Chamonix Snow Report: 27th January 2015

Of course, fresh snow means delayed openings, so after half an hour of sitting in front of the computer with a cup of tea watching the lift statuses update and firing off text messages, we ended up at Grands Montets expecting to wait in the usual powder day lift queues.

Fortunately the new Plan Joran gondola seems to have done away with that Chamonix institution and we were on our way up the hill without waiting. This seemed to be the theme of the day with none of the lifts (bar the Grand Montets, aka top bin) having much of a queue. Where were you all?

Arriving at the top of Lavancher bowl we were greeted by acres of lightly tracked smooth pow. Alas we quickly discovered that the fresh snow had blanketed over the previous weeks moguls, but was too light to stop you going through onto the firm bumps below, leading to some pretty interesting skiing conditions. Working our way across the mountain, the story was the same, with hidden bumps waiting to catch you out and good skiing in the smoother sections.

If you stuck to the areas which were less bumped up in days before you could enjoy the fresh snow a bit more, although this meant running the risk of hitting some of the rocks lurking just below the surface. Some of the best skiing early in the day was on the pistes which had a good layer of fresh ontop of the groomed surface. As the day went on this layer was scraped off in high traffic areas leaving some pretty firm sections to catch the unwary, but in general the piste conditions were pretty good and everyone seemed to enjoying themselves.

The lower parts of the mountain, a frequent haunt for storm skiing, are still not quite in condition, but a metre or two of snow should sort that out!

Bring on the weekend, but stay safe out there and pay attention to the advice from mountain professionals - Weather News | Avalanche Forecast