Christmas Skiing in Chamonix and St Anton (week 52)

Skiing Schindler, St Anton 26 Dec

On Grands Montets in Chamonix, as in many ski resorts all over the Alps, the 21 of December was a big powder day! In Chamonix we got 30cm of snow the previous night and quite a bit of wind, so plenty of snow in the big bowls and bare rock on the wind exposed ridges. The snow fall brought milder temperatures compared to the previous record-cold days with around -25 degree celsius on the mountains.

Skiing on Grands Montets, Chamonix 21 Dec

Snow kept falling in Chamonix all Christmas-week and temperatures raised dramatically. Lots of heavy snow on top of a pretty poor base made conditions quite dangerous in terms of avalanche safety. It was good to let the snow settle a bit during the holiday celebrations.

Skiing Zurs, St Anton 21 Dec

The same weather trend took place in the Austrian Alps. Wolfgang and Luis had a successful off-piste holiday in St Anton the weekend before Christmas (see photo gallery: Preseason Powder Skiing St Anton). Very cold before the snow arrived and big powder day on the 21st. Then it got warm and windy. We celebrated a rainy Christmas day in Innsbruck…

Skiing Schindler, St Anton 26 Dec

It was snowing hard again in St Anton on the 25th and we got amazing powder skiing on the 26th! See the photo gallery: Christmas Skiing St Anton. All though less snow in general than the weekend before we skied 30 cm of cold and fresh snow.

Skiing Schindler, St Anton 26 Dec

In ski resorts all over the Alps, the amount of snow was increasing during the Christmas week. With the return of the cold (the next front is already coming in) we will get a solid base and more soft snow on top of it.

Mountain ski guides at: Off-piste ski holiday in St Anton and guided off-piste skiing in Chamonix.