Chamonix Snow Report: 30th October 2007

Les Deux Alpes is in the Isere region of France, about a 3 hour drive south from Chamonix. Other resorts you might have heard of in that neck of the woods are Alpe d'Huez, Serre Chevalier and the famous off-piste mecca – La Grave. Having spend a couple of winters in the Southern Alps a few years back, I was keen to check out what had changed and of course dust off the old snowboard for the first turns of the season. There is always a moment of trepidation when getting the winter kit out for another year, but I was happily relieved to find that my salopettes still fit – actually with room to spare! (all that hiking and biking this summer has paid off!)

Having been stuck behind “Miss Daisy” for far too long on a couple of the mountain roads en route, we got into town just in time to catch the tail end of the evening freestyle show. This year, they've set up half a dozen rails and box rails at the base of the piste, just behind the Jandri Express gondola – one of the main left departure points from the centre of town. The prospect of the pro-rider demo had drawn a big crowd despite the chilly evening, and the thumping tunes and laser light display added to the party atmosphere as the riders went through their moves. When the demo was over, the night certainly wasn't, and a lot of the crowd headed towards Smithy's Bar and L'Avalanche for the after parties.

As I mentioned before, I have done a couple of seasons in the Southern Alps and Smithy's in Alpe d'Huez is a name that forms a key part of my happy memories there. I hadn't been to the 2 Alpes one before (even though it's been there for 6 years now) but I was immediately hit with a sense of the familiar; fantastic tunes and a fun vibe that made me realise that Chamonix could really do with a Smithy's bar! This initial “happy to be home” feeling was made all the better when Alex, the manager, somehow pinpointed the exact year and resort that he recognised me from and promptly put our first round of drinks on the house! Well, the night doesn't get off to a better start than that (although it did make me think that perhaps I had frequented his bar a little too often…..) but as the crowds kept piling in, the shots kept flowing and the night just went ballistic. As I was watching a group of guys drinking copious shots from the mouth of a mannequin dummy (the barman was pouring them into the top of its head through a funnel!), I couldn't help but ponder the imagination people in the Alps have when it comes to finding novel ways to drink alcohol! (Tequila syringes in the Freeride Bar in Alpe d'Huez particularly springing to mind!)

Anyway, after a pretty boisterous evening, we were very glad of the extra hour in bed due to the clocks changing and yet still managed to hit the slopes at 10am. During the Mondial the price of a day ticket is a flat rate of €24.20 giving you access to the 7 drag lifts that are currently operating. Travelling up both levels of the Jandri Express was like crossing over a moonscape as the snowline is barely reaching the base of the glacier skiing at 3200m. You will obviously been keen to hear about what the snow conditions were like and we always like to tell you as really is – so I will, I just won't dwell on them. The snow was not good. If you can imagine the worst conditions possible, then scrape a bit more snow off and add a liberal helping of rocks and ice, then you'll be getting the general gist! Having said that……it was a beautiful sunny day, not a breath of wind around (so about 0°at 3200m) and plenty of super cool dudes to marvel at the in snow park. The jumps in the park were absolutely enormous and although it was the snowboard mondial when we were there, the number of amazing skiers we saw catching air makes me think that next weekend's Ski Mondial (3rd – 5th Nov) will be well worth watching. All the big brands were present (Rome, Ride, K2, Burton, Nidecker etc) with their latest boards and bindings ready for you to test for yourself – completely free! So whilst the boarding itself wasn't really enjoyable, I did manage to find a good stretch of piste (far skiers right) from the top of the Puy Salié drag where we had some good runs and convinced ourselves that we hadn't completely lost the knack since last year. There were also loads of different ski teams from all over Europe doing slalom training, so obviously if your edges were a bit sharper than mine then it's well worth a spin for a couple of hours and apart from that, it was just great to be back out on the slopes again.

So back in Cham, things are a bit on the cold and damp side at the moment but according to the weather forecast, we may be getting snow down as low as 1300m this evening! Even though the remainder of last week was pleasantly warm, the artificial snow that was churning out of the cannons on the Savoy last week is still hanging on in there, although I fear it may disappear before it get's the chance to form any sort of base. The Flegere cable car is also running again at the moment (until Nov 7th), in the first of the Compagnie du Mont Blanc'c new autumnal openings. Friends who took advantage of it last weekend went up to Lac Blanc (where we almost got to in last week's report) and said that the lake is already frozen solid enough to support the weight of a person.

It's not just in the UK that Christmas comes absurdly early; last week I saw a number of the Christmas lights being put in place around town, which reminded me that it's now less than 2 months away!! Don't groan and roll your eyes, hopefully many of you will be out here by then enjoying the festive time on the slopes! If not, at least you'll have the Only Fools and Horses Christmas Special to look forward to…..again! ;O)

Happy Halloween!

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