Chamonix Snow Report: 18th January 2016

This year the Mont Blanc Unlimited lift pass has been extended to include the Evasion Mont Blanc ski area of Saint-Gervais and Megeve. We hopped in the car and half an hour or so later we were queuing up at the Bettex lift station in Saint-Gervais to validate our passes; you only need to do this once and then every time you go again you can just jump straight on the lift.

There was no less cloud over at Saint-Gervais than in Chamonix but the bonus of skiing there is all the trees - so many of the pistes wind down through thick pine forests that improve the visibility massively.

The snow on-piste was excellent - the recent dumps have covered up any bare patches and the base was firm with a nice chalky layer of soft fresh snow on top. The off-piste in Saint-Gervais is super easy to access and generally pretty safe - you can cut across in between pistes and play amongst the trees without having to worry about avalanches or unexpected cliff drops. The other bonus is that with it being such a family-orientated resort, the powder doesn’t get tracked out too quickly so you can always find something fun to play in without having to go too far afield.

We had so much fun, popping on and off the pistes, playing in the fresh powder. It wasn’t exactly chest-deep but there was at least 30cm of light untracked snow that had fallen overnight. In fact, it kept on snowing lightly for most of the day and the pistes were constantly being resurfaced in a nice layer of new snow!

Once in Saint-Gervais you can ski over to Megeve and get the Princesse cable car back up, the runs over this side are lovely, long and winding but this was the only place where we found icy patches. Every now and then you’d hit a patch of sheet ice, mostly around the snow cannons on the Grand Bois, liberally scattered with solid chunks of frozen snow that would send your skis whizzing off in unexpected directions. Typically this would happen just as someone else did the same thing right in front of you, leading to a few near misses and emergency swerves.

Evasion Mont Blanc is a pretty big ski area and really well connected with loads of options - you can ski piste after piste for ages without having to get on a lift and it’s really easy to make your way from one side of the resort to the other. We were having so much fun exploring that we ended up having quite a late lunch. Another bonus of Saint-Gervais is that it attracts a lot of French families - the French are typically very predictable in their eating habits and everyone clocks off at 12 noon sharp to go for lunch, meaning that the pistes are suddenly deserted for about two hours in the middle of the day!

There are tons of places to stop for lunch in this area, ranging from very swanky (and very pricey) restaurants to self-service cafés. We stopped for lunch at Chez Marie du Rosay at the bottom of the Mont Joux chairlift, which was cosy and warm with friendly staff. Obviously over-priced at 14€ for a bowl of pasta but no more so than most other mountain restaurants - the food was good though and generous portions. Make sure you have 50 centimes with you if you need a pee - the toilets are pay-as-you-go!!!

By about 3pm the sun was starting to break through and the clouds were clearing but our ski legs were giving up the ghost by this point so we skied back down to the cable car via the delightfully cruisey Chateluy piste and headed home with tired muscles and big grins.

Take a look at the webcam before you decide to go yourselves.