Snow report Chamonix Mont-Blanc, 02/13/2026

Snow condition

The snow conditions are now really good, especially on the north side. Below 1800m only 3 stars, but above that it's now really rideable. You can actually ski over anything that isn't a huge cliff... but stones and very large rocks are snowed in. Above the tree line from about 2200m it looks different again. Here it's just much more rocky and needs a few more snowfalls until everything is completely closed. A lot of snow has also been swept away. So the best zone at the moment is between 1800 and 2400m on the north side. Descent into the valley up to about 1200m is possible for adventurers - but it's no fun because of the extremely heavy snow.

Snow quality

below 1800 m we are talking about 3 stars due to the somewhat heavy powder. Above that is a really solid product. 150 cm of perfectly flocked fabric. Of course, there is still room for improvement. It could be dustier, even lighter... but we concentrate on what's there and don't complain. Finally without a handbrake in the forest. Finally, the nastiest sharks have completely disappeared. You shouldn't fall at the moment. When you take your skis off, you're standing in fluff at least up to your belly button. Now the bad news. At depths it's a ribbon of wet snow soup, and not too little, you can't ski that well in a meter of wet snow. Even on the south side in Flegére in the morning it was over after one run. The sun baked the Pow, which was already covered in snow, in a matter of minutes. A little above the tree line, the powder fun quickly came to an end as the snow was marked by the wind and quite sticky. But it could improve over the next few days. All the higher lifts were closed today anyway.

Attention, very personal assessment: Yesterday was a 5 here...I think in Tyrol it would have been a 4. Today (Friday) was a 5->4 according to the LLB and I would have given it a maximum of a 3 where I was. The blasting successes were there but not surprising with so much fresh snow. The blasts were all set in cornices or the most obvious drift snow slopes. In any case, some of the slopes were quite large. 2 larger blasting sequences in Grands Montets: One on the left below the Aiguille du Bochard with a long run-out. And once between la Herse Lift and Arret de Rachasse. The wind was coming from the south-east, which of course also brought it right there. In smaller parts of the ski area directly above the slopes, there were blasts that caused little or nothing. In Flegère we could see successfully blasted wet snow slabs. But only very small ones. All in all, we were only out and about in fairly wind-free zones today, so there were no cracks when walking on the snow cover, no whamming noises. I think the high avalanche warning level of the last few days was justified for certain high alpine areas, but over a large area in all expos a 5 that drops to a 4 over the course of the day at over 1800m... I thought that was exaggerated. But I'm not an avalanche grandmaster either. I've often noticed in the last few months that a high level is quickly issued here and in the end everything is still skied and nothing comes off. I don't know if that's so good for the credibility of the LLB if everyone secretly thinks the 4 is a 3 somewhere else. I suspect that it is very difficult here to map a uniform danger level over such a high difference in altitude... in addition, there is probably the distorted perception because you are usually on the road in busy terrain, which influences the snowpack structure. I can warmly recommend reading the directly adjacent Swiss avalanche report here in the area. Incidentally, there was "only" a 4 yesterday.

Overall impression

Very productive PowderAlert. The oracle did a good job. In the morning we were still baking in the sun in Flegère and by midday we were powdering the seat of our pants in Grand Montets. Extremely useful amounts of snow that are now lying around and hopefully have come to stay.