Skip to main content
SeeChamonix

Chamonix Snow Report: 7th November 2008

featured in Snow report Author Tom Wilson-North, Updated

A week? Is that all? It seems so much longer than just seven days since the valley was knee-deep in a thick white blanket. The slippery white streets are now back to their usual grey-brown, and the snow line has retreated way back uphill.

Chamonix now looks exactly like it did a fortnight ago - that is to say, autumnal.

This is due to the dreaded snow-eater, or Foehn wind, which -when it blows in the valley - acts like a hairdryer on an icecube. You'll hear a lot about the Foehn wind in our snow reports & dump alert this winter. If you're not already signed up, go get it now. Mention the Foehn to any local and they'll begin trembling and blubbing; the snow-melting effects are well-known it's even said to drive people mad! Let's hope for none of that this year!

The snow - which got all the way down to 700m, giving the nearby lowland towns of Sallanches and Passy a good licking - was good while it lasted. We got some midnight powder turns in at Chamonix's valley-floor nursery slope the Savoie, and the meringue-like dome of Le Tour still looks beautiful up at the end of the valley, giving us an early taster of what lies ahead for the ski season on the big white behemoth.

And what a season it's going to be. It edges closer every day. Though the Compagnie du Mont Blanc are being typically non-committal about their official opening date, we all know that it's going to be Les Grands Montets that opens first, thanks to it's high elevation and snow-friendly aspect. And we know that it's going to be sometime in November, probably on a Saturday. Since there's nothing particularly wet- and cold-looking coming up on the long-range forecast, my money is on the 29th being the first official turns of the 2009 winter season here.

In the meantime, we have shopping to fill our hunger for all things snow though.

Snell Sports have got their 2009 skis in the window - the Scott Stunts and Volkl Chopsticks, with their respective waist widths of 113mm and 128mm (!) are taking up most of the glass display on their own, although I scoped some sexy-looking jackets back there aswell. Otovalo, the telemark shop, has received a consignment of stuff very early (no sign of the Nike snowboard boots though...darn it!). Excess, over the road, has got those beautiful blue Analog fleeces in the window - the absolute top of my Christmas list. And for more bling boarding gear, independent snowboard shop Zero G have 2009 Rome & Special Blend products galore, as well as the fancy reverse-camber snowboards that are all the rage this year.

As soon as I'm geared up, I'll be spending more money to buy petrol (currently 1,24€/litre here at time of writing) to get to Courmayeur and Verbier, since they're included on the Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass this year. Unfortunately, the Verbier access is not quite as Unlimited as we'd hoped; skiers are restricted to the riding around Verbier village only, and even then the pass has certain to-be-announced blackout dates (probably Christmas and half term), where you're not allowed to use it at all. I'd have prefered the three single-day whole-resort vouchers that we got last year.

So, the summary of the Mont Blanc Unlimited 2009 season pass; we've got the Prarion at Les Houches (unless you use one of your three Haute Savoie days to access the resort's other lifts), gained a free bus to Courmayeur, sort-of gained a bit of Verbier, kept the Aiguille, Montenvers and Top of Grands Montets, lost the Aosta Valley ski days (no more excellent freeriding over at La Thuile for us then), and kept some of the 3 Découverte Haute Savoie days (although it's not really Haute Savoie anymore, and doesn't include Flaine / Les Carroz / Samoens this year). Looks like a raw deal to me, especially as the pass price has gone up.

The best thing to come out of it is that buyers of the 2009 MBU pass will also receive a Recco reflector, a passive device used for locating victims in an avalanche. More worthwhile than the reflector is an also-included avalanche-awareness 'safety information day' at Les Grands Montets, also offered for passholders. Dates of this to follow on the Compagnie du Mont Blanc site.

Here's to winter!

Stats

Snow Report
  • 0

  • 0

  • Alt. Resort: 1050

  • Alt. Summit: 3800

  • Alt. Last Snow: 2300

  • High Temp.: 10

  • Alt. High Temp.: 1050