Chamonix Snow Report: 7th February 2007

The Compagnie du Mont Blanc website was claiming 5cm of fresh at le Tour, and between 7 and 20cm Grands Montets, but I had made a plan to meet a friend at Le Tour so I stuck to it. I arrived to a satisfyingly, freshly white Le Tour, and as I rode up the gondola to Charamillon it began to snow lightly. By the time I got off the gondola, I was in a whiteout and as there was some confusion as to whether the backside was open, we opted for a few runs under and around the Autannes chairlift for a warm up.

Bad visibility and a nippy wind seemed to be keeping the crowds at bay, and we had a few peaceful runs down. This was just as well, because bare patches of icy piste were still showing through, so you had to keep your wits about you to avoid losing an edge and sliding. However, the snow was beginning to build up very gradually (especially at the sides), and each run was marginally better than the last. The blue run, Stades, skier's right of the Autannes chair, was in slightly better condition, presumably because, being less steep and less frequented, the fresh snow was not being scraped away. It was just good enough for some big, swooping carved turns.

Visibility was ranging between pretty bad and not so awful, but in the interests of thorough snow reporting we headed round the blue Liaison Balme piste to see if the back was open. Sticky, slightly wet snow on the Liaison made it slow going, but thankfully only a very few people were taking their chances with it in the full-on ‘jour blanc' conditions we were by now experiencing. The backside turned out to be open and I had the best run of the afternoon down the blue run Esserts. The signs warning of poor snow were still out today but with so few people going round the back we had some fresh turns on the long almost-flat section before you get to the Vallorcine gondola. The visibility was better round in the trees, but the section of piste between the gondola and the Tete de Balme chair is still showing signs of its recent poor condition (dark-grey bald patches, stones and twigs) but I reckon that once bashed tonight, it might look like a normal February piste tomorrow.

The ride up the Tete de Balme was its usual windy self and was enough to put us off repeating the experience, so we headed down the red piste Solonges (a ying–yang mixture of piles of pushed-about fresh, and bare icy patches). After one more trip up the Autannes chair we headed down the home-run Caisets to call it a day (even though the cloud finally cleared and we could see for the first time). We'd heard stories of people wiping out on ice on the home run but it turned out to be surprisingly friendly, if not quite fun. The wind was doing its evil work at Le Tour – stealing our fresh snow and putting it somewhere we can't get at it – but we are forecast some possible snow showers tonight, so things are definitely looking up.

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