Chamonix Snow Report: 8th April 2007

The cloud has been following a fairly predictable pattern of building up on the higher slopes in the afternoon and we even had a few spots of rain falling in town later in the day. By morning, however, the skies have been clear and there's been a slight frost on the ground.

Up at Grands Montets this weather pattern has translated into some fairly firm and even icy conditions early in the morning but depending on aspect and altitude the slopes have been softening up as early as 11:00am so don't leave it too late before heading up there as you may miss out on the best of the snow.

It seems like there have been record numbers of visitors coming to Chamonix this Easter if the car park at Grands Montets is anything to go by: people have been parking all the way down by Les Chosalets for the Grands Montets. Early this morning there were reports of long queues for the lifts up but when we arrived at around 11am we found only a 5-10 minute queue for the Plan Joran chair, although you do have to walk around the main lift station to the intermediary lift station in order to get on. The Pierre a Ric has shrunk a little since we were last there as it now ends at this intermediary station. The snow on the home run is still holding out fairly well although it's looking like it is fighting a losing battle now with the high temperatures: I noticed some stones and a few dark patches appearing on the piste lower down.

Higher up the mountain, conditions couldn't really be much better considering the time of year, in fact the cover is as good as anytime this year. Below the Herse the off piste is looking very mogulled; this area seems to have a particular knack for developing more moguls than anywhere else. The Herse coincidentally also often seemed to have far shorter queues than the Bochard gondola so if you don't like waiting for the scrum at the Bochard use the Herse. We traversed skier's left from the top of the Herse towards the Bochard piste. The traverse was fairly unpleasant: frozen slush and extremely hard; we'd timed it a little early. The Bochard piste was hard too: the large icy sections that had been scraped clean by people turning aren't my idea of fun, but there were some softer piles of snow around. It wasn't until we were level with the top of the Marmottons lift that the pistes started to soften to something much more pleasant.

The snow park was in great shape from the moment we arrived up on the hill, and had softened up perfectly without becoming too slushy or rutted. As some of the jumps softened and started to rot, the pisteurs were out there reshaping, which was good to see as it really shows that they are committed to making the park good. There had also been a few modifications to the park, so it's always worth checking the jumps first before you hit them so you don't get any unpleasant surprises. Later in the afternoon the snow became quite slushy and a lot slower. For that reason and after a couple of hard falls I headed home: the park's a fun place but it hurts when you get it wrong.

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