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Chamonix Snow Report: 6th December 2005

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated

Today was our first day of snowboarding up on Grands Montets. Luckily the snow had stopped falling and visibility was good for us. It's cold up on Grands Montets at the moment (-10c). With it being in the shade for most of the morning the snow has stayed in superb condition. Although there isn't much choice of runs this early in the season, the quality of what is available more than makes up for it.

We did circuits on the Marmotton chairlift, there's barely anyone around so no queues for it. We even got straight onto the cable car from Argentiere without waiting. From the Marmotton chair there are two pistes to choose from, both groomed to perfection with the snow feeling very quick. It didn't take long before we started to get our legs back and we were soon venturing to the tempting powder at the sides of the piste. However, beware as there is practically no base this soon in the season and rocks are an ever present danger, catch one of these and you could wind up in hospital, like one of us did. Nevertheless, the snow is nothing short of fantastic, light powder off piste, smooth fast pistes, and not a single mogul in sight. Here's hoping they open up some more lifts soon.


Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Closed
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 3

Snow Report
  • 0

  • Total Pistes: 80

  • Alt. Resort: 1250

  • Alt. Summit: 2000

  • Alt. Last Snow: 1972

  • 0

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050