Chamonix 16/17

A snowHead

Hard to be sure but around 8inches of fresh snow at brevent summit. Dense snow at the top, claggy and wet at the level of planpraz. Charles bozon is ok for the majority of its length, quite good fun

A snowHead

A little Fresh at the top of Le Tour this morning but heavy and sticky towards mid station. Viz poor. By mid afternoon the freezing level had risen and porridge was the order of the day. Exited by 2.30, cold and wet.

I'm guessing there isn't going to be a refreeze over night so it will be the weekend before things improve with the forecast dump.

Not sure what's the best bet tomorrow.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Our Chamonix guides took us back to Courmayeur today as they said the conditions in the Cham valley were: "Urgh". In Courmayeur there had been approx 15 cm overnight down to about 1500m, good visibility and the conditions were great both on and off piste. Turned heavy/slushy mid-afternoon lower down. Sad to be returning to London tonight. It was raining in Chamonix town and mist / fog had covered the mountains.

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Looks like it's snowed overnight from the webcams?
Let's hope this big dump on the weekend materialises

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Where are some good value places in Argentiere or Chamonix to get some food after skiing?

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A friend who seasons in the valley spends a lot of time and money on pizza at Le Stone Bar in Cham.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Argentiere: Marmottons, right at the bottom of the resort run underneath the cable car wires.

The Rencard in the Grand Roc commercial centre does good homemade pizzas. Bit of a schlep with skis, prob 5 mins. If you can leave gear in a car in the GM car park that's much easier.

After all it is free

@VolklAttivaS5, there is at least one thread elsewhere on where to eat and drink in Cham.

We arrived last night, and skied Brevent and Flegere today. Good snow higher up, pistes lower down were very firm 1st thing and gradually softened as the sun worked on them. They ended up being very slushy. I think we'll head to GM tomorrow.

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duplicated

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Ok thanks I'm only going for 5 days so I will check out those suggestions above thanks.
Some nights I'm quite happy just to get a sandwich and some fruit from the supermarket.

snow reports

Arrived tonight, doing Brevent/Flegere tomorrow, then GM on Friday and Courmeyer on Sat. Sunday we are thinking half day maybe go up Augilere de Midi or another then Geneva. Is it worth we get Mont Blanc unlimited for 3 days and then half day pass depending on what we do? thanks

@pred02, probably too late... unless you plan on doing the top lift at the GMs for B/F, GMs and then Courmayeur you would be cheaper buying "le Pass" for today & tomorrow and a Courmayeur day pass Sun.

You are thinking Aiguille d Midi for sightseeing, right? in which case a round trip is €60 and an MBU day pass is €62 so buy an MBU, book on an early AdM lift and ski wherever afterwards.

You know it makes sense.

@pred02, top tip for Chamonix. Go to the ticket office at montenvers. There is seldom a queue, the staff speak good English and they will have the time to sort out the right pass.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Hi Folks,

does anyone know if the rapidcard lift pass works in Verbier as well?

I'm in verbier next week (4th to 11th) &then Cham (12th-14th) and back in Cham (Mar 11th-18th), so 16 days skiing in total which I think makes a rapidcard lift pass a better way to go for me?

Anyone got any info or advice on these??

thanks
Horgand

p.s. anyone up for a ski in Cham from feb 12th to 14th?? I'm there solo , so would be up to meet up for a ski & a beer.

A snowHead

@horgand, to the best of my knowledge the rapid card does not work in Verbier. I have one for my daughter and checked the other day if it included Courmayeur. It does not include Courmayeur. I was informed it was the CMB area plus Evasion MB only. Hope that helps.

A snowHead

Rapid card I can not believe works in Verbier but why are you asking here? Ffs!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Hi everyone, new to the site, first post! I'm going to Cham in 2 weeks and this will only be my second ski holiday (la clusaz march last year) and have found a new love in skiing and apparently am quite a natural which is great, but snow conditions etc. Is kind of a new thing to me and something I've never had to think about before. Perhaps I shouldn't be, but in anticipation for my trip I have been relentlessly looking at j2ski every day for forecasts and checking the Cham app etc. Have been looking on YouTube at the most recent go pro videos and I also found this thread which has been most helpful.

Basically I am just trying to interpret all this information correctly, the general consensus seems to suggest the conditions are not great which is not very reassuring as I approach my departure date but on the go pro footage I have been watching from late Jan it looks amazing so it leaves me confused, then I wondered - for a novice are the conditions just fine, would I even notice the difference in conditions at my level especially if I have little experience to compare to? The snow reports in this thread seem to be coming from very experienced people so I wondered are conditions that an experienced skier would find disappointing, likely to be as disappointing for skiers who don't know any better? I guess what I mean is are experienced skiers more prone to pick at any small detail that is not "optimal" conditions or do I interpret these reports as un skiable (probably not even a word:-) ) conditions?

Sorry for the newbie question, I do like to over think things....😬

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@alfgrey, don't despair there's been half decent on piste skiing all along. There's also a big dump due in this weekend and as I look out of the window I can see it snowed down to about 1300m last night although the visibility is poor with low cloud. You will need to think about where in the valley you go skiing as a lot of it will be challenging to a second week skier. Maybe start at le tour or les Houches and see how it goes.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

The challenge is the best part Happy

I need to improve my technique that's a given but I have no issues tackling reds, blacks are a little less enjoyable for me and will likely not attempt one until at least mid week.

I was tracking the dump for this weekend and it's gone overnight from 28cms to 15cms forecast on Saturday so perhaps a big dump will not materialise.

Thank you for your advice, really like this community so far.

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@alfgrey, the best forecast is here.
http://m.chamonix-meteo.com/en/index.php

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thank you jbob.

After all it is free

@alfgrey, don't worry, I was there last weekend, the condition of the pistes is very good. When people moan about conditions in Cham, it's nearly always because there's no thigh deep powder up at the Grands Montets and the rest of the off-piste is all icy moguls. They've done a great job maintaining the pistes in a challenging year this year.

It's a good job you're up for a challenge - the reds and blacks in Cham (especially at Grands Montets and Brevent/Flegere) are a lot steeper than in just about any other ski area - and they're steep for their whole length, not just the odd pitch. They are also some of the best and most scenic runs anywhere in the world though, enjoy!

Heading to courmeyer tomorrow any place recommended for lunch?

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@jma, thanks for the good advice. Hopefully I have not over estimated my skiing ability

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snow reports

We were at GM today - the overnight snow helped alot, lots of fun to be had off piste, here's hoping it's deep (but safe) tomorrow!

It was near perfect ski conditions at GM today. Unfortunately, my gf took a nasty fall face first in yhe hard snow. At the end she is just bruised up but all right had to spend the day in the French hospitals.

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Webcams look good this morning and we haven't had today's/tomorrow's big snows yet!

Can't wait to get out there next week

A snowHead

@bigtuboflard, Chiecco is awesome, non? Cool

A snowHead

@JoyZipper, thanks for the advice. Good luck with the powder

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Had a guide all day for off piste and we started at Grand Montets, up the first gondola and back down as the second was closed. Over to Le Tour and we managed up the gondola and the chairlift. However, to no surprise at all, when we reached the top of the chairlift we were informed that they were closing the mountain.

It was very windy with heavy snow, a complete whiteout.

Lunch in Chamonix and headed back to Les Houches and noticed that the Prarion gondola was working (the cable car wasn't). Paid for four hours and whilst the weather wasn't great the whole resort was pretty much off piste and an enjoyable few hours was had.

Let's see what tomorrow holds.....

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Came back from Chamonix this morning. Here is my experience:

Day 1 (Thu) Brevent/Flegere - beautiful day for skiing as it was sunny and not too cold. It felt like there was not too much snow even at 2000m+. The link to Flerge was open but the gondola down was not so a bit of a pain to come back. Very hard packed powder, quite a bit icy.
Day 2 (Fri) Grand Montets - another beautiful day, unfortunately hindered by GFs accident as she fell face first in a very hard snow and bruised her face badly so we ended up going to hospitals in Chamonix, Sallanches. It all ended well with no facial fractures or head damage which is most important but is in lot of pain. The French medical teams have been great, from the evacuation down the mountain, to ambulances and treatment. Lessons here - 1. Wear Helmet, 2. buy insurance (Carre Neige), 3. Have your EHIC (this covered 80% of all cost, the other can be covered by private insurance) plus any travel insurance to cover the rest
Day 3 (Sat) - went to Courmayeur there was MUCH more snow there than in Chamonix. It was snowing fairly hard but the piste were like butter, resort closed one side around 4pm but overall a great day there (and good food at Pre De Pascal by Val Veny lift). Liked Courmayeur a lot.
Day 4 (Sun) - went to Les Houches as it was snowing hard and was not sure if GM would be closed. Skied half day, there are some nice ski runs on the south side but otherwise conditions were dismal and the mountain was just ok, spend more time on lifts then on the slope felt a bit like New England skiing when I lived in Boston.

Overall I liked Chamonix town a lot, there is a lot to do, restaurants are very nice (La Table, Monkey, Cool Cats Cafe were favourite) a lot more to do then in Val D'Isere where I was last year. We stayed at Chamonix Sud at the location was perfect for buses and access to the main sites in town, however it is a bit of a hassle to transfer between the different mountains/resorts. As a resort, Val D is much better but the town and convenience goes to Chamonix for sure. Too bad there is not as much snow this season as I am sure it's great.

And I am sorry I missed VB run as well as more advanced runs (was planning to descend from GM) but next time Smile