Off piste

Off piste skiing and snowboard­ing is, to many, the entire reason to come to Chamonix. Classic descents like the Pas de Chevre, with its wicked triptych of couloirs, are a challeng­ing and spectac­u­lar day for advanced powder­hounds, whilst the stunning Vallee Blanche is acces­si­ble if you’re compe­tent on a red run. Alway take a guide when ventur­ing off piste. Chamonet has a really good overview of what’s on offer here, and books have been written on the subject, so I’m just going to do an overview here…

La Vallée Blanche

The famous Vallée Blanche off-piste classic is 17km long with a verti­cal descent of 2800m. Unbeliev­able views and true wild mountain environ­ment, it’s acces­si­ble by inter­me­di­ate skiers or board­ers, but you MUST take a guide as the poten­tial dangers are enormous, as are the crevasses. If there’s just one or two of you, you can join a guided group. Piste­hors has a good overview of the Vallée Blanche. It’s best to wait for a sunny day as the scenery is indescrib­ably spectac­u­lar, and photos don’t do it a shred of justice — it really is 360 degrees of wonder.

The state of the Vallée Blanche varies a lot through­out the year and the standard you need to be varies accord­ingly, but in general a compe­tent red run skier can do it. For snowboard­ers the standard is a little higher — you must be comfort­able with long traverses and there is a long flat run-out where you need to keep your speed up. Take a collapsi­ble ski pole in your backpack to prod yourself out of any sticky spots — if you don’t have one, we usually have a couple in the ski shed, or ask the guide to bring a spare for you to borrow.

It’s one of the most amazing days it’s possi­ble to have skiing from a lift, so do it if you possi­bly can!
More questions? Have a look at this very in-depth look at La Vallee Blanche from Chamonet

The Pas de Chevre

Another Chamonix classic descent, but unlike the Vallee Blanche, this is for advanced skiers and board­ers only. It has very steep couloirs which can also be rocky, and a section that must be abseiled. Accessed from the Grands Montets, three paral­lel couloirs lead to amazing powder fields with beauti­ful views over the valley, before a spectac­u­lar run right below the massive north face of the Dru, and a final (tricky) exit onto the Mer de Glacé. In the right condi­tions it’s indis­putably one of the best lift-accessed off-piste runs in the world.

You can get see the exit couloir from the lower section of the Vallee Blanche — you do the same short steep hike for both of them, skiing back to Chamonix on the long winding track known locally as the “James Bond Run” — so if you’re think­ing of doing both, it’s a good place to take a look at it. As with every­thing, much depends on current condi­tions and your guide will be able to advise you on what’s best.

Les Grands Montets has many other brilliant off-piste routes that don’t need any ski touring experi­ence, many of which will take you down past the glacier with incred­i­ble views.

Le Tour is also very good  - the classic descent here is the Couloir des Posettes —  and Brevent & Flegere both have many hidden gems. A day out with a guide in any of these areas will be brilliant.

Courmayeur also has superb lift-accessed off piste, well worth check­ing out if condi­tions in Chamonix aren’t ideal. It’s also a great place for ski touring & split­board­ing if you’d like to take your adven­tures further afield — a guide will be able to recom­mend what’s best at the time you’re there as condi­tions are very variable.

Your guide will equip you with an avalanche beacon, and you should ideally have your own shovel and probe, and the knowl­edge of how to use them. I person­ally always take an ABS avalanche bag on lift-accessed off-piste, and you can hire these at various shops if you would like to take one.