Chamonix Snow Report: 4th January 2007

Both today and yesterday we've been to Le Tour for our snow fix, and on both days the snow has been excellent. Yesterday, being the first proper sunny powder day, was always destined to be a busy one on the mountain especially when you factor in the higher than normal numbers here over New Year. However, nothing could quite prepare me for the size of the queues. We had initially planned to go to Grands Montets but the lifts didn't open until later in the morning, and consequently at 10 am there was a queue out of the doors of the building for the cable car and the chairlift also had massive crowds. It looked like it would have taken at least an hour to clear so we bailed and went to Le Tour where again there were epic queues but this time we stuck with them. As we spent a large part of the day queuing, we overheard a lot of moaning about the lack of open lifts, and most of it was justified in my opinion.

Enough of my moaning: back to the snow. There seemed to be a good 80–90 cm of new snow at the top of the Autannes chairlift. We noticed that a few slab avalanches had triggered on the northeast-facing slopes, so we cautiously explored (on our four runs in four hours) the off piste near to the lifts. The snow was seriously good, with light powder in the morning, but it started to get heavier in the afternoon especially on the more sunny aspects. The Combes de la Vormaine sector provided the best runs of the day: the shadier more sheltered slopes had some truly deep and light powder. The run out back to the Vormaine drag lifts was in good shape thus making getting through the bushes a doddle. All good fun but beware as the avalanche risk is high at the moment (4/5): tragic evidence of this is that a skier sadly died following a slide at Grands Montets yesterday (see www.pistehors.com).

Today started off overcast and not particularly cold, +1ºC on our balcony, but before long it started to drizzle. At least it would be snow higher up we thought and off we went to Le Tour again. Visibility started off reasonably well but by 1pm it was down to just a few chairs in front of us as we sat on the Autannes chairlift in a howling blizzard. It was such a complete antithesis of yesterday: there was practically no one queuing up for the lift and on the ride down there were times when you couldn't tell if you'd stopped or were still moving, or even which way was up or down. Today, at last, another lift had opened at Le Tour – only the Arve drag but at least things are getting better. There were even rumours that the Tete de Balme chair would open today, but the foul weather put a stop to that. The snow was again very good up there, and it was falling faster than we could track it out. The sector between the Arve and Stade pistes had some pretty deep stashes of windloaded snow to play in if you were happy to forego any sense of vision: use the force!

It's still snowing lightly down to the village in Argentiere as I write this and the roads are being covered in snow again. It looks like tomorrow's going to be another powder day. Other lifts in the valley have opened: Col Cornu is now open at Brevent as is the Index at Flegere. The cross-country ski trails are now also all open at Argentiere and Chamonix. So it's all go in Chamonix now. After this weekend, things should quieten down a little as the New Year visitors go home.

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