The first Chamonix ski conditions blog of the season is a satisfying one to write. Bucket loads of snow, ski lifts opening, and international travel is looking ok, for now.
We’ve just finished our first ski guiding days of the season. A lot of early season snow has kept the avalanche risk high (cat 4) above 1800m for the two days, so we were a little limited in where we could ski.
Above the tree line and into the sun, skinning above Sallanches Tuesday 7th Decemeber 2021.
We ended up further down the valley for both days, skiing above the Arve valley at Combloux day 1 and near the mini ski resort of Cordon. Low angled terrain, blue skies and no one around. Pretty hard to beat that.
The top of our ski tour and a good lunch spot. Only 45 minutes drive from Chamonix, the Aravis has a lot of ski touring possibilities.
This weekend sees plenty of resorts opening their lifts for the first time. In Chamonix, the Grand Montet is opening every day from this Friday 10th. Flegere for the weekend (and then open fully from the 18th). Les Houches open every day from the 11th.
The Aiguille du Midi is due to open fully from the 18th December. It has been savagely windy at altitude for a while now, so it’ll be interesting to see what the snow has done on the glacier. Hopefully it’s started to fill things in rather than just get blown off.
Touring through the trees at Combloux. A great spot for exploring on skis.
This winter we have a variety of private trips as well as our scheduled ones. Give us a shout for any info on those.
We ended up with quite a lot of height gain during our day near Combloux. Here skinning back into the resort to then ski back to the car.
