© Nathalie | See The World
Snow report, 28 March 2024
Another week of changeable weather here and cooler temperatures with sunshine, cloud, rain and snow! Those pisteurs have still been maintaining and grooming the slopes fabulously to give us great ski conditions daily. The lower slopes are not in bad shape considering the lack of snow and all are mostly still open, although some connecting slopes are suffering. Higher up the snow is plentiful and in good condition, with slightly above average depths for this time of year over 2200 metres. We have typical spring conditions, tending to be icy in the early mornings, good mid-morning skiing and then softening up and a bit slushy from around 14:00.
Winter is back
We’ve got a cold front passing through which has brought more new snow than had been forecast and it is continuing to snow this morning over around 1000 metres. So during Wednesday and by lunchtime today we will have had around 40+ cm of new snow in Chamonix. This is helping the state of the pistes enormously and the lower resorts have taken on the wonderful winterland look again!
The next few days
Temperatures will rise a little for the weekend and the freezing level will go up to around 2500 metres. However on Sunday night and throughout Monday it will cool down again and we have another good dump of snow coming of around 25 - 28cm.
We should see the sunshine on Friday afternoon but then not again until Tuesday, but after all the snow of Sunday and Monday, Tuesday looks like being a fabulous powder day!
Saharan dust
There is a good chance that we will see fairly large areas of Saharan dust visible over the Alps in the next few days, this will have an impact on snow cover and could create poor visibility and a discolouration of the snow.
Avalanche risk
During the last week there has been avalanche activity through the Northern Alps, caused mainly by glide cracks and cold, dry slab avalanches usually triggered by the skiers. The current avalanche risk through most of the northern Alps is 3 out of 5. Take heed of the avalanche warnings in Chamonix before even considering venturing off piste.
This weeks video below is a drone flying over the Three Vallees and the above cool photo is out on the Vallee Blanche in Chamonix.
Watch this
Top tips if you are skiing this week
We have spring-like ski conditions and the pistes will likely be busier from this weekend as the Easter holidays begin. There are plenty of events planned over the Easter break in Chamonix, check out our events calendar.
- The temperature is changeable in the mountains and this weeks weather is a mixed bag again. It remains fairly cold this coming week, so layers, a shell jacket, sunglasses or goggles with the low light and sunshine lens this week, but you will need something waterproof this weekend and Monday.
- Get out on the slopes early and plan a late lunch to make the most of the spring-like snow, before it gets slushy
- Book your table on a sunny terrace on Friday and probably Tuesday in advance to avoid disappointment.
- Don't forget the sunscreen! the sun and UV levels in the mountains is intense.
- The pistes can be quite hard-packed in places, but the snow on the sides of the runs is often softer. Keep to the sides of the pistes for a more effortless, less icy experience.
Still time to enjoy some late season skiing, check out - Why come spring skiing in Chamonix.
Updates
Scroll down to see live forecasts, lift status, links to webcams and above for real time photos from Chamonix. We will be updating this snow report page every Thursday, so check back in with us next week to see how the pistes are doing and what you can expect from the snow forecast for the next seven days.
We need you!
If you're in Chamonix this week, we'd love 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. 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.
Happy Easter skiing, we'll see you out on the pistes!
