More snow than I have ever seen
21st Jan 2012
I knew something was up this morning when I couldn't see out of my bedroom window. It took a moment to work out why. It was because the snow was pilled so high on the garden. As I walked out in the driveway I stood staring in disbelief. I had never seen so much snow fall in one night. I met my neighbour wearing the same expression. It took a while to dig the car out and we are running out of places to pile the snow.
Not for the first time this season Les Houches was the only place open. The atmosphere was incredible. I couldn't work out if it was chaos or fun but everyone seemed to be smiling with the same faces of disbelief. The queue for the bubble was long, but everybody seemed to understand the need for the wait. I don't think I have ever bumped into so many people that I know in one day - all the skiers in Chamonix seemed to be there making it a really sociable place. As for the skiing ... in places the powder was so deep that you couldn't move. The resort had done a great job shovelling snow in order to get the lifts open and doing as much grooming as they could before the skiers arrived (but this wasn't very much as there was so much snow to flatten!).
Perhaps it wasn't the powder day we had all hoped for when we battled to get to Les Houches this morning - there was just too much of the stuff, but it was a unique day and the volume of snow that fell overnight will be remembered for a long time.
You can see more photos of Chamonix this season here.
