Chamonix Snow Report: 5th April 2007

This morning, however, didn't look all that promising as we awoke to a thick fog shrouding the town in gloom. Up on the slopes things were much more pleasant and ‘like summer' according to a chap I shared the gondola up to Brevent with. He was right, and the jumper and thermals I was wearing were far too much for this kind of weather. Below me was a sea of cloud in the valleys with mountains poking through like islands. It looked stunning. By midday the fog had disappeared, burnt away by the hot sun.

My first port of call was the Brevent cable car to the top, and down the Charles Bozon black run. The snow was just about perfect with no sign of softening up too much; I doubt if the same could have been said for it later in the day though. The moguls are there on the Bozon if that's your bag. I had a crack at them and they were good in a soft, sticky way. The rest of the pistes at Brevent are really in great shape with superb cover, and it would be very hard to find anything bad to say about them. Spring snow is great fun, soft, forgiving with a tendency to become a little too sticky when things heat up too much.

I headed over to Flegere for mid-afternoon and found it a little bit warmer, with the beginners' slopes below the Trappe chairlift a little affected by sticky snow. Still I suppose if you are a beginner it may be nice not to go too fast. The worst of the sticky snow I found was off-piste: what looked like untracked powder turned out to be heavy, and like glue, and one or two turns were enough for me before I headed back to the much more slippery pistes. Snow cover is faring very well in Flegere and better than normal for this time of year. The Evettes piste that links to the Liaison cable car is often a mixture of slush, bare patches and stones by this time of year but it looked perfect from the Evettes chairlift as I passed over. In fact the snow-measuring plot at Flegere is recording 220cm by the Trappe chairlift at the moment – not bad considering Flegere only has 17 days left until it closes. I also noticed at the lift station that it was a very balmy 11ºC up there this afternoon.

I jumped on the bus to Grands Montets for a little action in the snow park for the rest of the afternoon. It was getting too hot at Flegere and I was hoping it would be a little cooler at Grands Montets. The park had fully softened up by the time I arrived there and it was fairly busy, a victim of its own success. Still, with a little patience, there was room for everyone. There looked to have been a few powder lines for the taking yesterday, but today the off piste mostly looked like spring snow: that'll teach me to take days off like I did yesterday. Grands Montets and Le Tour are the only areas with runs still open to the valley and at Grands Montets the Pierre a Ric is hanging in there, bravely going where no other piste will. It'll be a little while yet before we have to take the lifts down.

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