Submitted by ChamonixNews on
Not a lot has changed in the last week with the snow in Chamonix, except that it is a bit milder now: spring skiing season is on our doorstep. It has been mostly dry and sunny since my last snow report, apart from a bit of hazy cloud cover on Friday and Saturday. At the moment the southerly "foehn" wind is blowing in the Chamonix valley, marking a change in the weather. The high pressure system has been broken and there is some less stable weather for the week ahead: not much snowfall forecast until next weekend, but we will see after that.
This afternoon was a lovely Saturday afternoon ski session at Les Houches ski area. The sun was out, but hazy, with some passing clouds, and the foehn wind wasn't affecting the ski area much (there was a light wind at the top of Prairion). It was almost cold at the top, so the snow was still icy in places, but in the direct sun and lower down on the mountain it was softening to really nice spring slushy snow, without being too soggy or chopped up. The pistes are good for skiing and riding all the way to the bottom, and the spring opening hours are until 5pm now (although after 4pm it was starting to re-freeze a bit).
It is supposed to be milder in the next few days, so we will probably have some good spring snow conditions mixed in with cloudy spells through the next week. Most of the Chamonix ski area groomed pistes are great, and there are plenty of moguls around off-piste for a challenge, but backcountry and the Vallée Blanche are still complex due to the snowpack (icy in places and tricky lack of snow at some key lower altitude points): mountain guides have more information about that.
