International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Tips for Skiing in Chamonix

[dovski]

Given that you're arriving so late at GVA, I'd be surprised if you can get a bus or train to any resorts at that time of night. Looking at the SBB website, you can get trains to places like Villars, Les Diablerets, and Gstaad starting around 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning on a Saturday, getting you into the resort at 8:00 or 9:00.

I don't know if any transfer companies are running buses at 11:00 pm on a Friday or how early they start on Saturdays, but I have a feeling that you'll be staying the night Friday at an airport hotel and heading to the mountains on Saturday morning.

The Alpy Bus runs late so getting there is not a problem. Challenge is that for Saint Gervais they drop me off at the train station and I will have to get a cab to my hotel. Not sure how easy that is after midnight.

 

[James]

Ok so I looked at Megève and the cheapest accommodation I could find was about 1500 EUR per night. So found a ski resort in St. Gervais called Le Monte Bianco in SAINT-GERVAIS MONT-BLANC which is part of the Hotel Club ski MMV chain. They have a room with full board for 350 EUR for two nights it becomes 418 EUR if I go all inclusive which includes a 2 day ski pass and. They are walking distance from the lifts. This sounds like a good deal. Any thoughts or feedback on this? Also are their other Ski Resorts/Clubs in the area worth considering?

Thanks,
Dov

1500eur/night?
Insane. Surely there's some alternative.
Cham has huge ranges btw. If you want to go the uber cheap route there's 45eur/night Gites (hostel) with own room. Not the drunken Brit one either.
I talked to someone who did Club Med for a week and they stayed up in Brevent basically slopesidish. He said to town was 10 min walk. Room/food was ok, (highly mediocre) best thing was a guide the whole time when skiing.

Anyway, St Gervais looks good. No hotel shuttle? Or you could ask them about late night transport?
I assume this is the map.

http://live.skiplan.com/moduleweb/2.0/evasion_saintgervais.php#

 

[dovski]

1500eur/night?
Insane. Surely there's some alternative.
Cham has huge ranges btw. If you want to go the uber cheap route there's 45eur/night Gites (hostel) with own room. Not the drunken Brit one either.
I talked to someone who did Club Med for a week and they stayed up in Brevent basically slopesidish. He said to town was 10 min walk. Room/food was ok, (highly mediocre) best thing was a guide the whole time when skiing.

Anyway, St Gervais looks good. No hotel shuttle? Or you could ask them about late night transport?
I assume this is the map.

http://live.skiplan.com/moduleweb/2.0/evasion_saintgervais.php#

Alpybus drops off and picks up from the St. Gervais cable car which is less that 500M from the hotel I found. They will do late night drop off too which is great. So current plan is to do that and ski St Gervais/Megeve. Room price is not bad either considering it is full board. I looked at Club Med but they have a 3 night minimum and I only have 2 nights/days for this trip as I am travelling for work.

 

[James]

Sounds like a good plan!
Hah, a good intro to the Alps- names no one here has heard of but are quite common. I found when looking for lodging in Chamonix while on the plane, ridiculous placesvwere popping up. And towns I didn't even know. Some "only 20 miles" away but lots of time by road.?Very confusing, esp as Chamonix-Mont Blanc was often listed. Was it a different town? No it turns out. What I finally did was go to googlemaps and start getting names of hotels. I then also used Chamonix centre ville as a search.

If you can at some point in the future, the train trip from Verbier (the train stop town is Le Chable) to Chamonix is very nice. Those van shuttles do run from Verbier to Cham also but last year the road was out from rock slides.

I don't get why they're calling it Monte Bianco in France when that's Italian. Look into a guide or group even for on piste. You've got little time and those places are huge.

 

[dovski]

Sounds like a good plan!
Hah, a good intro to the Alps- names no one here has heard of but are quite common. I found when looking for lodging in Chamonix while on the plane, ridiculous placesvwere popping up. And towns I didn't even know. Some "only 20 miles" away but lots of time by road.?Very confusing, esp as Chamonix-Mont Blanc was often listed. Was it a different town? No it turns out. What I finally did was go to googlemaps and start getting names of hotels. I then also used Chamonix centre ville as a search.

If you can at some point in the future, the train trip from Verbier (the train stop town is Le Chable) to Chamonix is very nice. Those van shuttles do run from Verbier to Cham also but last year the road was out from rock slides.

I don't get why they're calling it Monte Bianco in France when that's Italian. Look into a guide or group even for on piste. You've got little time and those places are huge.

I was thinking about it. The St. Gervais/Megeve area has something like 208 lifts and 477KM of trails. Just looking at the maps I can see how it could be easy to get lost with the maze of lifts and runs needed to get from point A to point B. I am bringing extra Euros in case I finish the day in the wrong village and have take a cab back to the hotel

 

[Bolder]

Hi All,

So I got stuck with a work trip to Europe in the middle of ski season and I decide to make the most of my Mountain Collective Pass and ski Chamonix. Currently plan is to fly into Geneva and take the Alpy Bus to Chamonix ... and that is as far as I have gotten. Would love some advice from those of you who have been to Chamonix. Specifically can I get recommendations on the following:

1. Ski in Ski hotels - in other words where should I stay both area and if possible hotel recommendations apprecated
2. Rental/Demo skis - can anyone recommend a shop or better yet service that has great skis
3. What parts of the mountain/valley have the best skiing?
4. Great restaurants both on hill and for après ski.

Thank you in advance for your words of wisdom

FIRST, see my review of our trip to St. Gervais/Megeve in the trip report thread. Then decide if that's what you want. I can help you with very specific questions if you want to PM me.

However, since Cham is on your pass, check out the Vert Hotel. It's a little quirky, not luxe at all, BUT, they have a high-performance rental shop in the hotel, and run daily shuttles to various places around the valley. The youngish owners are British, there's a nice little pub and the food is really great for the price. It's not in the center of town, but I wouldn't call that a drawback at all. They even run trips to Courmayeur for a reasonable price.

I don't see why Chamonix wouldn't be a good choice. Depending on conditions you have about 4-5 places to choose from, it's a killer town and if you want to spend money on fancy gear you won't find a better selection in the world. Plus the scenery is mind blowing. A lot of people will say it's played out or whatever, but I respectfully disagree.

But, since you asked...it depends on the snow conditions. The French Alps have been skunked this year until last weekend. For piste skiing close to GVA, with good conditions, I would recommend Les Gets or Morzine (plus Avoriaz). Another decent choice is Les Carroz, basically on the way to Chamonix.

 

[Bolder]

Alpybus drops off and picks up from the St. Gervais cable car which is less that 500M from the hotel I found. They will do late night drop off too which is great. So current plan is to do that and ski St Gervais/Megeve. Room price is not bad either considering it is full board. I looked at Club Med but they have a 3 night minimum and I only have 2 nights/days for this trip as I am travelling for work.

Ah, sounds like you're committed to St. Gervais. Read my review of our trip over Christmas. Rent ski/gear at Claude Penz at the top of the Bettex cable car (the main gondola) and keep them in the locker. If conditions are good (again, see my review) you'll have a blast.

 

[dovski]

Ah, sounds like you're committed to St. Gervais. Read my review of our trip over Christmas. Rent ski/gear at Claude Penz at the top of the Bettex cable car (the main gondola) and keep them in the locker. If conditions are good (again, see my review) you'll have a blast.

So I am not locked into Saint Gervais, just found reasonable transportation and a place to stay near the cable car. Can actually go anywhere within an hour or two of Geneva. With that in mind what would you recommend?

 

[dovski]

If can recommend a hotel in Morzine or Les Gets that would be great

 

[Bolder]

So I am not locked into Saint Gervais, just found reasonable transportation and a place to stay near the cable car. Can actually go anywhere within an hour or two of Geneva. With that in mind what would you recommend?

St. Gervais, Les Gets and Flaine are equidistant from GVA and the closest "real" ski stations. I have not skied Flaine but it has a lot of fans. I am most familiar with St. G as we were there two weeks ago, so what you are proposing (stay at the Monte Bianco hotel) sounds very doable. Les Gets is also good but I don't know the hotel situation there. As usual it will come down to snow quality, but if the weather is nice, a day and a half at St. Gervais will be really fun.

If you can get a bus to drop you off at the Bettex gondola base on Friday night and you can check in then, that would be ideal, and throwing in 2 day tickets plus board is going to maximize your time on the hill. For maximum efficiency, as I mentioned, rent gear at Claude Penz at the top of the gondola. Just walk out the door and go right. They have lockers in the basement where you can store your street boots. The first gondola up might be 845, so you'll be skiing by 930 or earlier. On Sunday afternoon you can drop off your gear and take the gondola down, grab your luggage at the hotel and head up to GVA. (If you can, wander into the center of St. Gervais -- across the river from the gondola) on Saturday night and get a beer or two. There's a couple of pubs near the church.

Earlier you mentioned that the St G/Megeve (or Evasion-Mt. Blanc) area seemed really big. It is, but the size is somewhat misleading. You won't be going to Les Contamines or the part of Megeve that's across the main road. Primarily you'll be skiing the bowl off the Mont Joux and Mt. Arbois lifts on the St. Gervais side -- the area is a huge U-shaped couloir with Megeve on one side and St. G on the other. the piste map is somewhat distorted. From the top of Mont Arbois, it's basically a ridge up to the top of Mont Joly. If you're going to ski Megeve I suggest Saturday morning, as you have to take a cable car across, and the slopes only get morning sun. If you go all the way to the high point in Megeve, at Cote 2000, it will take some up and down to get back to St.

The runs that face the town of St. Gervais under the Bettex-Arbois telecabine are also nice.

For on-mountain fast-ish food, Freddy's at the top of the ... Freddy ... lift is pretty good. It's actually right off the top of the Bettex-Arbois telecabine.

Hope it works out for you!

 

[P-Ute]

I will be in Morzine Jan 31st thru Feb 8th. I used Booking.com to book a 2 night stay at Alpen Roc Hotel in Morzine before the rest of my group arrives. Then we rented a Chalet which we found on Airbnb.
I have never been to Morzine or French Alps, made my choices based on location, reviews and price.

 

[dovski]

Ok so things just got interesting . Chamonix just got a couple feet of snow and Verbier got 6-10 feet of snow. With this in mind I am leaning towards going to Verbier and staying an on hill Airbnb. THoughts anyone of doing Verbier over CHam/Saint Gervais areas?

 

[James]

Ok so things just got interesting . Chamonix just got a couple feet of snow and Verbier got 6-10 feet of snow. With this in mind I am leaning towards going to Verbier and staying an on hill Airbnb. THoughts anyone of doing Verbier over CHam/Saint Gervais areas?

6-10 ft means danger. What time scale?
Where exactly in Verbier?
"On hill" has a very different meaning in the States. On hill in V could mean a poma lift (tire fesse) that doesn't open till 9. Or lots of other things.

What type of skiing do you want to do? If piste skiing is the thing I'm not sure it matters beyond it's snowed something recently, as opposed to rain. In Verbier you do have more skiing above 2000 meters. But, in your case I don't think V is worth it over St Gervais, but I've only been to Verbier (3x) and not St G.

You're talking 2 1/2 hrs by train or shuttle. You could on Sunday check your bag at the gondola in Medran (essentially the main lift in Verbier town), go ski, then at the end change and take the gondola down to the next stop, Le Chable, and get the train. You'd switch trains after maybe 20 min at Martigny for GVA. (Might have to switch once before at a small stop, depends). It ends at GVA. If you like trains/scenery, things different than the US, that's the way. Alpy bus is easier.

 

[dovski]

6-10 ft means danger. What time scale?
Where exactly in Verbier?
"On hill" has a very different meaning in the States. On hill in V could mean a poma lift (tire fesse) that doesn't open till 9. Or lots of other things.

What type of skiing do you want to do? If piste skiing is the thing I'm not sure it matters beyond it's snowed something recently, as opposed to rain. In Verbier you do have more skiing above 2000 meters. But, in your case I don't think V is worth it over St Gervais, but I've only been to Verbier (3x) and not St G.

You're talking 2 1/2 hrs by train or shuttle. You could on Sunday check your bag at the gondola in Medran (essentially the main lift in Verbier town), go ski, then at the end change and take the gondola down to the next stop, Le Chable, and get the train. You'd switch trains after maybe 20 min at Martigny for GVA. (Might have to switch once before at a small stop, depends). It ends at GVA. If you like trains/scenery, things different than the US, that's the way. Alpy bus is easier.

Alpy Bus is 90 minutes to Verbier and I found a place right by the gondola in Medran which is where the Alpy bus drops me off and picks me up. From what I can tell Verbier has much better snow and more challenging runs than Saint Gervais.

Ideally most of my skiing would be within a resort but I do like steeps and deeps so very tempted by the off piste trips in Cham, just probably not this trip.

 

[James]

Well that's a good location. Very efficient.
If you rent skis at Ski Service you could get them at Les Ruinettes which is the top of the Medran gondola. They also have a place maybe 2-300 m from the gondola in town.

If things are socked in, fog/snow, and Brusson is clear, you could take the gondola down and ski there.

90 min gva - verbier is a stretch for a private car. But late at night you miss traffic . I'd be surprised if you make it under 2hrs, you'll prob stop for gas. But what's a 1/2 hr when you're not driving?

 

[Bolder]

Go where the snow is, at least this season. France has struggled until last weekend while Switzerland and points east have scored.

 

[dovski]

Ok Verbier is booked. For the same price as the Airbnb I was able to get a nice room at Hotel Les chamois, which is a two minute walk from the Medran cable car. I also confirmed that Verbier is getting all the snow this year so looking forward to an epic two days of skiing

I'm going to bring my boots but rent skis. So now the next question is what should I ski in Verbier. Is there such thing as a one quiver ski for the Alps