 Poster: A snowHead
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Arno, David Murdoch, all that i meant by that is that in chamonix i feel like i am skiing in france and not in putney. Maybe this is not a fair criticism of ADH, but it is true of places like 3v, VDI etc where most staff and punters are from the uk and imho these places have lost their identity. You may argue that you go for the skiing but i also like to experience the local/regional culture.
Arno, it only fails on the 'untracked off-piste' requirement if you want to ski the 'visible' off piste. I have never been to Chamonix when a guide could not find some fresh snow for us to ski.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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PP, like I say, I do like Chamonix and enjoy the feel of the place a lot. However, it is full of Brits; but not 3V/VDI-type Brits which is certainly in its favour. I think my favourite time to go there are low season - December, May, September - although the skiing isn't necessarily up to much then (or even in existence at all).
I know you can find some fresh snow anywhere if you are prepared to look hard enough. Contrast the Grands Montets feeding frenzy on a powder day with my recent trip to ADH. Me and a guide skied a run accessible with no walking from the top lift at ADH. It is about 2000m vertical through wild glaciated scenery with steep bits, cruisy bits a couple of chutes and even some tree skiing right at the end. We were the first there in the morning so fresh tracks (as in only tracks in the whole thing) - no great surprise. We then went back up to the top and in the early afternoon skied a steep couloir (again, accessed straight from a piste) which joined that same run. We were first down the couloir and our tracks were still the only ones on the glacier. In Chamonix, Verbier, La Grave or any of these other off-piste meccas, the glacier run would have been a mogul field by lunchtime. This was on a Sunday, by the way, so the resort was relatively busy with weekenders from Grenoble and Lyon
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Arno, i agree that the best off-piste that Chamonix has to offer requires some work; you got to earn your turns  . There may be a lot of brits but the absolute numbers are lower then in previously named resorts (i think), and anyway the native population (and others) does a pretty good job of diluting the tourist population and retaining that 'real village' atmosphere.
To get back to drawing you away from ADH, my suggested trip (although based around Chamonix) also included other resorts that are not considered off-piste meccas. You may not get 2000m verticals but in return you get fresh tracks at minimum effort. Having said that the routes down to Clavans are amongst my favourite runs (short hikes, steeps, open fields, good food and very real) and i can see why ADH with its many other great routes is hard to top.
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