When it snows head for the trees

bombardino

Föhn wind in Chamonix is a warm valley wind which can strip the snow from lower slopes. Fortunately due to some enterprising fellows in the past there is a tunnel under the Mont Blanc through to Italy. The great thing about that is that the Föhn wind in Chamonix often means that it is dumping powder snow in Italy and there are plenty of trees. Read on…

Powdermania

Grands Montets

Skiing with a mountain guide in Courmayeur and chasing the powder around Chamonix Valley. We were lucky enough to get an invite from ESF to go through to Courmayeur with a High Mountain Guide for some off piste skiing and a free lunch. Read on…

The return of sunshine

La Cab bar at Brevent

After the unprecidented amounts of snow the sun has reappeared and is making a definite come back. The lift company has opened up the valley and dug out the pistes again. There have been some amazing sights of chairlifts under … Read on…

Crochues Berard Ski Tour from La Flegere

Aiguilles Rouge

Every turn on the ascent seemed to have a skitourer spread eagle on their face trying to regain the track.  Clouds were swirling and threatening to envelope the Aiguille Rouges but they held off and provided some spectacular mountain scenes. Read on…

Freezing conditions return to Chamonix.

Al, Ken & Breezy

To be fair we have had very “mixed” weather recently, and now we are back to the freezer.  The pistes in the valley and in Courmayeur and Les Contamines are is amazing condition; perfectly groomed, soft snow for ripping up. Read on…

If you go down to the woods today…

Ken skiing

If you go down to the woods today you may just see Breezy and Ken ripping it up. The fresh snowfall brought out the fresh trackers at Les Grands Montets. The pistes were in fine fettle but got bumped by the end of the day. Forecast is for another metre of snow over the next three days so more exploring and freshies to be had. Read on…

Crisp White sheets

Off piste

The sun has finally made an appearance and the mountains are covered in crisp white sheets of snow  In short, all the pistes are in amazing condition throughout Chamonix. To be honest with the depth of snow which has been put down over the last 2 weeks if they were not is good condition something would be seriously wrong.  We have also enjoyed some brilliant powder days off piste. As the sun came out and people could see most of it has been tracked so you have to work a little harder to get freshies, but they are still out there. Read on…

First days skiing of the season Chamonix

Grands Montets Chamonix

On Saturday we skied Grands Montets and were in the lift line as it opened with a few hundred others. We did a few runs off the Bochard to get our legs going and the snow actually got better as the morning progressed. Sunday we thought we would beat the crowds and ski tour up from Le Tour where the lifts are closed. There were probably a hundred cars in the carpark and people all over the hill at Domaine de Balme. The sun shone but the temperature was still bitter with wind at altitude. Great to get the legs going and a very pleasant ski down. Read on…