Chamonix Snow Report: 27th April 2006

Yesterday and today have been bright in the morning but cloudy in the afternoon, which is a mixed blessing as it means the sun can't do its snow melting thing but it also prevents us from topping up our goggle tans.

It's been warm but not hot, jackets still required but no warm layers necessary as by the afternoon it's been a little too warm for just a shell and a first layer. The snow is holding out remarkably well too. From Lognan up it's in great shape with no patches coming through thanks to the exceptionally deep base that has built up through the season: 495cm at the top of the Bochard gondola at 2765m and still around 200cm at Lognan. Lower down things aren't looking so good, but Pierre a Ric is hanging in there and is still open with May just around the corner. The top section of the Ric is good but the lower half is starting to look quite ropey. Where one of the couloirs had avalanched weeks ago bringing all kinds of debris with it, the piste bashers have been cutting away into it and have spread bits of twigs and dirt down the left side of the piste. It looks worse than it is, and riding through the messed-up section showed it to be mostly stone free. The lower section of Combe de la Pendant is looking tired too, but should hang on for the rest of the season. I'm still not sure whether the Pierre a Ric will make it though.

On a more positive note, Chamois, the black piste in the Combe de la Pendant, was in superb shape today. It looked like the piste bashers hadn't been busy with other things as they have removed all the moguls from this run. The snow was superb all the way down, and the lack of other people (I only saw one ski instructor's group on the whole way down) made it my favourite run of the day. The reason for the lack of people must have been the cloud sitting at around 2500m all afternoon: setting off into the bowl in a white out isn't particularly enticing. However, by the time I had reached the first bend on the piste the cloud was above me, so visibility was fine.

Bochard was busier, and it had a slushy consistency without been sticky until where it meets the Marmotton. Off piste at mid mountain was sticky, making riding the soft snow hard work on the leg muscles. The top of the Herse chair (open in the afternoons only) was only just in cloud so it was more popular than the Bochard with the skiers on the hill today; however, there were plenty of empty chairs going up and no line-ups so there's no way that I could describe it as busy. I stuck to the Combes red run and deliberately avoided the moguls on the black run Pylones: there's no point doing them if you don't have to. The Hotel Variant run is closed now, as are a few other runs, including Remuaz in Combe de la Pendant, but there's still plenty to do here especially with the top cable car now free. I didn't go up there today because of the cloud but yesterday the snow was fairly good down the Face. It was tracked for most of it, but lower down by sneaking between some rocks skier's right I managed to get a few good turns in some powder.

As we approach the penultimate weekend of the season there's enough to be getting on with at Grands Montets. It could become a little repetitive if you were here for a week but on a long weekend combined with the Aiguille du Midi you can still get some great skiing and snowboarding in.

Useful Information
Cross-country skiing is Open
Piste Maps for Chamonix (pdf format), Les Houches (jpg format), Cross-country skiing (pdf format), and Mountain-bike trails (pdf format)
Current status for opening of Pistes & Lifts
Chamonix Webcam Index

We will be keeping this Chamonix snow report updated often during the season, but if you want even more up-to-date news on the ski conditions, why not sign up for our Dump Alert? We'll email you each time it snows enough to significantly change the skiing conditions. It's great to know that the snow is falling in the run-up to your holiday, and it might even allow you to book a last-minute weekend when the snow is particularly good. The service is free, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.

Useful Links
Swiss Federal Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research
French Avalanche Research Institute
Meteo France - Mountain weather and avalanche conditions bulletins (in French)
Henry's Avalanche Talk - popular avalanche training sessions based in French Alps as well as translation of current avalanche conditions
PisteHors.com - Backcountry Skiing and Snowboarding News in English for the French Alps. Excellent coverage of avalanche safety and advice

Additional snow and weather information provided, with thanks, by meteo.chamonix.com and the Tourist Office