Chamonix Snow Report: 4th March 2007

The storms moved away yesterday and it had cleared enough by the night to allow us to watch the lunar eclipse. This morning revealed the sun and a blue sky, the first for what seems like weeks! The Dauphine Libere had featured Chamonix on Saturday, saying that with the recent snow Chamonix had become an unparalleled Ski Paradise. Whilst it's hard to disagree I really wish that they hadn't printed it. This weekend with the first blue sky day was going to be busy, really busy.

We headed up to Le Tour but were quickly caught in a traffic jam; it wasn't looking good and 10 minutes later we were told that the parking was full and we'd have to leave. But I had a plan, why don't we just go to Vallorcine? It was so simple it was brilliant. Off we went, leaving the crowds and traffic behind and in ten minutes there we were parking our car and riding up the gondola after no queuing!

The snow was bad to start with but got better as the temperature rose. The powder we had hoped for had been given a fairly good sprinkling of rain, resulting in a 1–2cm crust. It was disappointing to say the least, underneath that crust was some great powder just waiting to get out. Fortunately the high temperature (14ºC) that was forecast was coming to our aid by melting the rain crust and turning the off piste into something spring-like and pretty good fun. We hiked the Tete de Balme a couple of times and rode down the front face; the sun had really got to work on the crust and it was non-existent: it was just creamy spring snow.

The pistes are all in amazingly good shape; unsurprising really given the massive snow falls, although Les Caisets down to Le Tour did become very slushy late in the afternoon with a few brown patches evident. Foret Verte is closed because of the lack of snow that low and the Aiguillette draglift was closed all day. We spent most of the afternoon on the frontside of Le Tour playing around in the gullies and off piste areas, making the most of the warm sunny weather and soft snow. It was just like a typical spring skiing day but with exceptional cover. Sometimes the snow felt a little sticky in places as it warmed up but mostly it was good.

The lifts were busy, but the Autannes chairlift is fast and even large queues move quite quickly. There were smaller queues for the Tete de Balme chairlift and some of the draglifts but it was all manageable and nowhere near as bad as the mayhem over Christmas and New Year.

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