Chamonix Snow Report: 3rd February 2005
Another chilly start in Chamonix today (–10°c.) I can't complain about the cold as it's keeping the snow in good condition (we have 65cm in the garden), but it does mean you need to wear extra clothes in the morning and then take a layer off on the mountain, as by the afternoon it warms up considerably. Things were further confused by the bitter northeasterly wind at Le Tour as a result of which there were some incredibly cold windy spots to go with the sunny sheltered spots. (It was +3°c this afternoon at Le Tour car park, and with the strong sun it felt much hotter.) The wind was worst going up the L'Aiguillette drag lift, where it felt like it could push you over. For most of the day cloud blew in across the Aiguillette des Posettes, making visibility up there poor, and this only seemed to subside later in the afternoon.
It seems the pisteurs have been hard at work since our last visit as a new piste has been opened: Marmottes or T7 on the lift map, an under-used blue run, has finally been bashed. It's accessed from the Liaison Balme traverse from about halfway along and it leads back to the bottom of the Col de Balme draglift. This run is a good for avoiding the annoyingly flat section on Retour Charamillon. Liaison Balme was quite badly affected by the wind today with loose snow being whisked away leaving a packed icy surface on the most exposed parts of the traverse; this could be an unnerving experience for any beginners.
They've been making artificial snow at Le Tour. The snow cannons are running on Caisets, the run back down to the bottom, and at the end of the day there were some icy places under the cannons, including a few really nasty patches of frozen water on the flat run out at the bottom on the right of the piste. Fortunately it looks like this is the only run at Le Tour that has had snow making – most of the rest are doing fine with the natural stuff. There's one bare patch about halfway down, right in the middle of Ecuries, but it is marked with a couple of poles so is fairly easily avoided. There aren't any moguls to speak of either except under the Tete de Balme chairlift, which suits me fine as I think anyone that actually enjoys them must be some kind of masochist.
The crowds still seem to be staying away and the longest wait today at Les Autannes chair (normally the busiest lift) was no longer than 5 minutes. The pistes are mostly deserted, and the car park wasn't near capacity even when I arrived fairly late this morning. However, weekends can be a different matter, mainly because of people driving up from nearby places like Geneva; the car park can get very full quite early on in the day, so it's best to arrive early if you plan on driving.
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
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
Stats
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Level 3
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 3000
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Alt. Last Snow: 1042
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High Temp.: 1
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Alt. High Temp.: 1042
