Chamonix Snow Report: 9th March 2006

It had been snowing heavily through Tuesday night and it continued all day Wednesday. It was a real blizzard and visibility looked like it would be nil on the hill. But, I had a call from a friend at midday saying that I had to get up to Grands Montets, as it was empty, powder everywhere and the visibility was ok. It was hard to believe from down in the valley but he was right, the snow was great. I got up there quickly as there were no queues for the lifts, and headed straight for the Dream Forest as the trees helped out with the visibility and sheltered us from the wind. The snow in there keeps getting better; it was a little heavier than a few days ago but not heavy and wet just less powdery and light. All the lifts except the top cable car were running. We toyed with the idea of riding off the Bochard into Combe de la Pendant but decided not to, even though the snow would have been excellent, because the visibility up into the bowl from the Retour Pendant chair looked pretty poor. It was a strange day up there, powder on the Marmotton piste, empty chairlifts and even powder getting off the Herse chair at the top! To finish the day we took a run from the top of the Herse down to Argentiere. At the top it was very cold and windy so I was glad to have a decent hood on my jacket. The snow at the top was very windblown and on the ridges there were some very deep stashes of powder to ride. The visibility was just about good enough to see the ground moving and spot the large rocks that litter the Italian bowl. As we headed lower into the tree line the bushes helped with visibility. The powder was almost untracked and some of the best this season all the way down to where we met the Pierre a Ric. It really pays to get out on the mountain when the weather looks bad, as you can get the best snow then.

Today was almost the complete opposite in every respect. Grands Montets opened late at 10:30 with the cable car to Lognan, Plan Joran chair and three lower chairlifts Tabe, Plan Roujon and Marmotton. There wasn't much queue for the cable car and chair up so I was shocked to see the size of the queues on the chairlifts on the hill; I've never seen them so long. We waited about 15 minutes to get on Plan Roujon. Le Tour was shut completely today, and Brevent-Flegere was only partially open so I guess that means a lot of people jammed onto far fewer lifts. To avoid the queues I stuck with the cable car and did a few laps on the Pierre a Ric, which is in superb condition if a little wet and slushy lower down. There were a few people ignoring the high avalanche risk and hiking to get to the untracked snow. There was plenty of evidence of avalanches as I looked around the mountains including ones well within the ski area. The snow higher up at Grands Montets looked to be in mint condition. When the Herse and Bochard open there'll be some great lines to be had up there. I saw some lucky pisteurs getting fresh tracks: what a great job.

Yesterday's snowfall turned to rain at some point in the night. It was still raining this morning in Argentiere and it looked like it had been raining higher up too. It stopped by mid morning and it's been a warm and mostly sunny day with temperatures getting up to 6ºC today on our balcony and our driveway resembling a river as the snow melts. Last night the stick of truth in our garden was reading 195cms of snow but with today's thaw it is back down to 175cms this afternoon. There's more snow on the way so hopefully it'll make it to 200cms sometime soon.

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