Ski Touring in the French Alps

Skinning up from Col de Forclax we skied from the white peak called Croix de Prélayes. We found this a very pleasant area to ski tour in, with a lot of opportunities for fun descents. Having the mountain to ourselves set up for a good photo session in the beautiful afternoon light..
Who are you
Eva Eskilsson
 
The Challenge 
Ski Touring and Off Piste Skiing in Chamonix

How long 
6 days of skiing

What was the distance 
900m height the first day. KM-long descents off-piste each day to follow…

How much did it cost 
680€ per person if you are a group of 6 persons

Who was the organiser
What was it like
An off-piste week in the end of March with abundant amounts of snow falling – first ski touring, then off-piste skiing off the lifts…

Chamonix Ski Touring

In the beginning of the week, when it was still cold we went to explore the mountains on the Swiss boarder, well away from the lift systems, but kind of between Le Tour and Champex. Skinning up from Col de Forclax we skied from the white peak called Croix de Prélayes. We found this a very pleasant area to ski tour in, with a lot of opportunities for fun descents. Having the mountain to ourselves set up for a good photo session in the beautiful afternoon light.
This was the last day of skiing in super light powder and glittery surface frost for a while. These layers of cold and loose snow did cause the warmer, heavier snow that fell on top to settle quite badly some places. Be sure to know the level of avalanche danger before heading off-piste or planning a ski tour in the back country. More about judging snow stability in An Introduction to avalanches.

Chamonix Off-Piste Skiing

The many visiting free riders this week in Chamonix spread out all over the valley since the snow was good more or less everywhere during these warm days of alternating sunshine and snow showers, keeping the queues small. Grands Montets has probably been the most popular lift system (for good reasons); being high enough to escape the rain and offering large open off-piste areas straight off the lifts. Here a pre-booking system is applied to the top-lift. You can reserve your bin at Compagnie du Mt Blanc on busy holiday weeks.
We also got the opportunity to ski the runs on the west side of Aiguille du Midi in great conditions. These are serious runs (only for expert skiers and ski mountaineers), sometimes involving a few rappels, 45 degrees steep and exposed skiing, as well as glaciers. Never getting used to the stunning scenery, you keep falling in love with the Chamonix mountains every time you ski there.

35cm of snow on 2000m and 100cm on Aig. du Midi just over night, plus gale force wind up high, and continuously heavy snowfalls all day on the 26th of Feb caused most lifts to stay closed in Chamonix and in Courmayeur. This day we skied deep snow on the lower parts of the Helbronner.

Successively the avalanche risk was put up to 4 on the European scale and the clear day to follow was a delicate challenge. 
No need to say there was plenty of powder for everyone, but to be skied with great care! We went back to Italy due to strong winds in Chamonix and skied the loose wind-protected powder in the trees in Courmayeur.

It is 8pm Saturday evening… föhn winds up to 130km/h has been warned for together with rain showers tonight. It is as still completely silent outside though, the whole valley holding its breath in the calm before the next storm…
How did you train

Chamonix offers terrain for all levels of off-piste skiers. If your legs are prepared for long runs and for many days of skiing in a row, obviously you will get more out of a ski week (skiing wise). If you do not have the possibility to train by actually skiing, static and dynamic leg presses is a way to strengthen your legs. If making the support unstable you also involve small muscles and balance. On top of that, keep a good general fitness.

 
Any other useful hints / links

Weather

For mountain guides as well as for passionate off-piste skiers, a daily task is to stay updated on the weather forecasts and track the constantly changing snowpack, in order to be able to ski the best snow in high safety. It really is a 24h job! The best way is of course to be out in the mountains every day observing. Luckily we are a great team of competent people traveling the surrounding peaks and slopes, and we also have some good tools to help us.
Some useful information is:
- Our Chamonix Weather page, where we have a small collection of webcams and links to various weather forecasts the we use.
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The most detailed weather forecast we get from Metéo France by calling +33892680274 (pressing 1 for Haute Savoie and Haute Valle d’Aoste). It includes temperatures, cloudiness and winds on various levels of altitude. It is updated at around 07.30, noon, and 17.30. The number for the detailed avalanche report is +33892681020.

All this in French though.
- Chamonix.com updates the Chamonix weather forecast in English at about 08.30 and sometimes 17.30. They also update road conditions and give a basic snow report.
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Compagnie du Mt Blanc where you find information of winds, depth of last snowfall, and lift status in all of the Chamonix lift systems. Updated every morning at least.
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We also use SnowForecast.com giving us an idea about where the snow will be falling…
Enjoy the mountains!


For more information contact Mountain Spirit Guides