Schneebericht Chamonix, 03.03.2017

Schneelage

Snow cover, up until about twelve hours ago, was impeccable, with nearly 80cm of fresh snow being dropped across the whole valley over a space of two days. "Bottomless" pow days were reported from all areas, and spirits were high. Strong foehn winds starting yesterday evening and peaking today, however, have baked everything up to around 2300m to a heavy, slushy paste, although coverage, thankfully, remains good on the exit for all of the main ski touring iteraries. The Berard Valley is skiable top-to-bottom, the track from Loriaz is completely covered, the James Bond trail from Montenvers and the bottom of the Vallee Blanche is skiable with a short section of walking just above Les Planards, the Plan de l'Aiguille is skiing very well with just a short walk on either of the summer trails depending on how much you like your skis, the exit to the Glacier du Tour presents no problems to speak of, and the Pierre a Ric from the Grands Montets is as slushy, mogul-covered, and crowded as ever. Coupled with the continued non-opening of the Brevent and Flegere home pistes, we are now at a state of business-as-usual in the Chamonix Valley.It is worth mentioning that the Sal a Manger section of the Vallee Blanche is now considered to be as well-covered as can be expected, and now sees regular traffic without many parties choosing to rope up, as was common throughout most of January and February. Access to all of the other glaciers in the massif are following a similar line, with most crevasse fields and moraines now fairly well-covered.

Schneequalität

As previously mentioned, up until the latest foehn storm arrived, the snow was without fault, and despite lift-closing gale-force winds, good reports came in from all nearly all areas. Happily enough though, the sudden spike in temperatures from the foehn followed by the zero-degree isotherme dropping to valley-level this evening will set the latest snowfall as a good solid base, covering once-and-for-all the peristent sharks that have plagued almost every area for the whole winter.What's more, there is another 70cm or so of fresh snow predicted over the next few days, albeit in the presence of more gale-force winds, but there should be some great lift-served skiing to be had at slightly-lower altitudes early this week, and then with clear skies arriving from Wednesday onwards, some of the touring options might start to open up safely.

During the big storm, the official forecast had been posted as 3/5, but everyone in the valley pretty much accepted it as 4/5. Despite this, in classic Chamonix style, a few teams of dedicated, experienced, skilled, and brave skiers were out on all of the classic steep lines: the Rond and Cosmiques, the Col du Plan, the Mallory... to a mixed reception of applause and concerned tutting.Tomorrow's forecast is for 3/5 above 1800m, and 2/5 below, not least because the warm wind has eaten all the snow below 1800m. Care must be taken on sunny slopes in the moyenne-montagne tomorrow, as recently-deposited snow sees its first rays of sunshine, but clouds forming from midday onwards should nip that problem in the bud, but the much bigger problem will be the potential for slabs formed by gale-force winds over the last five days, starting south-westerly and swinging around to south-easterlies for the foehn storm today. A warning has been put out for all steeper slopes, especially near crests and ridges, on north-west, north, north-east, and east-facing aspects.All in all, there is a lot of fresh snow around, and despite relatively slim-pickings so far this winter, it might be best to dial it down a little bit this week and aim for some more mellow objectives, and I'm not just saying that because I won't get to go skiing much, if at all, this week.

Gesamteindruck

The day the snows came, I managed to grab a quick lunchbreak ski tour with a good friend and my dog, and today I waddled to lunch with a pregnant wife and a friend with a broken back. I have not been outside except for these two micro-expeditions, but they were both better than being at work.Fingers crossed that March will see some more playtime.