Chamonix Snow Report: 30th January 2013

Weather was fabulous for the main competition on Saturday – blue sky and sunshine - and the new location of the course on the Aiguille Pourrie on Flegere instead of Brevent also seemed to work well giving spectators easy access and a bird’s eye view off the top of the Index.

The week then started well with fresh snow on Monday night and Tuesday dawned bright and clear. There was about 20cms of snow in town so you can imagine that there was great anticipation as to what we would find on the hill. Stories varied depending on which side of the valley you went to. On Flegere, there didn’t seem to be much more than there was in town actually and although it was still great fun, you were hitting the old base through the fresh stuff so it was a little bit disappointing maybe.... On Grands Montets though, other friends were easily knee deep in fabulous pow off the top cabin which then gradually got heavier as you dropped down below 2300m and rejoined the main ski area. Le Tour by all accounts was very cold with the wind whipping up the backside of the area and particularly on the Tete de Balme chairlift.

However, we’ve had real mixed weather conditions the last few days and yesterday the clouds regathered and hung around all day at about 3000m, creating really flat light on the slopes. Temperature wise, it has also warmed up again and the snow in Les Houches yesterday was really quite soft on piste so you could get those edges dug right in - definitely heavier than the previous couple of days but not at all sticky. Was lovely though, just a shame that the light was so flat and hence why the photos are all rather uninspiring......

Today has been brighter again and there was a bit more fresh snow up top after raining all night in town. Nothing much on Flegere and the snow is heavy on the sunnier side of the valley; but Le Tour had 14cms, 10cms in Les Houches and 20-30cms at Grands Montets. The fohn wind is back in town and blowing strongly at altitude which has affected the opening of some of the higher lifts.

Get out early tomorrow for the best of the weather as the clouds will be back again late afternoon, possibly bringing a little more snow again overnight. Temperatures are forecast to be as high as 7 degrees but those gale force winds are going to be around for a few days yet before another cold (and hopefully very snowy!) front hits us at the weekend.