Chamonix Snow Report: 9th April 2006

Today I headed up Grands Montets again as in these warm conditions it seems to be the best place if you want to avoid the slush. The weather seemed to be following this morning's forecast and as we headed up the Bochard the snow started on cue. It was falling moderately heavily at the top and looked like the beginnings of the next storm. It was quite windy on the ride up too; so we thought we'd better get some runs in on the higher lifts before it turned into a white out. But we were wrong, within the hour the cloud was starting to break up and the snow had stopped. There was some cloud hanging around the top cable car station through the morning and visibility up there didn't look too great but for the rest of the day it just seemed to brighten up even more.

The pistes were all good up there today; the high temperatures seemed to have prevented any overnight freezing so the pistes were soft right from the start. Off piste felt reasonably soft too, but, of course, it wasn't powder, just lumpy soft wet stuff free from any crustiness. In places there were some soft wind drifts with a little bit of fresh snow that made for some smooth turns, especially on some of the tracks below the Herse chair. Higher above the Herse there looked to be a little fresh snow, and the tracks of the people skiing from the top cable car looked not bad at all.

There has been plenty of piste-basher activity in the boardercross park. Rumour has it that a new guy has been brought in to build a decent park: without having ridden through it I can say that it looks much better than the previous efforts; when my ankle has fully recovered I'll let you know what it's like. Chamonix's Achilles heel has always been the lack of a decent snow park, so hopefully Compagnie du Mont-Blanc are finally remedying the situation.

I headed down Pierre a Ric (the lowest run at Grands Montets) at about 2:00pm and even that early in the afternoon it had started to turn very slushy. The moguls of slush were well formed and growing. By the end of the day it would have been hard work. There were also a few stones and bits and pieces of vegetation mixed in. I noticed that Chosalets was running today; I'm glad to see that they can keep it open this late in the season

This evening it's been trying to rain here in Argentiere with spits and spots falling. Maybe this is the snow that we've been waiting for all day. At 6:30 this evening it's 7ºC on our balcony and after all the warm weather we still have some snow in our back garden, about 110cm.

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