Chamonix Snow Report: 8th March 2007

The past two days I've been riding up at Grands Montets; no early starts for me, I've been getting up on the pistes for about 11am, but as usual the buses have been a major squeeze with me having to stand both times along with half of the other people on the bus. With the mairie trying to encourage people to use their cars less for environmental reasons, a few extra buses wouldn't go amiss, no wonder the car parks are so full if this is the alternative.

The snow on Wednesday was surprisingly good; it rained a little overnight so I didn't expect very much on the hill but there had been a fair amount of snow: at around the level of the Tabe and Plan Roujon lifts there was 10–15cm of powder. Higher up at the top of Bochard there was 20–25cm and it was deep enough that you didn't ground out on the icy crud below. I'd gone up there expecting much less, but this was superb and to top it all the visibility was great; there was a little cloud floating around but mostly it was sunny. The top of Grands Montets beckoned, as it could only be better still. I lined up in the queue for those without a reservation and it took about the 45 minutes that the sign said it would. At the top I stopped and had a look at the massive slab avalanche that had released from the face of the Grands Montets. I've never seen one so big, the crown wall looked to be about 4–5m deep and had slid down to the glacial ice below: scary stuff. I followed the Pylones route down as far as to where it crosses the rocky ridge back to the Lognan side. Most of Pylones was tracked out but the snow was still soft; however, the best was just to come. I dropped below the rope onto the Lognan glacier and rode down the gully near the cliffs of the Rachasse. The snow was superb, powdery and a little tracked but there were large sections to get some fairly clean turns in. It was definitely worth the wait for the lift.

Today I was back for more at Grands Montets but the weather wasn't going to let it be as good. The snow was pretty much the same as Wednesday's, not much change, just a little more tracked, but the cloud had moved in and it was a battle finding some good visibility. At the top of Grands Montets it was sunny if a little chilly in the wind but the cloud layer could clearly be seen below and we were going to have to enter it like it or not. I took the same route down as yesterday but before long we were in the cloud and fog. The snow was still good and not all that tracked, and we even found some clean turns close to the cliff, with the visibility better there too.

We did a few runs on the Bochard piste without really being able to see much; the snow felt soft under my board, and it was a little bumpy without being mogulled. The snowpark was closed, flat light is never a good combination with jumping, but they have put up a new sign at the top of the park showing where all of the jumps are and how difficult they are: the new snow park guys are a nice bunch.

I finished off with a few runs down the Pierre a Ric, the better visibility and fun slush was too good just to do once. The surface was getting a little thin in a few places but in the main it's all still good on the Ric. We're forecast a little light precipitation later on Friday so it looks like things are ticking along nicely in Chamonix with these regular little top ups.

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