Chamonix Snow Report: 9th March 2008
My visitors fancied a trip down the Vallee Blanche, so on Friday evening I booked four places on the Midi cable car by phone. The earliest bin available was 11:40 which I was not entirely happy with as I like to start early, especially on a day forecast to be warm, as I like to be off the glaciers before the sun has had a chance to soften the snow bridges. We checked at the office the next morning and were told at 10:00 we could get straight on, so it's always worth double checking.
It was a little overcast in Chamonix on Saturday morning but there was a big cheer on the way up when the cabin emerged through the heavy cloud into full sunshine. It pays to have a quick look at the WebCams any morning you think it might be too cloudy to go up as often you are just below an inversion and the conditions are fine higher up.
The snow on the Vallee Blanche was in great condition, soft and powdery most of the way. Some moguls have formed at the section through the Geant icefall but they are neither excessively large nor hard. Half way down we came upon the strange sight of three kite skiers, very colourful.
At the Salle a Manger when we were eating lunch we spotted a girl wandering off on foot towards some large crevasses, we shouted to her and she quickly came back to safety, and a telling off from her guide. A snowboarder was killed recently at the same spot, in similar circumstances!
On Sunday we headed up to Grands Montets, and although the car park was near full there was no queuing for the chair up to Plan Joran. The pistes are still in good condition in the main with loose dry snow over the firm base, as the day wore on inevitability the snow was progressively swept to the sides revealing the hard base below making them harder and faster to ride or ski on. On the front side the off piste is now well packed, with a good selection of mogul types to choose from, everything from the sociable small and soft, to the distinctly unfriendly large and hard.
It was impossible to pre-book the top section of the cable car as all the slots had been allocated for the day by ten, so I would recommend if you want to go to the top of Grands Montets and its well worth it, you book well in advance. Fortunately we only had to wait half an hour for one of the turn up and go places, and were rewarded with an amazing run off piste, in superb soft light snow, with no moguls. We skied the itinerary Les Rognons and finished along the Argentiere glacier.
Both the Vallee Blanche and the off piste glacier skiing at Grands Montets have high objective dangers and should only be done by correctly equipped parties accompanied by one of these guys- GUIDES.
The avalanche threat has dropped to 2, moderate, however if the anticipated snow fall actually happens over the next few days expect this to rise.
UPDATE WEDNESDAY its been raining/snowing above 1800m for 48 hrs the avalanche threat level has risen to 4 High, take it easy.
Stats
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Level 4
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0
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Total Pistes: 75
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Alt. Resort: 2000
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Alt. Summit: 2700
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Alt. Last Snow: 2700
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High Temp.: 5
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Alt. High Temp.: 1050
