Alpine Skiing: Les Contamines-Montjoie; Beaufortain Mont Blanc; France - 2,403 m. (7,884 ft)

Thu, 6 March 2025

Technical

Description

Overview

Les Contamines-Montjoie is a ski resort in the French Alps. It straddles the Mont Blanc and Beaufortain mountain ranges. It offers a diverse ski area with around 120 km of pistes, catering to all levels of skiers. The skiing is from 1,200m to 2,500m, ensuring good snow conditions, at least at altitude, throughout the winter.The majority of runs are on the les Contamines side in a series of east to north east facing valleys. However there is an entrance via Hauteluce (from Albertville) with south-east facing slopes.

There's a small beginners' area in the heart of the village but it's limited to two lifts. For real skiing, you have to take the Montjoie or the Gorge gondolas. These lifts take you up to a wide-open, sun-drenched, east-facing area of alpine pastures. The 48 runs on both sides of the Col du Joly offer magnificent views over the Mont-Blanc range. The best skiers should aim for the Aiguille Croche and Véleray lifts that serve the steepest and highest at 2,500 m parts of the ski area for challenging red and black runs as well as access to off piste.

Its immediate proximity to the Mont-Blanc mountain range means that the resort is generally very snowy, the high peaks stop weather systems which deposit their snow before traversing into Italy. After a heavy snow it's not uncommon for Chamonix residents to first head to les Contamines to enjoy the fresh powder while waiting for the high-altitude ski areas to open. Although part of the Evasion Mont-Blanc ski area, it is only physically linked by a free shuttle service.

Best Slopes:

• Aiguille Croche (Black): A must-visit for experienced skiers, offering a both red and black runs with stunning panoramic views of Mont Blanc.
• Tierces (Red): One of the resort’s more challenging pistes, featuring steep descents and varied terrain.
• Olympique (Black): Long and fairly steep, often in the form of a mogul field. For intermediate skiers, it can be joined in the middle to ski only the comfortable part
• Rebans (Black): A slope with a lot of vertical, quite remote from the resort, with a rather wild atmosphere.
  
• Les Coins (Blue): A fantastic, wide blue run ideal for cruising and beginners looking to improve.
• La Combe (Blue): Fairly wide, it follows the curves of the Aiguille de Roselette. Ideal for leisurely skiing in a mountain atmosphere.
• La Croix (Blue): Slope towards Hauteluce, perfect for carving.

Off-Piste Skiing

Les Contamines has some excellent off-piste terrain, with plenty of accessible freeride options on slopes with limited avalanche risk (ask the piste patrol for advice if in doubt or take a guide or ski instructor). However don't try to ski back to the village.

• Off the Aiguille Croche ridge: A favorite among experienced skiers, offering deep powder and great natural features. Take care of the avalanche risk.
  
• Tierces Bowl: A fantastic off-piste playground with wide-open powder fields.
• Roselette Area: Great for tree skiing and sheltered powder runs.
• Bûche Croisée: From the eponymous chairlift, a number of off-pistes descend either on the Contamines side or on the Hauteluce side, following the Aiguille de Roselette. The slopes are beautiful, often untouched and not too technical
• Casquette à Dédé: To the right of top of the Olympique chairlift, you can see a cornice leading to a fairly steep slope. The snow is not always great, but the off-piste is well worth the detour.
• Belleville: At the start of the Belleville red run, turn right below the Ruelle gondola line.
• Le Pouillet: A perfect route for discovering off-piste skiing. A short run in the forest along the Joux piste in the Montjoie sector. Perfect in poor viz.
  

Trip Report

I'd only recently discovered that you could reach les Contamines from Albertville via the Beaufortain valley. This made it interesting as it was less than 100k from home. We took a four hour pass as the area didn't look huge but we could have skied all day. The Véleray drag was not running (which is common) for some reason and the area was a bit mogulled on that side of the bowl. We climbed up to Aiguille Croche, at 2478m the highest point of the domain and skied the Croche (moguls) and Tieres runs (soft snow). We returned to the summit to attempt a "top to bottom" skiing all the way to les Contamines. This was possible via the Monument, Route Col Signal and Lay pistes. There was a lack of snow at the gondola so we skied down to la Gorge at 1225 meters for a total of 1250 meters. It is a bit flat in places and not recommended on a snow board.

After checking out the Buche Croisse sector we spent the last hour in Hauteluce finally skiing back down to the car park when our lift passes expired. The snow was arguably better on the South facing Hauteluce side, at least before 2pm. The north facing les Contamines had suffered maybe too many freeze-thaw cycles with ice in places.

Conditions

Spring skiing off piste, a little overcooked even by mid morning on North-East facing slopes (Tierce bowl). Some hard snow/ice on shaded north sector steep runs. Very soft at the base of runs at les Contamines. Surprisingly good on the run down to Hauteluce. Pistes quite busy but it was at the tail end of the French winter holiday period. No lift queues.

Route