UKC

Heading out tomorrow and wondering what conditions are like . I believe there has been a fair bit of snow. I have snow shoes . Would it be worth taking them? Was hoping to head up to the Albert Premier and Torino huts and doing routes from there. Any info / advice gratefully received.

In reply to Nemo9:
Check out the conditions on the OHM site, usually has english translation for most of it as well.


http://www.chamoniarde.com

In reply to Nemo9:
Hi Nemo, I was in Chamonix a week and a half ago and it was really snow, basically no one was going anywhere without either skis or snow shoes, so yes I'd take them! We went to the Albert Premier hut (2 weeks ago now), walk-in was fine until the last 500m or so which was snow, again snow shoes probably useful. We also did Aiguille du Tour via Couloir de Table, it was in very bad condition really with loads of very soft fresh snow, but that may well have changed. Steeper ice faces like on Mt Blanc du Tacul were in good condition. Hope some of that's helpful

In reply to Nemo9:

Looking out of the hotel room window here in Chamonix just now and it is chucking it down. Local forecast was for snow above 3000m. Apart from yesterday, there has been rain every day this week. Speaking to a couple of people here, it has been the same for a while, so expect plenty of fresh snow higher up. Snowshoes mig be handy if you have them.
There is still snow on the Aiguilles Rouges from about 2300m and up. Some of this is old snow and will need a bit of care to cross.
The Chamoniarde website reported a good track up to Mont Blanc. This hasn't been updated since 9 June, but is worth checking for updates. Some of the higher paths are apparently Unsafe according to this site.
Hope you have a good trip.

In reply to KevinJ:

Snow all the way from Nid d'Aigle (end of the railway) 10cm fresh at Tete Rousse hut overnight and snowing hard when we left this morning. We had skis so the descent was good fun. There's definitely not a good track up Mont Blanc - apparently no-one has been up all week although some teams may try tomorrow.
Snowshoes will be a good idea!

In reply to Nemo9:

Thanks for the replies. Didn't have space for the snowshoes unfortunately. Was indeed chucking it down on Thursday when we arrived so we headed down to Ailefroide on Friday. Slightly better here but not much. Looking better from Monday onwards so going to head back to Cham tomorrow .

In reply to Nemo9:

You should be able to hire snowshoes (raquettes a neige, or just raquettes) either in Ailefroide or Chamonix. Though it may be a bit more difficult at this time of year.