Chamonix Snow Report: 8th March 2013

The sun was still shining last weekend and on Saturday the skiing destination was chosen for a variety of reasons: parking spaces being one; quieter slopes being another; and the last, but still in my mind one of the most important reasons, a great place to have an après beer in the sun before heading home. The area of choice was Vallorcine/Le Tour. I have never driven over to the Vallorcine side of the mountain before and with the heavy traffic and busy time of the season we thought the Le Tour car park would be full so we decided to scoot over to the Vallorcine side. It is only an extra 10-15 minutes onto the journey and with a typical alpine windy road and views of pretty mountains it is definitely not a boring 15 minutes.

We arrived at Vallorcine and found a parking space in the car park straight away, which can be a rare treat in Chamonix during peak season, so we parked up hopped out and jumped straight onto the Vallorcine bubble. Once up top the snow was in excellent condition despite the long period of mild temperatures and sunshine we had been having. It was soft and fluffy, not slushy as the temperature and sun may suggest, and after whizzing down Bechat Esserts, Esserts and Les Possests blue pistes a few times we thought we would perch up by the top of the Charmillon bubble next to the restaurant. Sitting in the beautiful sunshine with a flask of hot chocolate we took in the glorious view of the valley and had a little rest.

After a few laps off the Les Autannes chairlift and down the Chatelet and Ecuries pistes it was time to head back over to Vallorcine. The run back down is a windy path that can be fun and cruisey when empty but a bit stressful when busy so we left the mountain a little earlier to avoid the end of day crowds. At the bottom of the run you will find the lovely Café Comptoir, a great restaurant and coffee stop with delicious dishes and a great choice of wine, beers and drinks. The terrace outside is in the sun for most of the mid-morning and afternoon and the seating perched on top of the snow can be a lovely place to stop for a beer before the end of the day. We opted for a coffee and a beer and spent an hour basking in the sun before bundling in the car and packing off home.

When the clouds descended and the Foehn wind picked up, heading up the mountain did not seem as appealing as it had been in the sun but I think we had been a little spoilt for the past few weeks so, with skis in tow we went up Grands Montets. I was quite excited as one of my friends who is normally a boarder had decided that she would strap on some skis and give it a go up Grand Montets. Having only done a few days before she was excited and nervous about the steeper pistes. I was more than impressed, not just with her sking but, the snow was in fab condition and the wind that was so strong in the valley was nowhere to be seen up here. We headed over to the right side of the mountain where there are more blues and easier runs for intermediates. As we were pottering down the Coqs, Arolles and Marmottons pistes which were a little busy but nothing too crazy, the sun decided to show itself and we managed to get a good few hours of unexpected sunny skiing.

The red marked home run down from Grands Montets the Pierre a Ric, is a great piste, it is long and wide which means that it never feels as busy as some of the other home runs. Towards the end of this week you could start to see the effects of all the sun and warm temperatures, icy patches made up the top half of the run whilst the bottom half was slushy and heavy. If the home run doesn’t appeal to you then you can always hop on the Lognan cable car down or even the Plan Joran chairlift to get to the bottom.

I do enjoy the sunshine and it has made for such great skiing….. but hopefully this weekend will bring slightly cooler temperatures and even a little bit of snow, as the official forecast states ‘Winter is back on Monday’ – Hurray!