Chamonix Snow Report: 3rd May 2007
It's been a while since I last went snowboarding at Grands Montets, as the weather has been so warm here I've been spending most of my time on my bike. However, today I was tempted back onto the mountain. There's not much choice as far as ski lifts go now: Flegere has finally closed completely until the summer season starts, leaving just the Grands Montets and the Aiguille du Midi, which incidentally has had the rope removed from the Arête so don't go attempting it unless you know what you're doing up there. Grands Montets is still open until the 8th May, so there are a few more days of the winter season left but not many so get those last few runs in while you can.
Yesterday saw the weather break and we had some fairly heavy rain showers in town during the morning. I wasn't sure how high the snow line would be but when the clouds lifted you could see that it was high and well above the tree line. It didn't look that promising but Compagnie du Mont-Blanc were claiming 15cm of fresh powder at the top of Grands Montets, so it was definitely worth checking out.
As you'd expect at this time of year the lifts were empty and we were up on the slopes in no time. The lift choice is limited: you have the small chairlift Marmottons, the gondola Bochard, which takes you up to 2700m, or the top cable car, which was the best option today. First off though we headed up Bochard for a warm up and found that winter conditions had returned to the pistes. The slush of the past few weeks seemed like a distant memory, as the snow today was very firm, almost icy. The pistes were well covered with a few centimetres of new snow, albeit frozen hard overnight. Lower down towards the Marmottons, however, was softer and more like the spring snow we had grown used to.
Next we headed up to the top of Grands Montets as there looked to be some quality off piste to be had up there and we needed to test the claim of 15cm. Well, they weren't telling fibs: the snow was great at the top and 15cm was about right. Underneath the fresh powder, and it was powder not wet or heavy at all, was an icy crust, so it was important to turn gently and keep some speed up to avoid cutting through. We did a few runs down the front face, which seemed to have the best snow and the least moguls to contend with. The powder lasted a few hundred metres of vertical before it turned to a slabby crust about level with the top of the Bochard; as the afternoon wore on the crust softened and really wasn't too much of a problem.
All in all I had a great few runs off of the top and it's always welcome to get some powdery turns in this late in the season, especially after most people have given up all hope and left town. With showers set to continue (we had a few heavy ones late this afternoon) there's a good chance of a few more powdery top ups before for the season is over.
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
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
Stats
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Level 2
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0
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Total Pistes: 75
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 2800
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Alt. Last Snow: 3300
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High Temp.: 15
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050