A group of men playing instruments in front of a building that says test center

A snowboarder jumps over a wall that says compagnie du mont blanc

Chamonix Snow Report: 7th May 2005

featured in Snow report Author Ellie Mahoney, Chamonix Editor Updated 26 May 2016

Today's the penultimate day of the winter season. There were queues at the Argentiere-Lognan cable car and a relatively full car park this morning; a lot of people were obviously keen to catch the last skiing of the winter here. First, we had a ride up the Bochard, but the bulletproof snow proved less than inviting so we didn't go up again. For the first time in a few weeks the slush had really frozen solid and showed no signs of softening up much. We had a couple of runs on the Marmattons chair and piste. Here the snow had softened a little, but just top few centimetres, which made it a bit easier to hold an edge on, but below that top soft layer I could feel the ice. There was a bit of a queue for the top cable car, so we gave it a miss saving it instead for tomorrow.

Instead of getting in the miles on the piste we opted for a coffee and watching the activities at Lognan. Grands Montets are providing entertainment in the form of the traditional ‘Freeride Days' closing party over this final weekend. This consists of the last gasped efforts of the locals to really hurt themselves on the rails or the big wall that have been set up at Lognan. If that fails then there is still drowning by waterslide. Some brave kids from Servoz kicked things off by attempting the slide topless. The first skiers managed fine but the first boarder couldn't make the end and got a good taste of the icy water too rounds of raucous applause. Not a problem as there was a hot tub waiting! Beer and cocktails are flowing courtesy of Desperado, and Dynastar are handing out what look like inflatable body boards – we had fun watching the brave souls trying them out on the piste whilst we rode the chair up! The ESF have set up a speed test to the left of Marmottons, but you'll need to wear a helmet if you want to test yourself. A DJ is in place just at the bottom of the Herse, where there's a BBQ, beer, and those huge tartiflette pans full of sausages and potatoes (we're taking some dinner money up tomorrow!). It looks like there's going to be a volleyball match too and if past years are anything to go by, and the weather allows, there should be some daredevils leaping out of helicopters.

The weather was pretty overcast by lunchtime, a shame as it started off well this morning with clear blues skies over Chamonix. The cloud is due to bring some snow later this afternoon, which will hopefully give us some fresh snow for the last day of riding. As I write, it's hard to imagine it happening as despite being overcast it doesn't look like it's going to snow.

Useful Links
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.

Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office