Chamonix Snow Report: 19th January 2015
The snow has arrived...and this time it might last!
So this was the weekend that when you went on your Facebook, all you saw were photos of your friends with big grins, doing powder runs, faceshots and finally some epic blue skies!
My weekend was spent at Grands Montets, enjoying the quiet calm of Saturday in bad visibility, constant snow and light fluffy powder, and then soaking up the buzz and excitement of Sunday with a true 'bluebird' day and some of the biggest smiles of the winter so far!
The new snow this weekend certainly brought out the best in people (...maybe with the exception of those battling for first bin on Sunday morning - you know who you are...) and despite the bad visibility on Saturday we had a great day. The slopes were quiet, with barely any queues at the bubbles or chairlifts, and the snow as amazing. There was still a big risk of hitting rocks and even more so as it was impossible to actually see them, but none the less we managed some great laps of the Herse chair, the Bochard, and had a slightly dubious run down into the Lavancher bowl...maybe not the best place to be in such bad vis! And even though we didn't get on the hill until around 11am we were still able to find some good fresh tracks and some great lines off-piste down between the Bochard and the Herse.
Conditions were probably not quite so ideal for the Ski Mountaineering French Championships (Championnat de France de Sprint 2015) that were taking place at Grands Montets - an incredible sprint race where competitors race uphill! Covering around 80 metres in less than 3 minutes...not my kind of sport to take part in but it was fascinating to watch. Some of France's top athletes were there competing for their chance to qualify for the European Championship.
So it was an early night for me after a big day on the hill, ready for an early start on what was predicted to be a beautiful day on the Sunday. And Chamonix Meteo had it spot on! Clear skies from first thing in the morning and great snow conditions with the little bit of fresh that had fallen overnight to top up what we were enjoying on Saturday. It was great to be able to take some of the lines we had enjoyed the day before, but this time with full visibility! There was a lot of wooping and cheering coming from all over the hill as people were out having the time of their lives. We managed some great runs off the Herse where the snow had stayed soft even though is was a bit churned up. The coverage there is still similar to what we might expect to see in early December or nearer the star of the season but with more snow forecast this week those rocks should start to disappear. The pistes were in great condition, especially once the sun reached them and some of the cat tracks were a real dream to charge down.
Top bin was amazing, as you can probably imagine, and without the worry of hitting any rocks at the top it was great to be able to let loose and really rip through the light powder at top speed! Not quite the same story down the Lavancher bowl where we were rock dodging most of the way down but the sections of soft snow in between the rocks more than made up for it and we were all grinning by the end.
After two full-on days in the powder we were exhausted and made our way back down to Argentiere to enjoy a delicious late lunch in Tete a The...complete with cakes and coffee :)
So the new snow has done wonders for the on-piste conditions and has certainly given us the best sample of off-piste skiing we have seen all season...however there are still plenty of rocks out there and you do need to be careful. So it is probably a good idea to stick to the pistes in bad vis and when heading off-piste take it easy and pick your line as best you can to avoid any cliff drops, rocks under your board and unnecessary tumbles...
