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La Chamoniarde mountain conditions report for 6 August 2023

 

It almost feels like Autumn this morning, but it's great to see the mountains looking so beautiful on the 7th of August!


The ground was white this morning up to an altitude of 2000m! Above that, it's plastered and we're seeing between 5 and 40 cm depending on the sector and altitude (10-15cm at the Goûter and Cosmiques, 4cm at the Couvercle, 5cm at the Conscrits and up to 40 cm on the traverse of the Dômes de Miage, 5cm at the Index, 0.5 cm at the Brévent). We estimate around 30-40 cm at 4000m. There has been a lot of wind, with the potential for decent accumulations (watch out for the risk of slides over the next few days).

This nice dusting of snow will no doubt improve the conditions for the snow routes that were still being done (Miages traverse, Bionnassay traverse, Mont Blanc via the Goûter or the Trois Monts, Rochefort Arête, Cosmiques Arête, Pointe Isabelle, Aiguille du Tour etc.) but it won't be enough to restore the conditions for those for which it was already too late. We're going to have a month of August with good conditions on the glaciers and on the snow routes for a summer in the 2020s!

As for the rock, we're going to have to be patient and adapt: it's going to dry out slowly because it's going to stay cool up there with the wind forecast.



Webcams can help you get a feel for the conditions: https://www.chamoniarde.com/montagne/meteo-avalanches-webcams

 

 

Translated with permission from an original report by La Chamoniarde.

Readers are reminded that conditions in mountain environments are prone to (sometimes rapid) change and that they should use their own best judgement when visiting them.