Snow Report Jan 18, 2023
Well what a difference a week makes! Conditions are improving considerably with this latest huge band of snow and a large cold front right across The Alps. The cold front brought plummeting temperatures down overnight from freezing limits of around 1600m to 500m and we have had several heavy snowfalls. Snowfall is continuing through Wednesday night with incredibly low temperatures down in the early -20s°C by the end of the week and the freezing level remaining very low. Winds were forecast to be quite strong at high altitude but the low pressure that is sitting over the Alps has weakened, showing that we will still experience some wind, however it will not be as strong as anticipated.
So Chamonix has had another great dump of snow in the last few days, around 43cm. Temperatures have really dropped and will reach -18°C by Friday evening. The winds look to be staying light now and the freezing level is really low around 250m.
The Snow conditions look good and the whole area has fresh new snow, groomed slopes and powder. Upper snow depth at Grand Montets is around 220cm of snow at 2765m with 30cm at Chamonix town level.
With all the new snow that has fallen this week, the avalanche risks in Chamonix are currently high ⅘ above 1800m and considerable ⅗ below, so please stick to the marked pistes and check all guidance in resort.
Check below and before you go out for the current lift status and runs open in each area, as of today it looks like 83 of the 124 pistes and 49 of the 68 lifts are open in the Chamonix area.
Photo above taken this week in Brevent
Top Tips if you are coming skiing this week
- Conditions are going to be more challenging, so low light lenses can make all the difference. If you’ve got them, wear them!
- It's going to be very cold too, so wrap up warm! Waterproof outer layer would be a good plan!
- When it’s actually snowing, head to the runs through the trees (or buildings!) they often give you some shelter and better visibility.
- With weather conditions being a little more erratic, keep an eye on your route home. It is too easy to take a wrong turn and end up a long way from where you want to be!
- Keep up to date on lifts opening/closing as times can change when the weather closes in.
- Check the avalanche risk as it's considerable to high at the moment and absolutely don't head off-piste if you don't have the correct information, equipment and guidance.
If you haven't planned your ski trip, now is the time to take advantage of January offers and cheaper flights - but be quick it's going to be an amazing ski weekend here!
Updates
If you head to the bottom of this page, you can see live forecasts, lift status, links to webcams, real time photos from Chamonix. We will be updating this snow report page every Thursday, so check back in with us to see how the pistes are doing and what you can expect from the snow forecast each week.
We need you!
If you're in Chamonix this week, we want to see your images, especially videos, of what you've been up to. So when you post to Facebook or Instagram, please tag us @SeeChamonix #seechamonix. Every week, we'll be posting our favourite videos and images here and sharing on our social media, along with our weekly resort snow report.
Have a great time in all this amazing new snow, we'll see you on the pistes!
