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Chamonix Snow Report: 30th January 2005

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

The weather continues to be cold and mostly clear in Chamonix with strong winds high up. Our snow depth gauge (okay it's a ski pole in our garden) now tells us we have 65cm down here in town, and this afternoon on our balcony the temperature rose to a balmy -1°c. Last night it must have snowed a little as this morning there was about a centimetre of snow on our car. Yesterday the winds caused Le Tour to close most of its lifts and today at Les Grands Montets the top cable car stopped running because of the wind. This was a little disappointing as it was the first time in the season that we had resolved to pay the extra 5 euros that it costs to go all the way to the top.

Instead we settled for a run down the recently opened Chamois, a black piste in the Combe De La Pendant area. From the Bochard gondola, follow the cat track down and take a left into the next bowl. Chamois is a superb high-speed blast; it's long with fairly steep sections and tests the strength of your legs. The top section is in excellent condition, freshly groomed and firm but not at all icy, absolutely perfect for holding and edge and riding at warp factor 10. About halfway down the fun ended and the technical test began; the piste bashers had only made it that far so there's a mogul field for the rest of the descent. This was in fact not as bad as it looked, as the snow was fairly soft and the moguls well spaced out and not that large. We joined the freshly groomed Arolles piste that leads down to Retour Pendant Chair. On our ride up on the chair we noticed that Remuaz has now officially opened. It's already become a bit of a mogul field; this run isn't normally groomed so it will stay that way until the next snowfall and the moguls are buried.

We went back up the Bochard, this time for an off piste run through Combe de la Pendant. The snow was fairly choppy and tracked out; although because of the cold it has stayed light making it reasonably easy to ride on a snowboard. However, our resident skier wasn't enjoying it as much as us. There was a little bit of wind crust that it was too easy for the skis to break through and get caught. Frustration was starting to set in so we headed out under the bridge back to the Plan Joran restaurant for a bargain bowl of 4 euro minestrone soup.

Last run of the day we headed off piste again and followed the lift line below the Herse. Some of the snow was fairly light here and not too tracked. There were some rocks poking through, although they were fairly easy to spot; the big ones aren't a problem, it's the small ones hidden behind moguls that catch you out. We traversed further skier's right and headed towards the Chalet Refuge de Lognan. On the outside this is an austere-looking refuge but on the inside a great restaurant for lunch with amazing views and a wooden panelled interior. As we looked up from the Hotel towards the Point de Vue run, the snow looked superb. The piste itself looked perfectly groomed and the off piste was barely touched. There'll be some fantastic riding when the top cable car opens up and you can get around to this side. [ADENDUM Further to our report, we recevied the following comment by email: I skied it yesterday (30th) bottom section great - top horrendous wind crust (like very heavy meringue - much stiffer than the skiers left stuff in le Pendant bowl) that makes very scary cracking noises deep underneath. Combined with much evidence of avalanche activity and deposits into the usual terrain traps. Many new crevasses, and a lot of exposed blue glacier only visible from below (most Ive seen in the last 10 winters); thanks to Peter M for pointing this out]. We continued down from the hotel on the Hotel Variant run - the snow in the trees was less tracked than the moguled open sections. We rejoined the Pierre a Ric (still in the best condition it's been all season) about halfway down, for the final high-speed dash down to Argentiere.

Useful Links
Cross-country skiing is Open
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.

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

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 3

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 2000

  • Alt. Summit: 3000

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1042

  • High Temp.: -5

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1042