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A Sunny Start to the Christmas Ski Holidays

Gorgeous weather and surprisingly decent snow at Les Grands Montets and Brevent

featured in Snow report Author Alison Shayler, Chamonix Reporter Updated

If it’s beautiful blue skies and glorious sunshine that you’re after, then this winter has certainly delivered the goods so far. Unfortunately what we’ve seen not so much of this far is… snow. However, pistes are quiet and the weather is fantastic so there’s still plenty of reasons for getting up into the mountains.

This weekend saw a few more of the Chamonix valley ski lifts crank into action, including Planpraz/Brevent, more of the Flegere area, and some of Les Houches and Megeve; you can find all lift information and live updates here.

On Friday I went up to Argentiere and spent a few fun hours whizzing around Les Grands Montets on surprisingly pleasant snow. Granted, it was hard to the point of being bulletproof but there were no icy patches and the pistes that were open were in pretty good condition.

top of grands montets

We took the “top bin” up to the glacier and minced our way down the Pylones piste, which varied between being flat and open or narrow and mogulled. The moguls were pretty grim and tightly spaced but if you’ve got strong legs, decent edges and well-fixed dentures you’ll be fine.

The snow on the wider sections was surprisingly smooth and grippy, but the best thing about it was how empty it was! We had whole sections of piste entirely to ourselves, to swoop about on without fear of losing an edge and careering into an innocent bystander.

The Bochard piste had a few more people on it, but it definitely seemed as though there were more people soaking up the sun on the terrace than there were actually out on the slopes.

sunbathing in a deck chair

The following day I headed up Brevent; chugging up the mountainside in the Planpraz gondola, I was struck by how many trail runners and hikers there were on the path below. You can actually do the Vertical KM all the way to the top, which isn’t a bad idea if you’re looking to train your legs for ski touring.

Once at Planpraz, I realised that as a skier I was actually in a minority. There were plenty of people up here to paraglide, to hike and to see the sights… but not so many to ski or snowboard. The only lifts open up here at the moment are the cable car up to the top, or the new funicular that gives easy access to the beginner piste.

A couple of laps of the Charles Bozon piste was a nice way to spend my lunch break; the piste was well covered all the way down to the mid-station and, like at Les Grands Montets, the snow was actually really good fun - hard and fast but not icy. However, with just the one piste open, an hour or so was long enough.

It’s worth coming up here anyway when the weather is so good; there aren’t many places where you can have lunch with such an incredible view, or go for a stroll in the snow and watch paragliders take off. They are still allowing dogs on the cable cars, so there were plenty of people up here walking the hounds and enjoying the sunshine.

a black piste marker

A top-up of snow in the near future would certainly be most welcome but if all you fancy is a sunny cruise around the pistes and lunch with a fine view then conditions are ideal - whether you’re on skis or not!

Location

Map of the surrounding area