Guides in the Chamonix valley
A day with a guide is an unfor­get­table experi­ence in Chamonix. A guide will enable you to get to places that you never could by yourself, to experi­ence the wild beauty of the more remote parts of the valley or to ski the classic off-piste routes with their mindblow­ing scenery.

The day rate for a guide is around 300–350 euros, and they will usually take four to six people, depend­ing of course on what you want to do. They will be able to recom­mend places accord­ing to your level and the current weather and snow condi­tions. You can either contact them directly or through one of the several guide bureaux in Chamonix — some are listed below. I recom­mend dropping in for a chat early on in the week to get a feel for what will be a good option for you, as condi­tions are constantly shift­ing in the valley.

If there are just one or two people, you can join a guided group. These are avail­able from the Bureau des Guides under the slightly nause­at­ing name of Ski Fun. They take both skiers and snowboard­ers, and have a very good reputa­tion — they‘ll sort people into groups by ability and choose their routes accord­ingly. Evolu­tion 2 also offer day or half day groups — I haven’t been out on these but have always found their activ­i­ties to be well run.

Neil Hitch­ings
Neil has been our guide for some wonder­ful adven­tures over the past years includ­ing the summit of Mont Blanc, the Haute Route and many others on skis, snowboard and foot — we whole­heart­edly recom­mend him. He’s lived in Chamonix for 25 years, and as well as off-piste skiing and ski touring he also loves ice climb­ing and winter mountaineer­ing.
www.neil-hitchings.com neil.hitchings@orange.fr
Tel / Fax : 00 33 (0)4 50 53 47 60 Mobile : 00 33 (0)6 80 21 47 69

Bureaux

La Compag­nie des Guides — the first guide company in the world and to many, the best. There are many fantas­tic guides working here but I find their system to be a little inflex­i­ble sometimes. Still, they are the origi­nal, and to many a quintes­sen­tial Chamonix experi­ence.
www.chamonix-guides.com + 33 (0)4 50 53 00 88 info@chamonix-guides.com

Associ­a­tion Inter­na­tional des Guides du Mont-Blanc, on the Rue des Moulins — formed (by the origi­nal owner of this chalet!) because the CdG did not, origi­nally, accept people born outside the Chamonix valley. Friendly and knowl­edge­able, offer­ing a good range of services.
www.guides-du-montblanc.com contact@guides-du-montblanc.com Tel : + 33 (0)4 50 53 27 05

Evolu­tion 2 — Friendly and well run organ­i­sa­tion offer­ing a wide variety of trips includ­ing half days. Usually run infor­mal evenings on a Monday where you can meet the guides for a chat — call them to find out what the current setup is
Evolu­tion 2 +33 (0)4 50 55 53 57