A sign that says ferme pour la journee on it

A glass of beer sits on a table next to a plate of food

The sun is shining brightly over the snowy mountains

A snowy mountain with a red sign that says 11

Chamonix Snow Report: 30th January 2009

featured in Snow report Author Tom Wilson-North, Updated 24 October 2014

Sun, sun and more sun! As far as blue sky ski days are concerned, 2008/9 in Chamonix is rivalling any winter I've spent in a ski resort! OK, so there may not be quite as much snow as the BC interior, and it may not be as good as the stuff in Utah when it does fall; the parks may not be as good as those on the East Coast and the lift system as advanced as those in the Southern Alps, but for huge amounts of vertical on perfectly groomed pistes, in goggle-mark-condusive conditions with beautiful snow underfoot, Cham is the best place in the world right now.

Le Tour is the best of the particularly-good bunch right now. We spent a day there just yesterday and it was magical. Off-piste was tracked out, but thankfully it's been cold enough for the snow to remain soft and fast; perfect for the formation of natural side hits at the edge of every piste. And don't miss the joins in the pistes; the piste-basher drivers are always nice enough to give us some really nice ledges, scoops and drops if interpreted the right way and hit at the right angle.

The snow on the pistes wasn't too tracked out; I was with my brother, who's new to winter sports, so we headed over to the long, tree-lined nature-trail-style runs of Vallorcine. Far from the maddening crowds, Vallorcine is either accessed directly by train (free from Chamonix), or via the long, flat cat-track of death from the top of the Chavannes chairlift. Snowboarders beware; careful edge control required...if you fall, you're scooting one-footed for a good few hundred metres! If you lose track, there are plenty of signs about; just follow markers for Vallorcine and you'll be set. The cat-track traverse puts a lot of people off making the journey over there, but it's well worth it. Very mellow, very well-groomed and sunny all day now that the sun is a little higher in the sky. There's a high-speed gondola and a detachable 4-man chairlift that serves the terrain, but the highlight of the place is the Station Café, where a shared plate of local charcuterie for 16€ will rival anything similar I've eaten anywhere else in the world. The friendly service, cute waitresses and proximity to the gondola all help too. If you're headed that way, stop by.

Meanwhile, I'm hearing great things around town about Les Houches and Les Grands Montets...must head up to Grands to check out the park again soon. Last week there were five kickers, a couple of sketchy rails and a boardercross. But as the last powder stashes get pillaged, chances are that more people will end up at the park, which means more investment from the mountain, which means there'll be some decent park days over the course of the next week.

Brevent and Flegere, with their south-facing aspect, remain the most sun-affected of the valley's resorts; they'll be firm in the morning and soft in the afternoon, meaning excellent conditions for the night-owls among us who are as much fans of the nightlife as the skilife.

Whatever you end up doing, do it soon - they're calling for a foehn wind in the valley on Monday and Tuesday (2/2 to 3/2), which will most likely degrade the quality of the snow. However, foehn in Chamonix is usually accompanied by snow over the other side of the mountain in Courmayeur; it'll be good in Italy no matter what happens here. And now Courmayeur's included on the MBU pass, the world's your lobster!

See you in the (short) lift line,

Tom

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