Chamonix: piste guide

Expert guide to Chamonix

1. Overview

2. Ski area

3. Hotels

4. Restaurants

5. Après ski

6. Snow reports

Chamonix gives access to not one mountain, but three, at least. Opting for the Mont Blanc Unlimited lift pass rather than the more limited Le Pass also covers the resort's fourth area, Les Houches, plus the challenging upper section of the Grands Montets area and the Aiguille du Midi lift from the centre of town to the shoulder of Mont Blanc. What's more Megève in France and Courmayeur in Italy are also covered. Le Pass best suits novices, unless staying in Les Houches - its small local ski area has its own lift pass as well as being part of the Unlimited pass. Le Pass can be upgraded to an Unlimited pass at any time by paying the difference.

Chamonix’s revival owes much to the opening of the Argentière/Les Grands Montets sector back in 1963. The upper Grands Montets cable car serves an immense freeride playground, much of it glacier, punctuated by two long black pistes of 1,300m vertical back to the mid-station, Lognan, and 2,000m vertical for the full descent down to the valley. 

Hiring a mountain guide is the simplest solution to getting easy access to this top lift at busy periods - or taking the view that a fairly long rest between tiring runs is no bad thing. The other Grands Montets lifts above Lognan also serve terrific terrain, including a few groomed intermediate pistes, but this is not a mountain for easy cruising. The red run down from Lognan to the valley, Pierre à Ric, is great in the morning, when hardly anyone uses it – less enjoyable from mid-afternoon, when it’s packed.

A new, six-seat chairlift is opening for winter 2018/19, carrying up to 3,200 people per hour, and a dedicated beginner area (with two drag lifts) is opening at Lognan

The Brévent-Flégère sector on the sunny side of the Chamonix valley is a game of two halves – each half has a broad fan of intermediate pistes above steep forest, with a single black run down to the valley, marked on the map but rarely open. A flat two-way linking lift near the treeline, Liaison, connects the two areas, the whole being a splendid wide-open space for sunny cruising with classic views of the Mont Blancscape. Many keen adrenalin-junkies who obsess about Argentière spend hours queuing when they could be enjoying great conditions in this sector – powder, spring snow or groomed corduroy pistes depending on the time of year and time of day.

The two-stage cable car from Chamonix to Plan de l’Aiguille (2,170m) and Aiguille du Midi (3,842m) is an engineering marvel and sightseeing highlight in itself. The famous Vallée Blanche run (an unmarked, unmaintained, unpatrolled off-piste itinerary route) runs from here back down through the glaciers to Chamonix, and delivers some of the most spectacular scenery the Mont Blanc range has to offer.

It starts with an exposed ridge walk and often finishes at the longer, steep stairway up to the Montenvers railway back to Chamonix. If snow conditions are particularly good, it may be possible to continue down through the woods to the Planards chairlift. The run itself is a long scenic cruise with a few tight sections between gaping crevasses – fairly easy, but dangerous. There are more challenging routes down the Vallée Blanche, but even for the main so-called tourist route, it’s advisable to go with a guide.

Balme/Le Tour/Vallorcine is an M-shaped area with gentle open slopes and reliable snow at the head of the valley, ideal for confidence building and entry-level off piste, with an easy link to the attractive woodland runs and more rugged terrain above the village of Vallorcine.

Les Houches has long runs through the woods of a kind more often associated with Austria, including La Verte – Chamonix’s World Cup downhill race course. Although it’s graded black, it's not especially difficult unless taken at downhill racing speed. There is also a top-to-bottom blue run, Aillouds, but the terrain is essentially intermediate, with good lunch options.