New in our programme for winter 2009 is the Ski Tour of the Western Bernese Oberland. This tour is much quieter than the famous Haute Route, the huts are very good quality and the scenery amazing! It is equally as challenging as the Haute Route, therefore some previous ski touring experience is required to join this trip. (more…)
news Martina Palm 21 Jul 2008 No Comments
We have posted dates and prices for most Chamonix Experience courses and adventures winter 2008/2009. Please check out the various pages for our Off-Piste course, Haute Route, Ski Touring course and Winter Mountaineering course as well as our daily activities such as ski the Vallee Blanche, Crevasse Rescue course and Avalanche Awareness course.
We are pleased to be able to offer an all-inclusive package this winter for our week-long programmes based in Chamonix. We will be using the very comfortable Yeti Lodge here in Argentiere. We already use this luxury chalet for our summer Mont Blanc courses.
news Martina Palm 06 Jul 2008 No Comments
The Haute Route is a legendary ski tour - departing Chamonix and traversing the Alps to finish off in Zermatt in the shadow of the Matterhorn. It is a very popular ski touring route, and last week we had a full group of six, led by French Guide Greg Sauget. It was an extremely international group, with Edson from Brazil, Sarah from Australia, Daniel from Israel, Tony from New Zealand, Hannes from Iceland and Arne from Norway. Despite very mixed weather, they made it all the way across to Zermatt and had some beautiful days of great touring and skiing.
photo-blog elizabeth 15 Apr 2008 No Comments
Brothers Alex and Fabian did an Introduction to Ski Touring week with their Chamonix Experience guide Dave Etherington. They spent four days ski touring and exploring different areas of the Chamonix valley to finish off with a ski tour of the Gran Paradiso in Italy. In the Val Savarenche there are no lift so you have to skin from the valley floor. They went up to the Chabod hut where they stayed the night prior to the ascent.
photo-blog elizabeth 15 Apr 2008 No Comments
With all this late snow we should have a great late touring season. We have a guided group skiing the Haute Route the 1st to the 7th of May. There is a slight change in the programme with a warm-up day skiing the Vallee Blanche and then going straight to the Trient refuge. Price is 1795€ including 3 hotel nights in Chamonix B&B, all refuges with dinner and breakfast, lifts and transport during the trip.
For more info contact us or see our Haute Route ski page.
news Martina Palm 08 Apr 2008 No Comments
Wow, what an end to the winter season! We are getting more and more snow and big flakes are falling from the sky as I write. We will have a few more good weeks of Vallee Blanche, Off-Piste skiing and Ski Touring. Call us to book a Chamonix Guide.
We can still run the Haute Route for any last minute bookings. Or why not a ski tour in the Bernese Oberland, a great place for late season ski touring (see our latest blog for photos). If you are feeling fit and up for a real challenge you can ski Mont Blanc normally as late as the end of May.
news Martina Palm 08 Apr 2008 No Comments
The very popular Haute Route is many people’s first experience of a multi-day ski tour. If you look further into ski touring in the Alps you quickly discover how many different ski tours there are to do. What you then discover if you actually do one of them is how quiet it is compared to the very busy Haute Route.
This group did the Haute Route last winter and wanted to try another multi-day ski tour this year. Our mountain guide Ric, came up with this 6 day itinerary starting from Les Diablerets in Switzerland. They loved it!
photo-blog Martina Palm 06 Apr 2008 No Comments
At the end of the week, the Ski Touring Course participants decided that they should probably stop playing in the lift-accessed powder and get down to some ski touring. Guide Sebastien chose the Rhemes-Notre-Dame valley in the Aosta region of Italy. Leaving Chamonix, they headed through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy. After about a three hour drive, they parked the car, put their skins on and were immediately befriended by a big white furry dog, who then accompanied them the entire way to the refuge! What Italian hospitality…
photo-blog elizabeth 03 Apr 2008 No Comments
This week’s Ski Touring Introduction Course consisted of six participants: Claire, Zoe, Edson, Sarah, Uta and Christoph. Sébastien Laurent was the guide, and had his work cut out for him with an unusual dilemma: we had almost too much snow for safe ski touring! Of course, no-one was complaining as they were forced to do run after run of the white fluffy stuff…..the pictures speak for themselves!
photo-blog elizabeth 27 Mar 2008 No Comments
We have spaces available on an Avalanche Awareness Course that is running on Monday, the 24th of March. If you ski off-piste, or do any backcountry skiing, ski touring or ski mountaineering, your avalanche awareness skills should definitely be up to speed!
A certified Mountain Guide will take you to one of the ski areas in the Chamonix valley and teach you all about mountain safety regarding avalanches: how to read the terrain, taking into account wind, temperature, aspect and weather history; how to ski safely; and if all preventative measures fail, what to do if an avalanche does occur. After learning the practical theory, you will have the chance to do your own searches using avalanche transceivers.
For more info, click here, and to book, click here.
news elizabeth 18 Mar 2008 No Comments
