New lift at Grands Montets and the train is running

Great news for the 2014-2015 winter ski season in Chamonix.

Firstly, the new replacement lift from the bottom of Grands Montets up the hill is under construction and due to be complete for the beginning of the season. It will replace the old 4 man chair lift which would get reduced to a 2 man when it snowed. Something about it dripping oil onto skiers jackets when it was wet. The new lift is a gondola design so will not have the same shortcomming. Each of the 84 cabins will carry 10 people with an estimates journey time of just under 7 minutes. So that means that 840 could be in the air which should keep the queues down. Not quite sure that follows but good news anyway.

Also the Chamonix train is open after the continuous track works for the last couple of years. So with the nearest station a 2 minute walk from the chalet you can hop on to get to La Flegere and Vallorcine (back side of Le Tour/Col de Balme ski domain). Trains will run every half hour.