Minimum altitude: 1,327 meters
Distance: 5.2 km
Slope Aspect: West
Vertical Climbed: 690 meters (2,264 feet)
Vertical Descended: 691 meters
Rating: 3.1
Avalanche Risk: 1
Snowline: 1,330
It has been very cold this week, even if the car thermometer showed 17C in the afternoon the cold north wind has kept the snow hard at altitude. On the west facing Chamechaude no need to be an early bird but good to descend before sunset. I was worried that there would not be enough snow but it is just ok. Very poor snow levels for early April though, a testament to this globally warmed ski season. I climbed and skied down via the Pas du Lapin but I think it would have been okay on the main route too. I stopped at 1990 meters, below the summit, due to lack of snow higher up. The ski down was on a few cm of fresh on a very hard base. Good skiing. The best skiing was probably between the Pas du Lapin and the pistes but even lower down things were good and it helped it was a bit warmer.
Hard snow with about 3-5cm of fresh on top that fell on Tuesday which evened out the surface and made the skiing very pleasant. Icy whenever you went into shade. Ski crampons were not superfluous - all this at 16h00. A short section with no snow on the main piste, I skied down via the left fork then traversed across on the South cross country trail but still had to remove skis for around 100 meters (but flat). The Pas du Lapin required a down climb on icy "steps".
