 Poster: A snowHead
|
Ok , so we only have four days in January, far too cold and windy I am told for to do the vallee Blanche,. So as the whole resort seems a bit spread out , where would you recommend we ski. We both ski well, so like a bit of a challange. We are staying ( I think) close to the brevant ski lift, is there much skiing there? can we ski to another area from the top ? or do we need to get a bus?. I like resorts that you can go up a lift and then go all over the place from there. I want to practice off piste skiing, piste skiing I like strong reds and blacks, steep or ice isn't too much of a problem, but if life was perfect they can keep the ice.  but it doesn't put me off. Where should we aim to go ? I don't want to spend a day faffin around , then find the good places on the last day. ( this happened in cervina on a two day trip, wasted a day then found the fun stuff the second day)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Brevent: Linked to flegere via a cable car without needing to descend to the valley. Decent black with several variants down from the top of brevent, and good steep reds throughout the rest of that sector. In good snow, flegere is ace for piste-side off piste...but usual warnings about avvy risk etc apply. If in doubt, get a guide: I wish I hadn't waited until my third Chamonix trip to do so!
However, for the steepest/hardest on piste skiing, get yourself on the bus up to argentiere and head to the top of the grands montets. Effectively, they just put some piste markers in the side of a colossal mountain and leave nature to decide the conditions...some decent reds/blacks elsewhere aswell, particularly in the "Pendant" area below the Bochard lift and the Pierre a Ric piste back to the valley.
World cup piste at Les Houches and a day over in Courmayeur also worth it...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
First of all if you can change your accommodation to Les Houches do so. Make sure your lift pass covers Les Houches. NB the pass choice for Chamonix is bewildering, make sure you understand what you are buying.
Why am I rabbiting on about Les Houches well in bad weather esp high winds the other areas often shut down except for a token lift. Les Houches is sheltered and often keeps running.
If you are expecting to be able to ski from area to area the answer is no. They do not connect even off piste. If you want to visit different areas there is a bus service included on your pass. Make sure you have a bus timetable and understand which bus line goes where. The locals seem to have pet names for each bus route which are not shown on the bus. Remember this is France not Switzerland, do not expect the buses to run on time or that extra buses will appear if there is overcrowding at peak times.
If I appear to be negative while Cham has some great skiing it is not as easy to get around as say the 3V. We learned to make an early start, catch the first lift, ski Les Houches if it was windy or the viz was poor. Argentiere has some real hairy chested off piste but you need local knowledge to stay safe.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Les houches might stay open in bad weather, but it also rains there. Imagine relocating to les houches and being rained on for 4 days, knowing there's 50cm of powder in argentiere but you can't get there...
Hollandos advice is sound. You are in a great location by Brevent ( which connects by cable car to Flegere, no bus required). You can get the bus to Argentiere which is well worth doing. If everything shuts you can get the bus to les houches. I reckon that happens to me maybe 1-2 days a season, out of the 40-50 I spend in the valley.
If you want to find good off piste, it's worth either hiring a guide, or buying the chamonix off piste guidebook IF you're confident you know what you're doing skiing big mountain off piste... be wary of following tracks in Cham, the person who laid them could be a world champ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
@biddpyat, the Valley is much more akin to US than typical European skiing.
So few lifts serving typically long pistes/off piste bowls.
Our apartments are just below Brevent and we have many clients who spend their entire weeks there. We are walking distance so it’s our go to area.
Les Houches is indeed good if the weather is crap, but the runs are short by comparison. Mind you some of the restaurants are much nicer.
I would not consider changing location.
Not sure why the VB would be too cold or windy? Who have you that impression? Your problem there is that January is a little early for the snow bridges to have filled in over the crevasses...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Hmmm, on guides... if you are comfortable off piste, well, there you go. If you aren’t a guide is a good plan...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some good advice on here already. Don’t change to Les Houches, if you’re a strong skier you’ll be disappointed knowing Grand Montets is up the valley. It can get a bit hectic there but has amongst the biggest mountain lines in the Alps to go at with some massive vertical.
In Brevent Flegere area, runs off Index, Cornu, Floria and Flegere lifts all good, some nice side piste stuff as has been said.
Also don’t discount Le Tour, bit of a pain to get to and I’ve always encountered sizeable queues to get up but there is some nice stuff there. Runs down to Vallorcine are nice but again be careful off piste on that side, top section is prone to some big avalanches, can be very wind loaded, and there are some small to medium size cliffs in the trees too lower down.
It’s one of those areas you’ll love or hate I suspect, if you like convenience and linked up high speed chairs with careful grooming you won’t be impressed. But I love it for its faults and setting, it feels on a different scale to almost anywhere else I’ve been.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
it feels on a different scale to almost anywhere else I’ve been
|
@bigtuboflard, that's because it is on a bigger scale to most places. I think I worked out that despite appearing as though it's on the tip of your fingers, the dome du gouter is 11kms in a straing line from my balcony.
Big hills.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
@under a new name, even if OP is comfortable off piste, the problem is finding the good areas in a short space of time, without following tracks that get you into serious trouble. Hence the guide or guidebook. You could think you've found some lovely easy off piste at Le Tour (e.g. following tracks off the Posettes ridge), only to end up cliffed out above Vallorcine because the people in front were happy to huck 10ft and you're not.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'd go with straight up Brevant, which is as already posted, linked to Flegere. It's facing south ish so at that time of year gets sun on it early. It's such a deep narrow valley that some parts early in the year can be in deepest shadow alot.
Last time there, we arrived Flegere top through a cloud inversion and riding the chair on upwards went out the top to a monumentally spectacular landscape of crystal air and powder pistes.
@snowdave, we also spent nearly 4days rained in at Argentiere, Gendarmerie came round to put us on 30 minute standby to evacuate as they perceived the avalanche risk was so high to the chalets! Most lifts in valley closed, think just the base of La Tour was operating. We went round to Les Houche to all lifts open and ram stacked with powder, vintage day skiing. It's such a fickle valley but if you get in the right place Sooooo rewarding.
Was there four visits before I saw La Tour in clear non whiteout conditions, some good skiing. Wind over obove Vallorcine worst I've ever skied in with pistes there scalped and boilerplate ice but front side all ok. It can change so fast with the scale of weather there.
Valley Blanche I've completed in early March. Spectacular day out and we had fabulous conditions with so much snow they cut a tunnel into the refuge for lunch stop up there. Another vintage day out. As they others have said it may not be fully operational early if the year if snow fall has been sparse.
@biddpyat, think you're going to be best placed to judge it when you are there with local knowledge to help in prevailing conditions. It's one of the least predictable places I've skied regarding just how much the snow conditions can flip either way. But absolutely completely worth it, don't let any of these comments dissuade you it's just what happens there.
We also found the buses connecting fine, it's often given as a difficulty there, we just didn't experience that with them working very well. You just factor in the travelling out if the morning to get a good start.
Benefit of starting is Brevant is it gives you a really good panoramic overview of the valley.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
@snowdave, perhaps I should have defined “comfortable”? I.e good avalanche protocols, ability to appropriately plan safe routes, not following Darwin’s tracks ... etc.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
| Quote: |
Also don’t discount Le Tour, bit of a pain to get to and I’ve always encountered sizeable queues to get up
|
If you fancy skiing the Balme area and are based in Brevent the best bet is the train out of Chx to Vallorcine instead of going to Le Tour. Trains a bit slow, but once there there will be no queues in Vallorcine for uplift. Plus the train 'tends' to run on time and doesn't 'tend' to be as rammed as the buses can get. You will need to ensure your accomadation provider gives you a Carte d' though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
four days in January, far too cold and windy I am told for to do the vallee Blanche
|
that just depends on the weather during the four days you are there (and the weather in the preceding couple of months regards 'filling in', but we are off to a decent start I hear).
So don't discount it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| under a new name wrote: |
| @snowdave, perhaps I should have defined “comfortable”? I.e good avalanche protocols, ability to appropriately plan safe routes, not following Darwin’s tracks ... etc. |
Fair enough, I misinterpreted "comfortable" as some way below "experienced", knowing your limits is probably the defining requirement!
@ski3 - the weather can change a lot, but what almost always happens when Argentiere is closed is that you drive to Les houches, find its raining, then get a call from a mate telling you that they're on the first bin on the Grands Montets...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
Pokoloco for burgers 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| @247snowman wrote: |
| Pokoloco for burgers |
if it still exists
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Still exists...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
+1 for Argentiere and the Grand Montets.
It’s been a while since I last skied in Chamonix but you used to get a day in Courmayeur as part of the pass (through the Mont Blanc tunnel). Useful if you have access to a car and if conditions aren’t great in Cham as you can get completely different weather on the Italian side (or so I was told).
Vaguely remember some decent off piste down the back of the Tete de Balme too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
1 day Brevent/Flegere; 1 day Argentiere; 1 day Courmayeur (does the free bus from next to the station still run?); 1 day Verbier (if you have a car) or La Tour / Les Houches (if you don’t) would make a pretty cool 4 day trip. Adjust based on conditions / hangover...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Thanks folks, lots to keep in mind there! Great to get information on the resort from you lot. We haven't been to france in over 12 years, but with handy flights to geneva we chose Chamonix for our short break. ( got great value €40 from Ireland west to Geneva via Stanstead)
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
What's that when it's at home? Don't you mean a Carte d'Hote? (Yes, you do).
@biddpyat, lift passes get you free bus use (except I think, still, the night bus) but not trains. for that you need to get the Carte d'Hote from your accommodation.
Courmayeur - there were free buses last year, presume so this year but Compagnie du Mont Blanc are still only advertising their now defunct summer programme, because, you know, they are sooooo nice to us and really aren't a profit making company so they can't afford a useful website because no they aren't gouging our eyes out with our credit cards. #Bunch_of_twats.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
