Chamonix Snow Report: 3rd January 2006

We were up early in the morning and arrived at the Flegere cable car for 8:30, thus ensuring we were on the first lift up. Initially we were disappointed to hear that the lifts weren't opening until 10am for avalanche control, but that was quickly replaced with excitement as we sat on the Index chairlift and saw all the fresh snow waiting for us. It hadn't snowed that much overnight, maybe 20cm or so, but that was on top of the 40cm from the day before. It had stayed cold and the wind wasn't too strong so the snow was still in very good shape. We decided to head straight into Combe Lachenal, which thankfully was open. Our first run down saw us giggling like little children, all you could hear on our descent were the whoops and screams from the other skiers and boarders lucky enough to get the first run down. The powder was thigh deep and even deeper on the skiers' left of the bowl. Each turn resulted in a face shot of powder; by the time we arrived at the bottom we looked like we'd buried our heads in the snow. There were enough fresh lines in Lachenal to give us two more superb runs through there before we decided to try some of the other off piste in Flegere. All the lifts were open with the exception of Floria, so we traversed from the Index to above the Chavannes chairlift, below which we found cornice after cornice to drop and slash, and more rocks to jump off than our tired legs could cope with. The pistes looked to be well groomed; they were even grooming whilst we were up there, although we really spent very little time at all on them for obvious reasons.

Today the wind picked up and there's been some cloud blowing through, veiling some of the mountain in grey. Le Tour was our choice of area today as it looked to have the least cloud on it. However, the wind made it feel bitterly cold as we rode up the Autannes chairlift. We could see from the chairlift how the Bise (the local name for the strong northerly wind) had moved the snow around, stripping some areas of snow and depositing it elsewhere to form dangerous wind slabs. The back of Le Tour was a little more sheltered from the wind and in the trees we found some snow that was far less affected by the wind. However, the off piste seemed to have been mostly tracked out by Monday's crowd. The pistes at Le Tour are transformed now as all the brown patches are gone, and the snow is well packed but not icy. Visibility came and went, and so did we. My legs, tired from Monday's pounding and unable to take much exercise today, begged me to call it a day and head home. It's 4pm as I write this and the thermometer reads -2ºC at our house. The cloud is blowing through giving us some pleasant sunny spells. There's not much new snow forecast for the next few days but the weekend's dump will give us plenty to be getting on with over the coming week; there's even the possibility now of some backcountry touring.

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