Hi everyone - I’m new to this forum. Am heading to Chamonix next week to (hopefully weather permitting) ski the Vallée Blanche by moonlight. Have any forum members done this? Any recommendations for guides?

The company I approached seems to be having trouble getting a group together, so if anyone who happens to be in Chamonix who wants to do this, please get in touch. Or if you’re already planning this, let me know if I can join your group.

Brief details of the plan: take the last cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi, then down to the Refuge Cosmique for dinner and wait for moonrise. Then ski down (probably the classique route, though wouldn’t mind envers du plan if safe). Finally a bus back from Montenvers as the train won’t be running so early. Sound like fun? Please get in touch.

Thanks!

I think the Cosmiques hut doesn’t have a gardien at the moment, so you won’t get meal there unless you bring your own.  The Requin hut is open, but that’s about halfway down the route.  Also, (i) the avalanche risk is quite high right now and there have been a number of late afternoon slides (a couple on the way into the Requin hut), so be very careful, (ii) the snow cover below the Requin hut is getting thin and snow bridges are collapsing, with one person going deep in a crevasse a week ago (this may improve if it does snow Sunday and Monday, but then again it may just hide the problem), and (iii) getting off the very end of the glacier is becoming tricky and the run down to Chamonix through the trees has also been hit by slides and isn’t entirely straightforward, so probably not advisable except under a cloudless full moon.  Other than that, it sounds like fun.  Good luck!

Many thanks for the intel and advice, Bart. Much appreciated. I’ll only attempt this if the guides have full confidence to go ahead. Fingers crossed for one cloudless night next week!

If you are with guides I assume they’ll have an idea what they are doing. Hope the weather is good for you.

I did it a few years ago. You need full moon, guaranteed clear sky, and good conditions underfoot. I’m not sure what you mean by bus from Montenvers. As far as I’m aware, the only way down is by train, ski or foot! You need to be sure there’s enough snow to take you all the way to the valley floor, and if it’s a new snowfall, it’s helpful if it’s been skied by groups all day, so the route down is more obvious, and easier to ski by moonlight. If all that comes together, you should be in Cham in time for a celebratory beer at midnight in la Terrasse.