© SeeChamonix.com
© SeeChamonix.com
© SeeChamonix.com
© SeeChamonix.com
© SeeChamonix.com
© SeeChamonix.com
Chamonix Snow Report: 2nd February 2015
Heading into the trees at Les Houches in Sunday's white-out conditions
Sitting in our office in the UK last week, I wasn’t sure whether I was excited or terrified about the amount of snow falling in Chamonix. The comparisons of the conditions to the disastrous winter of 1999 were certainly alarming and the amount of snow on the weather forecasts and the webcams looked pretty heavy!
As reports of people enjoying bluebird powder conditions started to seep onto my Facebook newsfeed on Saturday though, I started to really look forward to getting back to the valley.
Waking up to heavy snow showers and lots of cloud on Sunday morning, I was very pleased to be invited to Les Houches for some tree skiing. As we went up on the Prarion on not-quite-first-lift, we looked at the forests and started to plan some lines which we hoped would offer some untracked snow and good visibility.
On getting to the top we could see that it wasn’t necessary to head into the woods just yet for some fun powder – there was a fair bit on the piste! So we warmed up on with a run down the first red run off the Prarion, playing on the sides in lovely soft snow. There were still some bumps underneath which gave the knees a good workout, but the pistes seemed to be in excellent condition.
Next we headed over to the Saint Gervais side of the area and dropped into the trees on the left side of the Abbaye blue run. The snow in here was great and there were a few nice turns to be had, but the forest was a little dense to really let rip!
A few more runs, including a trip down the fun and fast mountain bike track, saw a good few woops from everybody in our large group as we enjoyed Les Houches possibly in the best condition that it has been in all season.
The highlight of the day was a long run through the trees on skiers left of the Prarion gondola which delivered deep snow, a fair few shrubs and some lovely turns between widely spaced trees lower down in the forest. Although the snow felt a little heavy towards the bottom of this run, it was still really enjoyable skiing and a very welcome change from the rock cluttered home run that we had been skiing just a few weeks ago!
We chose to ski in the trees at Les Houches for some safe conditions but always carefully assessed the slopes that we were on and were all equipped with full avalanche kit. Conditions across the Alps are very dangerous at the moment with a very high avalanche risk and skiing off-piste is to be avoided.
