Chamonix Snow Report: 9th February 2006

I headed back up to Flegere purely for the reason of making a direct comparison with Wednesday's conditions, and I was vainly hoping for a magical transformation. It was better up there; and although it was certainly no powder day there was more than just a dusting. Compagnie du Mont-Blanc were claiming 6cm of fresh at Flegere, which seemed about right, although there was more than that at the top of the Floria drag where the wind had drifted it. In fact I managed a few turns where there was no hint of the hard stuff below, but sadly it wasn't to last and halfway down the Floria run things became much harder and icier with the few centimetres of fresh being easily brushed away on each turn. The lower half of Floria was actually closed, so I investigated to find out why. It was good to start with until I hit the moguls, which were solid ice, and impossible to hold an edge on: that was the reason. Lachenal was good, but heading off the piste resulted in encounters with lumps of frozen ice below the fresh; the piste was much easier to deal with – smooth with a silky covering of fresh.

Brevent seemed busier than Flegere: the queue at the Parsa chair was the worst, with a 5-minute wait most times we went up. The visibility looked poor up on the Brevent, so I didn't even venture up there on the cable car. I contented myself instead with the good visibility, and excellent snow on the Vioz piste. Cornu was good but a little icy where the fresh snow had been scraped away, and the off piste was still a little hard under the not quite deep enough new snow.

Throughout the day, visibility came and went, with light, persistent snow kicking in during the afternoon. It didn't seem to amount to very much on the ground but was still welcome after the recent dry spell. One thing the fresh snow did do was to show up how dirty the existing snow had become: it was visible as an icy brown layer especially on the Pylones piste below the Index chair. It was cold today too, feeling well below freezing and making for cold fingers and a fair bit of hood wearing in the wind. Tomorrow's forecast to be colder still, so make sure you take an extra layer if you're out on the mountain. It's been snowing on and off through the evening here in Argentiere, although it seems to have stopped at the moment.

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