Chamonix

[James]

Here's an amazing video that starts out with a drone shot above the Aiguille du Midi. Then they ski the glacier in the Vallée Blanche. A solid intermediate with pow ability is what's needed. (There are more difficult sections one can ski.) Plus...willingness to walk that ridge. You're roped together usually if with a guide.

You get on the lift in town. It goes up in two sections. The second has no towers. Elevation increase, 9,200 ft. Just crazy.

Base of tram. This is where they adjust Kye Petersen's bindings in the movie Edge of Never, but the current building was built after in 2009.
Architects:
http://www.wilmotte.com/en/project/74/Cable-car-station


No sound for 8 seconds. Once into it, it's mesmerizing.
This is why you want to get to at least a solid intermediate level and be somewhat comfortable in powder. You don't need to be great to experience this.


And... left of the rope. The North Face.
A short, higher energy video that might make you sick looking at the pitch and exposure. Pretty crazy.

The single turns they make in the steep is what our guide recommended in the steep couloir we did across the valley. You want to descend one turn and have little things energy, essentially just stop. Then repeat. That way you won't go flying off, catch an edge, get out of balance. The freaky thing is looking down at the town.

When the guide says, (Vallée Blanche), "Here you don't fall or we don't see you again!"- you pay attention. (We skied nothing near what's in that vid, but did have to rappel.)

 

[Scruffy]

I was there last year. Low snow year, so the Aiguille du Midi was closed to all but the certified. We took the tram up to the top of Aiguille du Midi anyways, just because of the scenery is so awesome. We had great skiing over at Grand Montet however; several knee deep powder days from the top. The views and scenery everywhere in the valley are just breathtaking. Awesome place, I'd highly recommend getting there if you are serious lover of this sport; it's like going to our church. The town of Chamonix is worth the trip alone. Other than the glaciers and any other hike to off piste skiing in the valley, there's three major lift served areas that offer what we here in the US call green to double black- and up, so there's something for everyone. And of course, when in Rome(France) do what the natives do; take a leisurely ski to one of the on piste restaurants and spend three hours eating and drinking, and then ski down. Of all the places I've skied, it's by far on the top of my memory list. I'm hoping I get back there some day.

 

[Kyle]

Love that lift and love Chamonix--would love to be there in the winter so I could ski. Thanks for posting.

The end of the video on the ski out gave me motion sickness.

 

[James]

I was there last year. Low snow year, so the Aiguille du Midi was closed to all but the certified. We took the tram up to the top of Aiguille du Midi anyways, just because of the scenery is so awesome. We had great skiing over at Grand Montet however; several knee deep powder days from the top. The views and scenery everywhere in the valley are just breathtaking. Awesome place, I'd highly recommend getting there if you are serious lover of this sport; it's like going to our church. The town of Chamonix is worth the trip alone. Other than the glaciers and any other hike to off piste skiing in the valley, there's three major lift served areas that offer what we here in the US call green to double black- and up, so there's something for everyone. And of course, when in Rome(France) do what the natives do; take a leisurely ski to one of the on piste restaurants and spend three hours eating and drinking, and then ski down. Of all the places I've skied, it's by far on the top of my memory list. I'm hoping I get back there some day.

You were there either early or late? I skied it Feb 12th. Kind of lucked out. The original group was cancelled due to weather. Hanging around, two people were talking about getting another guide. I said I was up for it. She called. Turned out the guide right there who had been our group leader was the guy. He said maybe, let's get coffee and see. We waited maybe 45 minutes and then went up. Part of it I think was it was only a group of 3 instead of 8. Later, I heard the tram did shut down for wind.

After we got down, we took the bus back and the guide drove us to Brevent where we rappelled into the couloir. And to think I'd told the woman at the counter the previous day I didn't want anything really steep, pointing my hand down at a 45 deg angle. Hah.

It was warm in town during the time I was there. After, I went back to the guide office to book for the next day. I said the day was fantastic, but tommorrow maybe something a little less challenging? She replied, "How about Italy?" Well the answer to that question is always 'yes'. Next day I went to Courmayeur with a group. Different climate! Instead of warm, they had just had snow. Like 6 inches. So we had a nice powder day. Gourgeous over there, totally different though.

Great you had powder at Grand Montets. I've only been there one time, 2016, and the fog was super thick. Sometimes down to 1/2 a pole spread. Maybe less. But there were moments of clearing. Just an incredible area. Gorgeous.
I heard they replaced the super sketchy stairs at the top after getting off the tram.

 

[Pumba]

Here's an amazing video that starts out with a drone shot above the Aiguille du Midi. Then they ski the glacier in the Vallée Blanche. A solid intermediate with pow ability is what's needed. (There are more difficult sections one can ski.) Plus...willingness to walk that ridge. You're roped together usually if with a guide.

You get on the lift in town. It goes up in two sections. The second has no towers. Elevation increase, 9,200 ft. Just crazy.

View attachment 36373
Base of tram. This is where they adjust Kye Petersen's bindings in the movie Edge of Never, but the current building was built after in 2009.
Architects:
http://www.wilmotte.com/en/project/74/Cable-car-station


No sound for 8 seconds. Once into it, it's mesmerizing.
This is why you want to get to at least a solid intermediate level and be somewhat comfortable in powder. You don't need to be great to experience this.


And... left of the rope. The North Face.
A short, higher energy video that might make you sick looking at the pitch and exposure. Pretty crazy.

The single turns they make in the steep is what our guide recommended in the steep couloir we did across the valley. You want to descend one turn and have little things energy, essentially just stop. Then repeat. That way you won't go flying off, catch an edge, get out of balance. The freaky thing is looking down at the town.

When the guide says, (Vallée Blanche), "Here you don't fall or we don't see you again!"- you pay attention. (We skied nothing near what's in that vid, but did have to rappel.)

Ecstasy

 

[Eleeski]

We hit Chamonix wrong a couple years ago. First day at Brevent was a sheet of ice. Nothing else was open due to wind.

Second day at Grand Montets was OK. Mediocre snow and maybe I'm too used to Squaw but the mountain was just OK. A few cm of snow over the ice was interesting. Some OK bumps. The stairs were torture and I get claustrophobic when squished into a tram. The mountain was huge.

Third day we got a guide. Fun adventure through the glacier. A bit of powder but an absolute whiteout. The guide was "super". The run to the bottom through the trees was arguably the best - but not what Chamonix is known for.

Augille du Midi never opened.

The town and people were just OK also. They wouldn't honor my pass which was part of the Mountain Collective along with Chamonix. The condo was filthy. The croissants were excellent. The buses were a pain. Parking for the car was easy. The trip was a bit of work.

Especially when compared to Zermatt where we just came from. We'd all go back to Zermatt in a second. I need one of you guys who know Chamonix better to take me back there. Still it was fun and the video was kind of inspiring. Certainly a different trip if the snow had been better.

Eric

 

[Crank]

Here's my video from skiing Vallee Blanche off the Aguille du Midi. We skied it twice in 1 day. Second time down we skied some steeper terrain though conditions were super slick and crusty.

 

[James]

Here's my video from skiing Vallee Blanche off the Aguille du Midi. We skied it twice in 1 day. Second time down we skied some steeper terrain though conditions were super slick and crusty.

Nice vid! Wow, lots of people skiing there that day. We never saw anyone till down in the gulley after the flat surface of the moon run. But there were weather issues early and the lift closed sometime after we went up. Saw people in the refuge.

Did you have to hike up to that little cabin at the start of the downward traversing trail through the woods? Not sure if this is mandatory to get out.
This cabin:

After the refuge in the Vallée Blanche, we had to cross, on skis, a rock ridge.
Here's the first part crossing the rocks, once on, it was too scary to take a picture. Too dangerous without skis.

And I had sharpened and waxed my skis! Next time, renting.

 

[Crank]

Nice vid! Wow, lots of people skiing there that day. We never saw anyone till down in the gulley after the flat surface of the moon run. But there were weather issues early and the lift closed sometime after we went up. Saw people in the refuge.

Did you have to hike up to that little cabin at the start of the downward traversing trail through the woods? Not sure if this is mandatory to get out.
This cabin:
View attachment 36421

After the refuge in the Vallée Blanche, we had to cross, on skis, a rock ridge.
Here's the first part crossing the rocks, once on, it was too scary to take a picture. Too dangerous without skis.
View attachment 36420
And I had sharpened and waxed my skis! Next time, renting.

Yes we had to hike up before the final decent into town. It felt like about 300' or so feet of vertical. We took the train down on our second run and that also involved some uphill, mostly up a long stairway, to the station. We had a beautiful day and crappy conditions.