Chamonix Snow Report: 7th April 2015

Saturday showed no signs of the clouds and fog clearing, but still many people made their way up the mountain to enjoy the fresh snow that had fallen. Temperatures were still a bit too high and conditions on Saturday were incredibly dangerous, with the new snow fall being very heavy and wet. Saturday was more of a day to enjoy the safety of the pistes, with severely limited visibility, and of course the annual 'Hot Dog Day' at Grands Montets. Despite conditions, the day went ahead with plenty of crazy costumes and the obligatory semi-nude skiing!

Sunday saw things clear a little as temperatures dropped and the new snow became light and fluffy. Visibility was still tricky with a thick fog covering most of the ski areas. Grands Montets saw some clear spells, although very brief, whilst at Brevent in the afternoon it was difficult to even see from one piste marker to the next!

Monday however, promised a better day...and it delivered! I made my way to Grands Montets early (...ish) on Monday morning, catching the 9.48am train. Just early enough to avoid the crowds that had descended by lunch time. With blue skies, a slight chill in the air and a light breeze, conditions were about as good as they could have been. The queues for the top bin at Grands Montets were long and we started to wish that we had pre-booked... We eventually decided against heading to the top and instead choose to make the most of our time and lap the Bochard gondola. Stopping for coffee when the queues seemed unbearable and enjoying the sunshine at the same time!

The snow was pretty tracked already, considering how bad the weather had been over the previous few days I was surprised to see this. But we did manage to still find a few pockets of good powder, not quite bottomless, but certainly deep enough to avoid many of the rocks. The pistes were also really good, with a good covering on the top runs of hard packed but slightly chalky snow. We did a few laps of the home run as well and found most of this to be really good, quite fast but still grippy in places for the first half, and then slightly icy and hard at the very bottom. This did of course soften up towards the end of the day and it's good to see that it still has plenty of cover right to the bottom.

Coverage across the mountain is great, it's the top up that we so desperately needed to make it through to the end of the season! With the forecast this week being for blue skies and rising temperatures it is the perfect time to get out there and enjoy some spring skiing!