Fresh Snow!! Finally!!

Woke up on the 2nd January to a good 20 centimetres of fresh powder snow at 1100m.

...and it truly needed it. Just about all the previous snow had melted by the foehn, or washed away in the recent rains!! Hopefully it is here to stay now!!

View from La Tour, Boxing Day 2006

Les Houches - Bellevue is open!

So it appears that the ski season 2006/7 has officially started as the Les Houches Bellevue lift is now open.

In addition, either Grands Montets or La Tour (if the technical problems at GM aren't fixed) should be open this weekend too...

For all details on the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc website, check here

Snow has arrived!!

Well the snow has finally arrived in force.  Friday night the first flecks started falling, and we woke up on Saturday to find a good 20-30 cms at 1100 metres!!

We saw the first skiers on Les Houches on Sunday - though the cable cars haven't started yet, so they must have randonnéed up...

The rumour mill is in full operation - apparently Les Houches may open up on the 16th December - they've starting preparing the blue piste to Prarion this morning...

..and either Grands Montets or the Domaine du Balme should be open this weekend (according to the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc)!

Warmest Autumn in 100 years!

Apparently it has been the warmest autumn in over 100 years! according to MeteoNews. ...and we are still waiting for the snow to arrive!

For the last few days, Chamonix has suffered Foehn winds which has raised the temperature up to 14 degrees! All that could change soon though, as a weather disturbance is due to arrive on Sunday.

Here's hoping!!

It looks as though they might have to cancel the World Championship Ski de Fond in La Clusaz (16-17 december) unless the snow comes soon. Apparently, the Ladies Downhill World Cup in Saint-Moritz (9-12 december) has already been cancelled.

Snow down to about 2400 metres

this weekend: a light dusting of snow down to about 2400 metres.

Welcome to the Chamonix Blog...

Despite the Compagnie du Mont Blanc raising the hopes of an early start to the season by opening Grands Montets every weekend from the 1st November, we are still waiting for the first snowfall of the season...

Looks like it'll be at least another week yet...

Time is running out to get your early bird lift pass prices though - 30% off the annual lift pass price if you purchase it before the 20th November!!!

Other news : the new Prarion lift in Les Houches is progressing well. The land dispute which threatened the opening of the lift has been resolved and they've already started to hang the first cars on the cable....