Chamonix
France’s oldest resort, Chamonix is often described as the world’s best for extreme skiing. From the challenging off piste at the Vallée Blanche, daunting vertical descents, lively aprés ski, dramatic scenery across Mont Blanc and the variety of accesible runs, Chamonix is a very popular and busy ski resort.
The Slopes
There are five mountains to choose from Le Brévent and La Flégère, Grands Montets, L’ Aiguille du Midi and Le Tour. La Flégère is linked by a lift and L’ Aiguille du Midi is unpisted terrain. More exciting off piste action is accessed from the village of Agentiére, which is 8km away via a free bus with the lift pass. The most famous off piste is Vallée Blanche which suits the intermediate and expert skier, but there are gentler gradients for the less confident skier. The resort does get very busy and the ski can get get compressed very quickly, so you will have to get up early to ride the fresh stuff.
The Vallée Blanche area contains the most famous run in the area; a 14 mile run down the beautiful Mer de Glace glacier. This starts at Aiguille du Midi (3842m high on Mont blanc), which is accessed via a cable car from the Chamonix village. If you most advised to take a guide or with somebody who has been on it before, either way take care as many dangerous crevasses are dotted about.
Another good area for runs is Brévent. This sunny ski area across the valley from Mont Blanc and provides stunning views across the whole valley, which are probably the best around. This area has some exciting red runs as they are a little more difficult and provide a nice challenge to the intermediate skier wanting to test themselves. Intermediate skiers will also love the Le Tour area, which has the best intermediate slopes in Chamonix as well as challenging off-piste terrain.
For beginners there are some good nursery slopes in the quiet Les Houches area, which offer some nice runs into the village through sunny woodland area. There are also several long blue runs with picturesque views in the Balme area which descend through woodland area.