Le Tour & Vallorcine (Domaine de Balme) Backcountry

Limitless blue skies pierced by bright sunlight makes backcountry riding in Le Tour something spectacular and magical! While the off piste is excellent at Le Tour, the backcountry touring available is a little more limited than some of the other areas in the valley although having said that, there are still a few interesting touring possibilities if you are prepared to go further a field. In one moment you can be skiing in France, the next in Switzerland, there are very few other ski resorts that can offer the same in backcountry riding! There are several excellent guidebooks with descriptions of the many possible routes both within and beyond the lift areas. There are two published by Vamos called Mont-Blanc Ski tours (ISBN 2910672085) and Chamonix Hors pistes-Off piste (ISBN 2910672107); these books are bilingual, in English and French. A more extensive guidebook with more difficult routes is Mont-Blanc et Aiguilles Rouges à ski (ISBN 2960025520), written by Anselme Baud and published by Nevicata; it’s only available in French but is worth struggling through even if your French isn’t so good as it gives very accurate descriptions and has good explanatory photos. But remember, in the backcountry there are many dangers not least from crevasses, séracs, cliffs and avalanches so you should always hire a mountain guide. If hiking isn’t your thing but you love powder then heli-skiing/boarding could be for you. Whilst helicopter drop-offs of this nature are illegal in France (as you land on National park), Chamonix is well located with plenty of companies offering heli-drops on the Mont-Blanc massif just over the border in either Switzerland or Italy.

A favourite tour of ours is the Grands Autannes. We have detailed our route below: Route 1 : Grands Autannes One of our favourites is over the Grands Autannes to Trient in Switzerland. It used to be that to do this trip you would need to organise leaving cars at Trient before you start, so you could get home at the end of the day; however, as there is now a bus service that runs three times a day (approximate times, please check before you go 9:00am, 12:00pm and 4:00pm). It goes back to Vallorcine from where you can get back into the Le Tour lift system, or simply take the train back to Chamonix town. The round trip to Trient from Le Tour takes approximately half a day. It’s best to set off as early as possible because the slopes of the Grands Autannes are steep and catch the sun in the afternoon. Take the gondola up from Le Tour then the Autannes chairlift. Next comes the hard part; either on snowshoes or skins start the ascent up the slopes in front of you. Sometimes it’s best to go up onto the ridge and follow it along to the couloirs, at other times if it looks safe it’s easiest just to head straight up the couloirs. It’s a deceptive climb as it doesn’t look very steep from below, but the upper section by the CATEX tubes can be intimidating and in difficult conditions, we used crampons for the last section. One of the disturbing things about this climb is that there can be areas with no snow where you soon discover that the rocks you are climbing on are loose! At the first saddle, head to the right up the last short rock scramble to the small peak. Once at the top you’ll realise it’s worth the climb, as you have a great view over the back to the Trient glacier.

For the descent to Trient we always stay high and traverse skier’s right, avoiding the rock bands below until we reach the open bowl. From there it’s open powder all the way, and every time we’ve done this run we’ve had great snow. Keep your head down though until you reach the tree line. If you look left you can see the Col de Balme and the restaurant there. Below that is the long gully that leads to Trient. There are several small and steep chutes that lead into the main gully or you can pick your way through the bushes. We’ve tried both, and have to say that the chutes are better, but beware of wind-loading, as we have often set off small slab slides when we’ve been into these chutes. Don’t hang around in the main gully, because it is a serious avalanche channel. After a big snowfall this place is extremely high risk: we’ve seen chunks of snow the size of cars at the bottom of the chute so be warned if you choose to go down this route!! Follow the big gully down, and head left at the bottom into the meadows. Follow the ski de fond trail to Trient and have a beer at the café while you wait for the bus. Job done, powder run completed.

However, there are a few variations on this route. You can avoid the long climb up over the Grands Autannes and instead head over the Col de Balme and pick up the main gully lower down. You'll possibly miss out on the best of the powder but then you do save on the effort of the climb! It’s still an interesting little tour with some decent snow at the top. It always makes the customers at the restaurant wonder where you are going, which is fun too!!

PS. Don’t forget to take your passport on this trip as you may be asked for it when you head back over the border into France!!