Les Grands Montets ski area:

Among the most famous ski areas in the world, a day at Les Grands Montets is a must. Huge areas of it are never pisted, just left as natural backcoun­try. The views from the top are stunning and the wild drama of the scenery as the run passes the seracs and crevasses of the Argen­tiere glacier is unmatched. The top lift gives access to more areas of black runs through fields of off-piste powder. Also at the Grands Montets are wonder­ful off-piste routes (either take a guide, or join a guided group) includ­ing the Pas de Chevre and the Glacier d’Argentiere. The terrain park at Les Grands Montets is accessed by the Marmot­tons lift. If visibil­ity is low, you can ride in the trees around the Pendant lift — there are some lovely natural halfpipes in this area.

Tips for busy times: If the queue for the gondola at the base is big, walk past the base and up 30m to the chair, it’s often quicker.

Top ticket: The top lift at GM can really epito­mise “No friends on powder days”! If you want to get the first few bins, be prepared for a lot of waiting, as it’s not possi­ble to book them. On regular days, this is just a question of being there for lift opening time. If you decide to go to GM on a powder day, get there half an hour before the lift opens and bring something to read/listen to (and, prefer­ably, someone to go on coffee and crois­sant runs). You’ll have to wait for the avalanche blast­ing, and there will be a mad stampede for the top lift when you get to the midsta­tion. The ideal is to pre-book a top lift at about 11ish, and plan to be down from your first, unbooked run in time to get back up. If you think this sounds like a lot of bother, you are right! But the two runs you get from the top in fresh powder will be really something.

Eating at les Grands Montets:

Les Grands Montets has some of the least appeal­ing on-piste eating in the valley, in my view, but to make up for it there are two really super options.

The Cremerie Du Glacier +33 (0)4 50 54 07 52

in the woods above the Lognan cable-car base, has a special­ity of Crous­tades — delicious filling pizza style bread with loads of differ­ent toppings. Good vegetar­ian ones too. Look out for the small white sign on the right just before the flat end section of the Pierre a Ric home run to get there from the piste, or follow the signs from the car park to drive there. Homespun and friendly with a warm stove. Closes at 2, shut on Wednes­day, and and reser­va­tions highly recom­mended as it is very small and often fills up.

Chalet Refuge de Lognan is a true Chamonix experi­ence — accessed by the black “Pointe du Vue” run, its limited but tasty menu is served by an array of mountain-loving staff. In spring, you can eat on the terrace and appre­ci­ate the magnif­i­cent setting. Very popular, so book in advance for busy times (+33 6 88 56 03 54) or drop in at the begin­ning of the day to have a coffee and home-made cake, and reserve for later. Leave via the Variante Hotel red to rejoin the main run to the base.

Plan Joran is the best of the main piste restau­rants — they do good bruschet­tas though the serving system is a bit Kafkaesque.

Après-ski in Argentiere

The Savoy bar in Argen­tiere is a cheer­ful place to have a drink after a day at the Grands Montets — they do a fantas­tic latte with chest­nut liqueur which I highly recom­mend, and often have relaxed live music. Head up to Argen­tiere and it’s on the left hand side of the main road.

The Savoy Bar in Argen­tiere, from their set on Flickr

I also like to drop in at local’s favourite Le Dahu, further into the centre, which does various small plates (e.g. 3 oysters or a small charcu­terie selec­tion) with a match­ing wine for a most civilised apres! The restau­rant is very good value and does an excel­lent menu fixe.