on cue just as we saw out the New Year, first as rain down in the valley but as the temperature dropped on New Year's day we could see the snow line slowly and steadily descending until the rain turned to snow in the valley at about dusk yesterday. Since then, it's been snowing near constantly all the way down to Chamonix and continues as I write this report. In our garden in Argentiere we've accumulated around 50 cm of new snow, and it's great snow too: none of that wet stuff, just the real deal of silky, light powder snow. Getting around is proving a problem for some as the roads are covered in snow up to Argentiere and snow chains are required.

As for the ski areas, there weren't many open today. High winds and the sudden dump of snow have created a high avalanche risk and we heard plenty of avalanche blasting going on this morning at Grands Montets. Consequently there were no lifts open at Grands Montets until midday and then it was just the lower chairlifts running: Plan Joran, Tabe, and Plan Roujon along with the Lognan cable car. We're hoping that they manage to open a few more tomorrow as the weather settles down. Le Tour managed to open the Charamillon gondola and Autannes chairlift, the latter also after a delay.

We headed up to Grands Montets this afternoon to sample the first real snow we've had this season. We were expecting some pretty poor conditions in terms of weather and visibility but it was surprisingly good, in that we could actually see where we were going, no white out up there, but the wind was wickedly cold. I'd get on the chairlift feeling reasonably warm but by the time I arrived at the top my fingers were numb and my face frozen. It was worth it though as the ride down more than compensated. The pistes still had traces of icy stuff underneath the chop but heading slightly off piste soon solved that problem. There was ample boot to knee-deep powder off to the sides of the Coq piste. I really didn't have to stray far to find it. At the bottom of the Plan Roujon chairlift there was a steady line of skiers and snowboarders hiking out on the track from the Dream Forest. Because of the rocks in there, it's a little too early in the season to ride there for my taste, but they looked to have enjoyed it. I'll give it another snowfall before I try it.

After a few runs under Plan Roujon we headed across to where the snow park normally is. Nothing is built there yet, but there was some pretty smooth powder to ride, especially off to the left side of the cat track that bears skier's right. Here I had my two favourite runs of the day. It's a reasonably steep pitch and we found a few sections of untracked snow to pull some turns in. Add in a couple of good drops and rollers to blast off and you've got a great run before hitting the Liaison track to head back to the bottom of the Tabe chairlift to do it again.

The harsh weather seemed to keep the numbers down on the mountain: even though there were only two lifts running at mid mountain we barely queued for longer than a few minutes. It was only on the Pierre a Ric on the way down to Argentiere that space became a little tight. It's the only run down so you have to expect it to be busy when the lifts close; even so the powder at the sides (even as far down as Argentiere) made for some sneaky short cuts around slower people. I noticed one icy patch on the way down but apart from that it's been transformed from a rocky, icy pain to get down back into a ski run made of real snow. I'm hoping it won't be long now until nearly all of the runs and lifts will be open in Chamonix: just keep on snowing.

Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our all new Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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

We will be keeping this Chamonix snow report updated often during the season, but if you want even more up-to-date news on the ski conditions, why not sign up for our Dump Alert? We'll email you each time it snows enough to significantly change the skiing conditions. It's great to know that the snow is falling in the run-up to your holiday, and it might even allow you to book a last-minute weekend when the snow is particularly good. The service is free, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

Useful Links
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

Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office