The official line: Current weather and forecasts
The official Chamonix site publishes info on snow depths, lift openings etc and has webcams — handy for seeing what current conditions look like. The forecast from here is usually the most accurate. The lifts are run by the Compagnie du Mont Blanc who also have much the same info. If your French is up to it, you can get good, specific information from the Office de Haute Montagne on both high mountain and mid-mountain conditions, and also the Meteo France report which includes avalanche conditions.
But it’s hard to gauge the state of the snow from a webcam. For more detailed snow reports, there are plenty of powder enthusiasts keeping the world updated. These aren’t in any particular order – they are all well worth a look to get a good all-round picture of conditions in the valley.
Tom publishes regular and detailed reports on conditions around the valley at Chamonix Snow Report. He’s always got plenty of good pics, you can ask him questions through the site, and follow him on Twitter @chamonixsnow. You can also see him in action! in this useful glacier safety film (no sound, as it’s for the local info screens)
Latest posts from Chamonix Snow Report:
Trey at Chamonix Insider writes vividly about more eclectic subject matter, including climbing, surfing and whatever else catches his eye,with regular snow reports sprinkled in the mix.“Brewing up, dropping in, flaming out, landing hard, cowboyin’ up, topping out, throwin’ horns and basically having the “Best Day Ever!” over and over and over again in this little corner of paradise we call Chamonix.”
He’s also on Twitter @chamonixinsider.
Latest posts from Chamonix Insider:
The Daily Dump are a cheerful and irreverent bunch posting videos of whatever they’re up to, a good place to get info on the parks and freestyle conditions. Latest here!
13 Feb 2011 from The Daily Dump Snow Report on Vimeo.
Latest posts from The Daily Dump:
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Seb Montaz, Chamonix guide, films exquisitely crafted video snow reports which are fantastic viewing if you’re dreaming of being in the mountains, and useful when you’re lucky enough to be there. His site is well worth a good look around, and you can also see them on his Vimeo channel. He just posted this incredible video of Glen Plake in the Couloir Cache — eye-popping stuff.
Glen Plake, from moguls to ski mountaineering. from sébastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.
Latest videos from Seb Montaz:
Neil updates his snowboarding blog frequently – useful if he’s been in Chamonix, and always interesting if it’s from elsewhere! He’s still finding fresh turns…
Their regular snow update is thorough, with current snow depths, avalanche risk etc. It’s also easy to page back and compare with previous weeks or even years. They have a video version too. Well worth signing up for their Dump Alert email to hear when the good stuff’s arriving. They also have excellent webcams.
Latest reports:
Photographer Jon Griffith’s blog has more emphasis on ice climbing and mountaineering routes, with some truly stunning photos. The site also has this report on doing the Vallee Blanche by moonlight — something I’ve long wanted to do…
Alpine Exposures
Icicle blog regularly about what they’ve been up to, climbing and skiing:
This thread on snowheads.com is updated by forum members (including me!) pretty regularly,and generally has some good photos too.
Flickr can be a handy way to look over current conditions, as people post their holiday photos. Search for Chamonix and view most recent photos — this one from last week, by drakoumelp, shows the snowline clearly.
The free official Chamonix app isn’t very slick but has a lot of good info, especially on the weather. Well worth downloading before you go. The lift company also have their own free app, SkiChamonix, but it doesn’t seem to offer so much — though you can recharge your pass through it which might be useful if you don’t have a laptop.
So hopefully these links will give you useful info – but of course conditions change all the time, so make your own judgements carefully when you’re out there – remembering this quote I found on the excellent Pistehors site, from Claude Rey
Please do leave a comment if you’ve found this useful, (or not!) or if you’ve got/know of more sites that could be added.
