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Chamonix Snow Report: 4th February 2007

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

It's been a sunny weekend in Chamonix: very warm on the slopes in the afternoon and quite chilly in the morning (-4ºC this morning). It feels like the quiet period is over too now, and this weekend has seen an influx into Chamonix as the holidays kick in. The town is buzzing with people and the car park at Grands Montets was full by midday. If you want to avoid walking half a kilometre across the car park use the free bus system that will drop you by the lifts.

On Friday afternoon we rode at Brevent and even though it was very warm up there, there was still some good snow. It was mostly soft and slightly slushy on piste but it's better than the hard frozen ice that you'll find there early in the morning. The warm weather had taken its toll on some of the pistes though, as when we tried to cross to Flegere on the Liaison cable car we found that it was closed. The snow had been pretty poor there a few days before so I guess it had finally become too thin to keep open.

Today we went to Grands Montets as its altitude and mostly northerly aspect means that it often has the best snow, and there were no slushy patches there today. Unfortunately that meant that it was very hard snow, verging on ice in places. The worst and iciest piste was Combes off of the Herse chairlift. It wasn't all bad though as the loose snow to the sides of the piste was almost powdery, and it was a little softer on the lower section of the run, but it's days like today that make me wish that I kept my edges sharper. Bochard was similar but a little less hard, apart from the steep section just above the Marmotton, which is nearly always hard and icy. The Marmotton piste wasn't bad though and the sun had softened it up quite nicely. We spent a while on the Marmotton watching the boarder cross competition that was going on in the snow park. There were a few spills as they barged each other on the jumps and I expect that the hard and icy snow made the crashes even worse than they should have been but hopefully no one was hurt. Pierre a Ric was looking good today, but we did head down early in the afternoon before it'd had too many skiers down it, so there was plenty of soft snow on the hard base. But thankfully it wasn't very icy and there weren't any rocks or bare patches showing through: it must be the artificial snow keeping it covered.

Just as the town and car park were busier today, on the mountain the pistes and lifts were busy too although the lifts all seemed to be running well and without stoppages. The queues to get on lifts were pretty minimal and we never had to wait long. The restaurants were busy on the mountain and some of the staff there looked pretty stressed out by it all.

The weather looks like it's set to change soon, with cloud and snow showers moving in for Tuesday morning. We could really use some fresh snow and a drop in temperatures; last time I checked they were forecasting 10cm of snow at 1000m, which is at resort level, so with a little bit of luck things should be looking white down here again.

Check out what to do around town once the lifts have closed with our all new Apres Ski Report - a weekly round up of what's hot and where to party in Chamonix!

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Open
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

Stats

Avalanche Risk
  • Level 2

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 2000

  • Alt. Summit: 2800

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1900

  • High Temp.: 8

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050