Skiers at Auguille du Midi prepare to descend Chamonix’s famed Vallée Blanche.
CHAMONIX VALLEY
RECOMMENDED BY Aurélien Ducroz
“Chamonix—and skiing—have always been in my life,” began champion freerider Aurélien Ducroz. “Four or five generations of my family have been mountain guides, including my father and grandfather. My mother is a ski teacher. I was born in Chamonix, and grew up in the ski culture. Though it’s long been my home and I may be biased, I think there are a number of things that make Chamonix a special place. For one thing, it’s a real town, where people are living year-round. It doesn’t close down in the summer. Another thing is that there are so many different people living here, both from different countries and living different lifestyles. When you walk down the main street in town, you’ll meet people who have come down from Mont Blanc in their mountaineering gear. You’ll see people in biking clothing, but you’ll also see bankers in suits. The combination, the blend of sport and city life, makes it an interesting, cosmopolitan place.
“Something else I really appreciate about Chamonix is the sense you have of being in a wild mountain place. For a time, I was doing a lot of ski jumping. I was very small and light, the perfect size for jumping; most of the competitions were on concrete hills in the middle of towns. I missed the mountains. At one point, I decided that I could walk away from ski jumping, come home, and do some great freeriding.”
Chamonix is situated in the southeast of France. From almost any viewpoint in the valley, Mont Blanc looms tall; at 15,782 feet, it’s the highest point in the Alps, touching Italy and Switzerland. The vistas are postcard beautiful. As the pinnacle of western Europe, Mont Blanc has long attracted the adventurous, be they paragliders, ice climbers, or extreme skiers. For this reason, Chamonix has gained notoriety as the so-called “death-sport capital of the world.” Before being a death-sport capital, Chamonix was widely considered the world’s winter sports capital. Though the first ascent of Mont Blanc was made in 1786 and word began to spread, the region began attracting visitors in earnest after 1860, when a road was built from Geneva, in anticipation of a visit from Emperor Napoleon III. The emperor and empress were enchanted with the valley, and ordered that the road be improved. In the winter of 1906, competitive skiing under the auspices of Club Alpin Français appeared in the valley. Less than twenty years later, Chamonix hosted the first-ever Winter Olympics, held in 1924. That first Olympics featured 258 athletes from sixteen nations, participating in eighteen events. (In 2010, some 2,600 athletes from eighty-two nations participated in eighty-six events.)
Thanks to its significant elevation—most runs are above 6,500 feet, and many above the tree line—Chamonix consistently serves up deep snow, and there are more than one hundred miles of trails spread over eight different resorts to enjoy it: Les Grands Montets, Brévent-Flégère, Le Domaine de Balme, Les Houches, La Vormaine, Les Chosalets, Le Savoy, and Les Planards. (The latter four are geared toward novices.) Intermediate skiers/riders will find a good deal of terrain here, though it seems that the lion’s share of the runs—and the off-piste environs—were made with the skilled alpinist in mind. Les Grands Montets has mostly advanced terrain, including two exhilarating runs, Pylones and Point de Vue. The latter sails along sections of the Argentière Glacier, offering glimpses into glacial crevasses. If you want to build your wind up before tackling Point de Vue, consider a climb to the observation platform at the top of the Grands Montets cable car. It’s 121 steps up, but the views are stunning.
If there’s one trail that defines the Chamonix/Mont Blanc experience, it’s Vallée Blanche (White Valley), a thirty-plus-mile, 9,209-vertical-foot leviathan. This epic descent along the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) glacier begins with a ride on the Aiguille du Midi cable car, which spirits the intrepid from the center of the village of Chamonix to a height of 12,605 feet. There are several ways to make your way down through the vast powder fields, though most newcomers will opt for the voie normale (standard route); a mountain guide is advised. En route, you’ll pass through huge seracs and past towers of ice and spectacular crevasses. If there’s enough snow in the lower reaches, you can ski all the way back to Chamonix. “I love to bring people up to Valle Blanche to see the view and experience the quiet—just the mountains surrounding you,” Aurélien said. “When I ski there, I like to take my time. For me, it’s about having a good time with friends.”
Aurélien vividly remembers the day that the slopes of Chamonix called him home. “I was still competing as a ski jumper, and I was back home skiing with my father. We had fifty centimeters of fresh powder, and no one was around. The skiing was wonderful. We stopped for lunch at one of the refuges on the mountain. As a ski jumper, you have to watch your weight, and I was constantly on a diet. I had begun to think that I had had enough of ski jumping. At lunch that day, I decided to order dessert. A little later that afternoon, my trainer called to remind me that I was supposed to be at a training session at a different mountain that night. I paused for a moment, thinking of the day I’d had at Chamonix with my father, and then replied, ‘No. I’m staying home.’ ”
AURÉLIEN DUCROZ was born in Chamonix and began skiing at age two. When he was fifteen, he joined France’s Ski Jumping team and won two titles as Champion de France, and participated in his first World Cups. In search of new challenges, Aurélien returned to Chamonix to hone his freeriding skills. He found great success, being named the Freeride Skiing World Champion in 2009 and 2011. Aurélien was Vice World Champion in 2005, and placed third in 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2012. He’s also earned four World Cup victories. In the summer months, Aurélien is a professional sailor. After only three years of sailing, he took part in the most extreme solo transatlantic race: the Transat 650. In July 2012, Aurélien competed in his first race in Class 40.
If You Go
Getting There: International visitors will generally fly into Geneva, which is roughly fifty miles from Chamonix/Mont Blanc.
Season: Skiing can begin as early as the first week in December and continue as late as the first week in June, depending on which part of the area you’re visiting.
Lift Tickets: The Mont Blanc Unlimited ticket, which offers skiing throughout the valley (and also in Courmayeur, Italy, and Verbier, Switzerland) is 54 euros. Multi-day tickets, and other lift options, are highlighted at www.chamonix.com.
Level of Difficulty: While there is terrain for beginners and intermediates, Chamonix will be best enjoyed by advanced skiers and boarders.
Accommodations: The Chamonix Office of Tourism (+33 4 50 53 00 24; www.chamonix.com) highlights lodging options throughout the valley.
