A snowy forest with trees and bushes covered in snow

A snowy mountain with a red pole in the foreground

A snowy landscape with the sun shining through the clouds

A mountain covered in snow with trees in the foreground

Chamonix Snow Report: 3rd February 2010

featured in Snow report Author Kieran Sharp, Updated 24 October 2014

The past few days have seen one very nice blue sky powder day followed by another weather system creeping into the valley, bringing with it more snow and enjoyment for everybody. The forecast is looking like there will be more snow over the weekend, with clear days possible early on in the week for some more amazing bluebird days! For now though we shall be sticking very close to the trees to give us some definition during these white out or flat light days!

The other day when we had a fairly sizeable dump of fresh powder snow Flegere Index and Floria lifts where both closed and the conditions where mixed between sun and white out, however the day after was forecast as a clear day, so with the forecast and the snow which has had a day to settle in Flegere we all opted for a very early rise to get on the very first lift! We succeeded making it just in time before the first bus came from Chamonix! The line very quickly grew larger and larger, as the word had spread far that Flegere would be the best option for this day, and we where totally stoked that we where at the front. Once we were up the first gondola, it was a race to the Chair. Everyone was running or strapping their skis or one foot in their boards quickly trying to work out which would be quickest to get to the lift first! I chose to run and made it on the 3rd Chair with a few friends on the 2 chairs in front. It was absolutely freezing at this time of the day and the lift was playing up for the whole journey up stopping and starting, but just as I got off it stopped for a longer period giving us the time to pick the best line underneath the lift in perfect powder! Everyone from the lift was screaming at us, and it felt pretty good to be able to go where you want, getting fresh lines everywhere, in places that are normally tracked out fairly quickly.

We had a good few more runs just underneath the lift before it became necessary to hit the other side of the hill as where we were was becoming quite tracked, so on that note we moved over to the Floria section taking advantage of the many lines possible over here, and there was still many to find! It wasn't much longer before we became tired and started looking at the possibility of descending so we headed over to Brevent to take advantage of one of the tree-lined couloirs choosing one which descended pretty much all the way to the petite balcon sud where you can choose to either head in the direction of Chamonix or Les Praz. The snow was amazing and with only one other set of tracks down this route we could pretty much choose any direction and we would be blessed with fresh lines! The route starts off really nice and wide. We chose to take the option of Les Praz, heading to the Rhododendrons pub for a nice bit of Après ski in the much warmer conditions off the mountain on a beautiful sunny day at the spot with probably the best view in the valley where you can have a beer!

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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!Author: