Le Tour & Vallorcine (Domaine de Balme) Ski Area

• Domaine de Balme Piste Map
• Chamonix Valley Lift & Piste Map

The area of Domaine de Balme is a great mixture of 22 easy and intermediate runs and is a popular destination for the ski schools. The gentle terrain and beginners area at La Vormaine is perfect for getting those out of practice ski legs back into action before taking on the tougher runs elsewhere in the valley. Generally this area is the quietest of the Chamonix Valley as everyone tends to rush to Les Grands Montets when they first arrive or to an area closer to their accommodation.

The Autannes Chair at the front gives access to some good intermediate runs on the front, Ecuries being the most obvious as it runs below the lift. The Autannes chairlift is the best option to get up the mountain as it avoids having to use any draglifts. Additionally, as your confidence grows there are numerous small jumps and gullies that you can get your first air on! Because the geology of Le Tour is different to that of the other areas, the front of Le Tour is littered with gullies, which during the winter fill in with snow and form themselves into natural halfpipes. From the Autannes chairlift you’ll notice one right next to the Ecuries piste. ... more

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. ... more

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. An even 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. ... more

La Vormaine (1462m) at Le Tour has perhaps the largest and best beginners’ area, which is served by three draglifts of varying length and speed for all levels of beginner. You’ll find this area located to the right of the car park just behind the Olympique hotel, which incidentally is the only restaurant here with the exception of the snack hut right at the bottom of the lifts. The ski area is very wide and flat giving beginners plenty of space to make progress without having to worrying too much about collisions. It’s usually a warm and sunny spot with views of the Le Tour glacier looming above giving complete beginners their first taste of the high mountains whilst being on a green run; there’s even a blue run to progress on to.

As it’s the highest altitude of all the lower valley slopes the snow is normally good to the beginning of April. Higher up the mountain Le Tour also has some better blue runs for improving beginners which are served by the Autannes chairlift. The terrain is gentle and not too steep with runs like Arve and Stade perfect for improving beginners working on their technique. At the end of the day it’s easy to take the Charamillon gondola back down to avoid the red Caisets run, which is the only one back to Le Tour. ... more

A favourite spot of ours is the tree area at the back of Le Tour above Vallorcine (Le Domaine de la Balme), which also offers some great terrain. When it’s snowing, the front of Le Tour is normally in a whiteout so instead we take the long traverse round to the back through to the trees on the Esserts piste and then to the Tete de Balme chairlift and take that up to the top. It can be bitterly cold and windy on this chair in a snowstorm so we make sure we are prepared with warm clothing. From the top we follow the Tete de Balme chairlift down and then duck the fence and head skier’s right into the open trees but don’t go too far right as there are some very open and avalanche prone bowls beyond the trees. In the trees the visibility is normally better and the woods shelter the snow from the wind, thus keeping it in good condition. The terrain is less steep than the Dream Forest. There are a few rocks to drop and lots of gentle rollers that often develop small cornices to jump off. It’s easy to get carried away with the powder and go down too far, so we have to remember to traverse back skier’s left to the bottom of the Tete de Balme chair - to avoid having to walk back up. Again this area is all off piste and unpatrolled so if you head this way you need to take care and go equipped for avalanches. ... more