Domaine de Balme (Le Tour & Vallorcine) Off Piste

In spite of being one of the lower and less steep areas in Chamonix, the area of Le Tour in the Domaine de Balme has some of the best off piste in the valley and excellent little stashes of powder when most the obvious places are tracked out.

It’s often cold and windy at the top and on the backside of the slope as the wind from the entire valley tends to get funnelled through. As a consequence there can be severely wind-loaded slopes which can create deadly slab avalanches, but don’t be put off by that as a guide and some local knowledge will help you make the most of the area.

The geology of Le Tour is very different from that of the rest of the valley. It is far less rocky, and in the summer there are meadows filled with grazing cows here. At the start of the winter season it doesn’t need masses of snow to make the off piste good. The front side (in between the pistes that fan out from the Autannes chair) is gentle and great for getting a feel for making your first turns off piste. You are never too far from the piste and the many gullies here are fun to play in, and it’s hard to get lost too as you always end up back at the Charamillon lift station.

Route 1 : Combes de la Vormain Another easily accessible area with no hiking needed is the much steeper part of Le Tour called the Combes De La Vormaine. Staying on the front side by traversing skier’s left around the bowl from the Autannes chair you arrive at the top of the Combes de la Vormaine. (It’s just out of sight of the lifts and pistes so chances are it’ll be fairly untracked too!) From the chairlift we follow the Chatelet track on the skiers left where you reach the top of the chutes from which we can take our pick to drop into. These steep chutes have several different aspects with gradients that vary between 35 and 45 degrees. These chutes funnel into a valley that leads to the beginner’s area of La Vormaine so don’t attempt them unless you're confident in your ability to ride slopes of this steepness! The bottom of the valley is an avalanche terrain trap so for this reason we don’t hang around at the bottom once we’ve all ridden the steep pitches. If you were to trigger a slide you would be stuck at the bottom and buried under a lot of snow. These chutes are often loaded with snow in the form of cornices and wind lips all the way down, which are great for riding up and pulling powdery turns but its important to remain vigilant. We’ve caught these chutes on the right day with some fresh snow and had some of our best lines ever, mainly because the steepness of the pitch and the cornices that build up in the chutes are so much fun to play on.

Route 2a : Aiguille des Posettes Another route we like to do is from the Aiguillette des Posettes. Take the Aiguillette draglift up and then head out skier’s right away from the pistes staying high below the ridge. This leads to the slopes above the car park at Le Tour. When you reach the avalanche barriers (yes these slopes are avalanche prone) start to descend towards Le Tour. The slopes are a good pitch here without being too steep, and scattered trees and bushes keep things interesting. You can either head into the trees below to pick up the trail that zigzags down, or head skier’s left into the more open section. When you are just above the river follow the riverbank down to the car park and bus stop. It’s a good run to do at the end of the day, unless it’s hot, which can cause these sunny slopes to become very unstable.

Route 2b : Aiguillette des Posettes From the Aiguillette des Posettes you can take a 3-minute climb over the top of the Aiguillette and descend down to Vallorcine. There are plenty of routes down but plenty of cliffs too, so have a look at the mountain from below first. The most-frequented route is the Posettes couloir, which is wide, open and reasonably steep. The snow here is often good but since the Vallorcine gondola was built it’s a little harder to find completely fresh tracks. Be wary of heading too far skier’s right, as this is where the worst of the cliffs are. By heading almost straight down you should get some good lines through the trees and shrubs and the slopes are shaded and the snow often excellent. At the bottom head right to either the train station if you want to head back to Chamonix, or take the gondola to get back into the lift system.

Route 2c : Aiguillette des Posettes From the top of the Aiguilette draglift we like to take a ride down the ridge skier’s left. Just dropping over the back of the ridge toward Vallorcine, being a little careful not to drop down too far as it means a walk back up. This opens up some superb terrain with rolling drops, scattered trees and little cornices (the zone below is an animal wintering zone). The area’s not particularly steep, so you don’t have to be of a very high standard but is great fun nonetheless. There are also some good spots here for building kickers away from prying eyes if you’re that way inclined. We head back, traversing towards the top of the Vallorcine gondola and try not to drop below the Esserts Variant piste as the hike back isn’t much fun.

Route 3 : Le Tour/Vallorcine A short hike to the top of the Tete de Balme from the chairlift of the same name opens up a lot of off-piste terrain at the back of Le Tour above Vallorcine. However, this really can be a dangerous area for avalanches so do take care. The back bowls here are often wind-loaded, with large cornices looming above the slopes: they may look great but can be deadly as there are several terrain traps here where you could potentially be buried under metres of snow. Every year there are avalanches in this area but then that is the nature of off-piste skiing, so if you want to explore these areas, please take a local mountain guide and go well prepared for all risks. The bowl below the Croix de Fer can be absolutely the best – superb steep pitches and wide, rolling, shady slopes where the snow stays fresh. The lower sections from here into the trees are also some of our favourites, but remember to traverse back to the bottom of the Tete de Balme chairlift, or it’s a long walk back up.

If you don’t want to do the hike to the top of the Tete de Balme, you can access some of the same terrain by heading down the Esserts black run and then traversing skier’s right. You miss out on the great stuff at the top but still get some superb riding through the trees. The woods here are worth exploring, as there are plenty of unexpected clearings and fun drops. The terrain undulates here and there’s always something fun around the corner. There’s even a little shepherd’s hut in the woods that you can ride over and then drop off its roof. As we mentioned above, don’t forget to traverse back to the bottom of the chairlift.

The routes mentioned here are just the tip of the Le Tour iceberg, there are many, many more possibilities to explore in this area. The mixture of trees, interesting terrain and wide, open areas make it such a fun place to ride off piste, and unsurprisingly another favourite!

If you are interested in hearing more about our off piste and skiing adventures we can offer you some indication of which months (historically, at least!) have enjoyed bumper snowfall as we have now made our entire archive of Snow reports available for you to read online. Why not spend 5-10 minutes before you come out browsing through the reports to see what conditions were like in seasons gone by. Although we can't guarantee the same weather or conditions, at least you'll be able get a feel for what to expect and if nothing else, it’ll give you plenty reading in the interim until our snow reports kick off when the season starts!!