vallorcine or combloux

A snowHead

We are thinking of spending the first week of our 6wks next year in Vallorcine as we havent skied that area before, or going to combloux we are then moving to st gervais for the rest of the time,having looked at the Vallorcine piste map it looks like there are a few drag lifts, the question how difficult/long are they ? my dodgy knee can give me trouble if they are very long and I put too much pressure constantly on it, also it will be the first week in Jan, it looks like most of the skiing is above the tree line is it a cold area,the OH doesnt do very cold although since I bought her heated boots this is less of an issue,

A snowHead

for varieties sake why not do vallorcine for the first week if you are then going to be spending 5 weeks in the evasion mont blanc area anyway?

Most of the drags in the vallorcine-le tour area can be avoided through clever route selection, i.e. you can use the chairs/gondolas to access pretty much all the runs. The drags just let you do laps of certain areas. Aiguille des posettes is the exception to this rule but doesn't really add up to much.

Vallorcine is a lovely little village, right on the swiss border. It can get cold right at the top in a storm as the plateau around les autannes and tete de blame is pretty exposed and windy...however, the runs immediately above vallorcine in the trees are probably the most sheltered in that part of the area. Worth using the train/car to access a couple of the other chamonix ski areas over the col des montets while you are there. Brevent-flegere is on a pretty sunny aspect so rarely feels desperately cold, even in january

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@robs1, Vallorcine is very pretty but there isn't much to it, if that's a concern. Wouldn't be my choice, but I like a bit of bustle. Modest hassle to get elsewhere but you can time the trains, so if near station, that would work.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

We drive so no issues about getting elsewhere, we are mainly doing it to get cheap flexiplus passes which we get via the operator and the independent appartment in st G is booked that week by the owner and it's cheaper to book somewhere else for a week that includes the passes, flexi each way bought from euro tunnel is 40 quid less than the apartment including the pass.

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@robs1, one other point is that Vallorcine is in a bit of a valley and my suspicion is it doesn't get a huge amount of sun in Jan? You (hopefully Twisted Evil

) will need to be a wee bit careful of road openings...

If you're quite happy in your own skins, it's quite a charming idea.

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Get the train from Vallorcine over the pass to Verbier for the day, or indeed in the other direction to Chamonix. It's a beautifully scenic line. The buffet at Vallorcine railway station used to have a good reputation for food... tho that was 20-odd yrs ago...

After all it is free

Vallorcine is a very cold part of that region. Always a lot colder than other parts of that area. I would think very carefully about that. For those reasons alone I would chose combloux. Access can also be a problem if it snows (if you want to go over col de montets). But on your original questions - drags can be avoided and there are some nice restaurants in the area (eg at the train station and cafe de comptoir). Train to Argentiere and chamonix would be good. If with kids I think there are some ok apartment complexes with pools.

Perfectly good plan to go to Vallorcine, but why not Argentiere instead? More places to eat & drink, easy access to Balme but also easier to other Chx areas, better links to Chx after 8pm when the train has stopped but the night bus is still running.

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There only one drag that takes you somewhere that there is not another option, the others as far as I can remember are avoidable, I skied there this season numerous days and would not use them that much except if powder day to get some off piste bits not server by chairlifts. Most drag lifts in the area will kick you up violently at the start.

From the Vallorcine gondola down until Tete de Balme chair is quite nice and pretty blue run, mellow steepness in most parts but great for drills! The home run is pretty too but not my thing, narrow and shap turns all the way down. There a nice coffee at the bottom.

Love Vallorcine/Le tour area, probably the most scenic area of Chamonix... my forced last day of skiing this season was there, pretty much stayed till the very end acknowledging something was coming up soon! There is a lovely waterfall in the vallorcine Valley with Charmy coffee shop that we only found out late in the season.

As most of the french alps this season there was a lot of rain in Chamonix Valley but Vallorcine, being a bit higher would get away and have snow in the village instead so the area looked more wintery than Chamonix which rain wiped most of the little snow falling!

On the down side Vallorcine road access to Chamonix is constantly blocked if snows but train trips can take you to Chamonix easily although it isn't super frequent/fast though it's a lovely journey.

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I stayed at the Residence Spa Vallorcine every year for about 5 years when the kids were young (aged 4-8 and 6-10). As others have said, the village is very quiet, which for us was fine. There are a couple of restaurants near the station, and a fairly expensive place "La Ferme des 3 Ours" which is very nice.

Accessing the Vallorcine/Le Tour ski area is great - the Gondola up never has real queues, certainly compared to the rest of the Chamonix ski area. If you have a car then you can drive over the Col de Montets (if open) to Argentiere and Chamonix itself. The other direction, the Swiss border is 2.5 km away, and if you want to ski Verbier you can easily drive to Le Chable, about 30 mins drive, all motorwat after the mountain road and lots of free parking and a queue- free direct Gondola up to Verbier (gondola actually stops at Verbier on the way up to Ruinettes).

As others have said, both these trips (to Argentiere/Chamonix in one direction, or to Martigny/Le Chable/Verbier) in the other can be done by train from Vallorcine, but the timetabling is infrequent and stops at about 18:00 so no good for evenings.

Thanks for all the replies, if the road back to Chamonix is closed due to snow can you get back to Geneva via the swiss side or does that close a lot too ? We will be in our 4wd double cab with snow tyres plus chains so it does need to be bad to stop us but I guess they use snow gates if they dont want people trapped or blocking the roads with stranded cars. We need to only get in and out once and can happily use the train apart from arriving and departing

You know it makes sense.

Yes you can get back to Geneva via the Swiss border at Le Chatelard, it's about a 3 hour drive, around Lake Geneva.

Maybe some of the Chamonix locals will be better placed to talk about it, but in my experience if Col de Montets is closed, they get it opened up again pretty quickly.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@robs1, if it's bad they shut the Col Des Montets due to avalanche risk, rather than because it's a particularly steep or tricky road, so unfortunately, your vehicle won't make much difference. The loop the other way over the col de Forclaz is generally more reliable, but in 2018 it was shut for 2 months after landslides, so you can't absolutely bet on it.

The train tunnel can be used by cars for a certain set of timeslots each day, but the queue can peak at >2hrs and I'm not sure whether you're supposed to be resident to be permitted through it.

If your OH doesn't do cold, there's few places I've been that have been as cold as Le Tour. It can be absolutely brutal, particularly the chair up from the Vallorcine gondola. Heated boots are an essential for all of us, and when my daughter was smaller, she also had neoprene wraps on her boots. If there are any accommodation options the other side of the pass (Argentiere, Cham, Les Houches), that would let you ski the south facing slopes of Flegere/Brevent, or the trees of Les Houches, and might be a worth a good premium for January.

A snowHead

@robs1, Vallorcene should be grand. Don't worry about getting snowed in. The Col de Montets does sometimes close, and occasionally for a couple of days at a time (avalanche risk above the road and inclement weather preventing helicopter bombing can cause closure). However, when this happens you can almost always get the train. Only "almost" as the avalanche risk is very occasionally too much for the choo choo.

For those other times when the Col is shut and there is no train service, or you really need to be in the car, you just drive through the rail tunnel. It's great fun and the kids will love it. In these situations it is usually open for cars from about 7:30 to 9:00am, then from 17:00 to 18:30pm. Something like that. It isn't generally publicised. Oops.

A snowHead

@snowdave, posted simultaneously! No resident requirement. I have driven through on a number of occasions and didn't queue, but maybe I was lucky.

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Sounds fun doing the rail tunnel. As for the cold now she has heated boots she doesn't complain hardly at all, to be fair the coldest we have ever skied was Austria last week in Feb it was bone chilling, even I was feeling it, for a week out of 8 I think we will take the chance, we both love an adventure and it's always more fun when things dont go quite according to plan

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vallorcine or combloux

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