The return of the snow

Friday saw the return of the snow.... just in time for the Christmas week and scheduled resort openings. Just as the UK the Northern alps experienced high volumes of snow making travel a nightmare for those heading to the alps for Christmas. Delayed and cancelled flights still are affecting most northern European airports.

Tour du Mont Blanc refuge

The new Hotel/Refuge above Les Houches will partially open at Christmas to service the Les Houches ski area. The refuge will be fully operational later in the season offering accommodation high above Les Houches and the Chamonix Valley. The hotel is situated next to the Bellevue telepherique in an elevated position above the Chamonix Valley on the Tour du Mont Blanc, it will be of particular interest to those planning to do the classic tour in 2011 and beyond. More info as and when. Follow the link for photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/montblanctreks/

Le Tour recce

On Friday we did a little ski tour to the Col du Balme from Le Tour just to see what snow conditions were like higher up the valley. With beautiful blue skies it was quite a warm ascent to the Charmillion after which the more usual biting wind took play. Plenty of snow right down to the village with lots of additional cannon snow on the piste will ensure that Le Tour will be fully open next weekend. All the pistes have been groomed which made for an easy descent from the Balme.

Cold clear weather again today and this trend is set to continue for the next few days before the return of more snow by the end of the week.

Mont Blanc Treks 2011

Return of the chill factor

Temperatures returned to to below freezing during the night and the forecast is for cold and sunny weather over the next few days. In preparation for more Chamonix valley ski areas opening this weekend they have taken advantage of freezing temperatures by running the snow cannons over night in order to replenish snow on the lower slops that was washed away by the rain during the week. Todays ski tour at Le Tour will recce the conditions higher up... report back tomorrow.

Lots happening on the weather front... Rhone Alps v UK?

Whilst the UK is struggling as the grip of winter persists the weather in the Rhone Alps continues to be warmer than the past few weeks. After the continues rain of yesterday and a snow limit of 2200 mtrs the fresh powder snow of last week soon turned to slush. The milder damp weather is set to continue until Thursday after which the return of cold weather, snow down to 700 mtrs will hopefully ensure the early opening of more of the regions ski areas.

New Blog Mont Blanc Treks

First post for Mont Blanc Treks blog page


What better to do on a bad weather day like today than create a new blog for Mont Blanc Treks. Yes after the great snow conditions of the past week and the opening of some of the ski areas in the valley a day of rain with a snow limit of 2000 mtrs has dampened things slightly. The conditions are forecast to continue over the next few days before colder weather will take affect towards the end of the week bring the return of the snow.