Ski-Areas > Northern Alps > Haute-Savoie (74) > Mont-Blanc > Chamonix Mont Blanc
The ski resort of Chamonix Mont Blanc is situated in the Mont-Blanc area of the Haute-Savoie department in the Northern Alps region. It is part of the Skipass Mt-Blanc ski domain. The main tourist ski passes for the Chamonix area are called 'Chamonix Le Pass' which gives access to all the lower lifts but not the Aiguille du Midi or the top station of the Grands Montets nor Les Houches, or 'Mont Blanc Unlimited' which gives access to all the lifts in the Chamonix commune as well as Les Houches and Courmayeur Italy. Unlimited season passes also now include Verbier and that entire 4 Vallées ski area in Switzerland.
The ski areas in the Chamonix valley are mainly unconnected and are Les Houches, Le Brévent, La Flégère (Brévent and Flégère are the only 2 which are connected), Les Grands Montets and the Domaine du Balme (previously known as Le Tour but now also accesible from the Vallorcine side). The Aiguille du Midi is not a ski area, but is a cable car lift which serves a large amount of high altitude mountainous glaciated terrain, completely wild and uncontrolled for avalanches, and often used for off piste skiing or touring on itineraries such as the Vallée Blanche, Toulé Glacier, Aiguille du Tacul (Periades glacier), Col d'Entreves, Mont Blanc etc.. It also accesses various extreme skiing couloirs such as the Cosmiques Couloir, one of the Poubelles (the others is in the Grandes Montets ski area), Eugster, Volger, Mallory etc..
There are also separate beginners tickets available for independent slopes at Les Planards, Le Savoy (both in Chamonix), Les Chosalets (Argentiere), La Vormaine (in Le Tour) and La Poya (in Vallorcine).
The lift served area extends from 1035 metres to 3842 metres. There are 147 km of lift served runs. There are 42 km of cross country trails.
Current lift openings, avalanche danger posted for each area, weather report and web cams of the domaines are found on the Compagnie du Mont Blanc website at http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/
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| Webcam view of the Massif du Mont Blanc and the Chamonix valley from Chamonet.com |
The official Chamonix tourism site at http://www.chamonix.com maintains a listing of all events.
This event comes to Les Houches (near Chamonix) every few years. The last couple managed to be rained out in January ...
This event skipped Chamonix for several years, but will be back in late January 2010 at the Brévent.
This is a mainly english seasonaires event which is a bumps race between various resorts nearby including Verbier, Meribel, Zermatt, Courcheval, Val d'Isere and Chamonix and is held mid-March usually accompanied by music and an on piste BBQ. http://www.bossdesbosses.co.uk/
The lift company usually throws an end of the season party in May called the Freeride Dayz although it is only 1 day and no longer offers any free skiing (it used to be several days and represented the time when the top station of the Grands Montets was made free to all, rather than having to pay the old system of 3 per ride on it).
The little blue book: Chamonix Hors Piste/Off Piste is an excellent guide to the area with great photos, maps and advice in French and English. French IGN map 3630 OT also covers the whole area at 1:25,000.
Here are some GPS KMZ files for looking at with Google Earth. Most lifts are included. Tracks shown include pistes and off-piste routes, some over challenging terrain: don't just follow them!
There is a radar at Les Houches heading down the valley (90km zone).
There is a new radar when leaving the airport at Geneva before reaching Annemasse on the way to Chamonix
Rail: http://www.sncf.fr
Connections from St Gervais France or Martigny Switzerland to the local line, which runs from Vallorcine to St Gervais
Stops in the Chamonix commune: (Those within walking distance to ski lifts indicated with **):
Traditional gite style hotel situated in beautiful Vallorcine, in the Chamonix valley, 20 minutes drive from the resort. The lodge is one of the most charming hotels in Vallorcine and consists of 5 bedrooms and four bathrooms, accommodating up to 15 people. Half board and B&B options.Bellevue Alpine Lodge
Self-catering apartments in Chamonix Mont Blanc. Fabulous alpine surroundings. Easy access to ski lifts and mountain railway. Sleeps 2-4. Ideal accommodation for couples, small families and groups of friends. Prime-Accommodation-Chamonix.com
Offers a spacious, luxury, one bedroom, apartment available for private rental in the heart of Chamonix Mont Blanc - Chamonix Rental
Recently renovated to a high and modern standard this traditional mountain villa contains three luxurious apartments providing splendid accommodation for a memorable holiday. http://www.ski-chx.com/
Arctic Beaver have a large selection of both catered and self catered chalets and apartments for your holiday in Chamonix Catered Chalets in Chamonix
Mountain Base offer a range of independently owned apartments and chalets throughout the Chamonix Valley. Catered or self-catered, from Les Houches, through Chamonix itself, to Argentière and le Tour, we have the property for you. Please take a look for yourself on Mountain-base.com
Catered or self actered we have everything you need to make the most of your break. We take the hard work out of planning your holiday so you can put all your efforts into having a good time! Come and see us at: http://www.montblanc-retreats.com
Ventoria has a wide selection of self-catered apartments and chalets in Chamonix town centre and the surrounding villages. For best views and hospitality check out our Chamonix accommodation.
If you are looking for accommodation in chamonix, the please see the following link where you can find a whole host of ski holidays in Chamonix. We've also reviewed skiing in Chamonix for beginner, intermediate and advanced. We've also got a number of chamonix web cam giving views from Mont Blanc, Aiguille du Midi and one of Chamonix town centre. Enjoy
Private 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Chamonix: AlpsAdventures.com
Beautiful chalet in Les Praz, Chamonix, sleeps ten or twelve, walking distance to the Flegere lift: Chalet La Foret
There is also the ski lodge by the Brevent lifts - it is around 10 quid a night but you do get what you pay for :-).
Here is a list of some of the bars to visit (and some to avoid):
The club scene here truly sucks the past two seasons. This is what exists. It changes often as places go out of business quickly it seems. Think tiny, smokey, impossible to breath and hot. Think Very Bad Music. Then think how much more skiing you will get in if you just go home after visiting the pub for a few beers, and do not attempt to go out dancing . . . yes, you will feel much much better if you just go to sleep and get up early to hit the lifts . . .
Chamonix has suffered big turnover/losses in places to party and dance over the past 2 seasons due to fires and sales and is sadly losing all apres ski fun - no good large clubs exist anymore.
Chamonix is the St Tropez of the Alps. Full of surf shops, babes in bikinis, guys in baggies and cafes... well that is in the spring when the days get longer. In winter, the fashion is a lot more 'skint ski bum' versus 'rich tosser with no clue'. Take a look at Sport Extreme, a big ski supermarket that sells many of its own brand at keen prices (then keep walking ??). For casual clothes there are Quicksilver, ONeil and Esprit. New chain stores have opened in Chamonix. Please avoid them except when they offer things at 70% off - the North Face, Columbia, Lacoste, Chanel, Peak Performance and Patagonia all have over priced shops in town. More independent and worth your support are the local sports stores who have banded together under the 'Cham 3S' logo, including Snell Sports http://www.cham3s.com/uk/accueil.asp .
Falline Bootfitters in town center, Jules at Sangalard sports at the main roundabout and the new SOLE (ex Footworks staff who abdicated to start their own place) in Cham Sud near the Aiguille du Midi lift station are 'the best' places to go for custom fitted ski boots or boot problems and each has a bootfitter of high repute who have fitted race teams. Snell Sports (grand daddy of Chamonix sports stores on Rue Dr Paccard) also does custom boot fittings. Otavalo Sports (on Rue Joseph Vallot just past Super U) is known for their attention to the telemark crowd. In general you will find more fat and off piste all mountain skis and dedicated touring gear stocked in Chamonix than in most other French ski resorts, and far fewer on piste carving and race style performance skis. 'Cause Chamonix doesn't do pistes very well, that much is true.
For cheap ski gear - towards the end of the season check out all the local stores for the best deals on last year's skis, and check out paper signs posted for season end ski swaps in places such as Cham Sud- sponsored skiers often sell off unused freebie gear at these swaps and check the notice board on the back of the Mairie building in the center of town for skis for sale, as well as look for notices posted at Mojo's and the MBCs for people selling off their extra gear before heading home at season's end. Also across the tunnel, Courmayeur's season tends to end before Chamonix and stores go into reduction pricing a bit before the Cham stores.
The Office de Haute Montagne is probably your first port of call if looking for a guide.
Also worth mentioning is Robbie Fenlon, an Irish mountain guide who, as well as doing all the usual guides' stuff, organises backcountry courses in conjunction with ski-instructor Derek Tate of BASS Chamonix. These courses offer a very useful and enjoyable introduction to the world of backcountry skiing, with Derek working on off-piste technique while Robbie covers route-planning, avalanche awareness, glacier travel and all the other elements essential to safe enjoyment of the mountains.
http://wilderplaces.com http://www.britishskischool.com
Evolution 2 is a French owned independent ski school with a more customer oriented approach to teaching and guiding than the traditional ESF. Employs mountain guides for glaciated off piste touring and ski mountaineering as well as top level French and British qualified instructors and stagieres for lessons on or off piste.
Association Internationale des Guides du Mont Blanc is a well respected French owned independent guides association with 35 full time and 30 part time mountain guides from France, England, Germany and Italy. Their office on the Rue du Moulins was ruined in the recent large fire that took out most of the businesses on one side of the street. But they have moved to a temporary site just across the street from the old office, while their offices are being repaired.
La Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix is said to be the oldest guiding company in the world, founded in 1821 and currently employees over 200 guides and accompagnateurs and so is both the 'original' and largest guiding company in Chamonix. At one point in the past, they only allowed people born in Chamonix to join their company, but times have now changed.
Mountain Guide Adventure : A Mountain Guide team in Chamonix providing around the Alps : heliskiing, ski touring, off piste skiing, avalanche training, ice climbing, mountaineering, alpine rock climbing and Worldwide Expeditions
http://www.mountain-guide-adventure.com/index_EN.html
I provide a flexible and personalised private guiding service, tailored to each client's abilities and aspirations. While I put a great deal of emphasis on safety, my main motivation for working and living in the mountains is to have fun. I offer a broad range of summer and winter mountain activities for all abilities including Ice climbing, Off-piste skiing, Ski touring & Mountaineering.
Category: Ski Areas
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