UKH

I'll be skiing in Cervinia next week and heading to Haute Provence for some rock climbing the week after so it wouldn't be much out of my way to call in at Chamonix en-route and ski the Vallee Blanche, weather and conditions depending of course.

Anyone know what the general state of things up there is at the moment? The weather is looking a bit unstable at the moment but I'll be checking the forecasts and snow reports daily from hereon but some idea of where things are at now would be a useful start.

Its been a heavy snowfall winter in general so would I be right in thinking the crevasses should be quite filled this year and is it still possible to ski back to Chamonix or is the trek up to Montenvers required?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

The Vallee Blanche has been in brilliant condition for most of the winter. Its possible to ski in between many of the variants, and I even saw a few lines skiing in the middle of the Glacier du Geant. It was pretty warm during the last weekend, and has rained up to 1900m over the past couple of days, therefore the ski run home is starting to get patchy and I'll start walking up to Montenvers from now on.

How long does the Vallee Blanche to Montenvers remain skiable?  Would late April be too late?

I would imagine that this winter it will be ok to at least the end of April

Thanks!

Thanks, that's good to know. Just got to hope the weather is ok for my window of opportunity.

I ended up skiing the home run yesterday as it was so cloudy I missed the stairs up to Montenvers. It wasn't too bad actually, I only needed to take my skis off near the crossing of the railway tracks.

Do you know if the midweek snowfall has helped fill out the run down from Montenvers or was it rain at that height and has actually washed some of the existing snow away?

Also, I’ve read it may be advisable to book the Midi telepherique which seems like a bit of a pain. It’s looking like Sunday will be the most likely chance assuming the avalanche risk drops (which in itself isn’t looking too promising) as the weather forecast thereafter looks poor. I don’t want to book a slot when there’s only a 50/50 chance of doing it at best but don’t want to turn up and find it’s full all day!