Chamonix Snow Report: 6th January 2005
Yesterday brought more sunshine and blue skies, so it was warm up at Brevent. We mostly stayed on the Chamois red run off of the Col Cornu chair. In spite of it having some rocks showing through at the top, with a fair smattering of yellow and black poles, it had reasonably good snow and plenty of little jumps off to the side. The lower section, where it becomes a cat track, had a few stones and the snow was a little hard and icy. The blue run, Vioz, wasn't too bad either considering we haven't had much snow recently, with only a few bits of vegetation showing and the snow firm and easy to hold an edge on.
There was some light snow forecast for last night and this morning it was grey and overcast. It looked like there had been a little sleety snow in town overnight, and we had a text saying that there had been some fresh up at Brevent. However, we decided to go up to Le Tour at the far end of the valley because a friend hadn't snowboarded up there yet. At first this seemed to have been a poor decision as when we arrived it was a white out. Within an hour though, as predicted by the weather forecast, the cloud and fog started clearing giving us the visibility we needed. The blue run Esserts is starting to look bare, with quite a few brown patches showing through. The small amount of snow overnight wasn't enough to improve the piste very much. The fact that it has been fairly cold has saved this piste from degenerating too far. The off piste at the back of Domaine De Balme was very windblown, with large bare patches and drifts not the most tempting sight.
The best snow was to be had at the front of Le Tour, with runs off the Autannes chair and the Le Col de Balme drag lift providing some nice stashes of windblown powder. The off piste here is far better than over the back side, especially in the numerous gullies just off to the side of the pistes in this area. The pistes themselves (with the exception of the red run Ecuries below the Autannes chairlift) were well covered with firm packed snow free from moguls. It looks like the pisteurs have been pushing the some snow from the off piste onto the piste to cover the bare patches.
The home run, Caisets, was a little hard and icy. However, the nice little piles of soft snow at the edges are perfect for turning in or popping little jumps off. As usual it was busy at the end of the day, as everyone uses this run to get down from the ski area. If you don't like crowds or want to get on the bus without queuing, it's a good idea to head down a little earlier than everyone else.
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
Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office
Stats
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Level 2
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0
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Total Pistes: 80
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 2500
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Alt. Last Snow: 1042
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High Temp.: 10
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Alt. High Temp.: 1042
