Opening weekend of Courmayeur ski area 2016

Courmayeur has given me some of my best ski days of all time and it's great to have the area included on our Mont Blanc Unlimited ski pass each winter, especially when we experience weather like this, which brings very different conditions on each side of Mont Blanc.  

A public bus is available between Chamonix and Courmayeur for €15 return, but taking your own car with either a Mont Blanc Tunnel multipass or special MBU-holder's one-way price at the tunnel kiosks works out to €25-30 all-in, so is the more convenient way to get through if, especially if you have a few friends to share the ride and the cost.

All of the lifts on the main side of the resort were scheduled to open on Saturday except for the Arp lift at the very top of the mountain, with the Val Veny cable car and Zerotta lifts on the back side remaining closed. We would normally park at Val Veny for the quickest access from the tunnel (€4 for parking) but parked at the Dolonne lift instead on Saturday, to make use of the free outdoor parking 2 minutes' walk from the lift building. Holders of any MBU ski pass are required to activate their pass at any ticket desk the first time they use Courmayeur's lifts each winter. This year's information sheet [which you receive with your passes] still states that you are required to show your sales receipt for activation, but no receipts seem to have been issued for either winter or annual passes this year. (I have only ever been asked for my receipt once but we didn't take any chances and saved our email confirmations to our phones just in case).  As usual it wasn't required in the end but it seems that Courmayeur haven't quite figured out everything for ticketing this year yet, so we were issued with a separate day pass each, with staff saying they were unsure how things will work on our next visit...

Up at the main mid-station at about 1600m we only just reached the snowline, and the skate across the plateau to the next lifts was a very slushy affair, but snow cover seemed good. We spent most of the day lapping the Youla top cable car to get as high as possible for the best snow off piste, starting with a few easy-access laps on the front side, with a traverse across the face just far enough to reach untouched snow each time. There was a 5-10 minute queue for the lift on each lap we did, mostly consisting of kids on race training so the off piste wasn't getting tracked-up much at all.

The snow was quite dense and wet but still deep and very smooth so it was good to get the skis up to speed for nice long turns down to the piste before crossing around the rocky corner and continuing down towards the Gabba lift's left-side piste for more of the same. Some slab avalanches had been triggered on the steeper slopes above the main traverse line (presumably by pisteurs' avalanche-control explosives) so full avalanche gear, knowledge and good ski partners are highly recommended for any off piste even if you're close to the pistes. Continuing lower we hit this week's rain-snow line quite abruptly at around 2200m altitude which wasn't so fun, but when there's good skiing up high and no crowds that's nothing to complain about too much.

Similarly the pistes had nice soft snow above about 2200m before turning very firm lower down especially in the shaded areas towards the Gabba lift. Pistes on the front side were skiing better in the morning with more sun on them to soften the middle sections which had refrozen overnight, but lower down things were very soft and slushy, so short laps of the higher Aretu chairlift would be best for piste bashing, plus sharp edges on your skis to tackle any firmer snow.

We had brought packed lunches but a day at Courmayeur wouldn't be complete without at least one Italian coffee break. The cafes at the top of the Zerotta or Val Veny lifts are normally our best picks, but we opted for our old favourite at Col Checrouit just down from the upper midstation instead. The small food counter was very busy but there was no queue at all at the coffee counter so it was cappuccinos & cream croissants all round (at €1.50 each!) with enough space inside for a quick sit down.

We headed back to the Youla lift from 1pm onwards and it seemed like the race kids had all finished for the day so we walked straight onto the lift for the rest of the afternoon - a pretty rare occurrence since the lift only holds about 25 people! We took routes off the back side each lap through plenty of interesting rolls, gullies and natural drops, finding more good snow and completely untouched sections right up until the last lap and cutting back to the Gabba piste easily each time when we hit the crustier snow.

So the winter looks to be off to a good start and the current snow should be an excellent base for whatever falls next. This week's weather looks quite dry and warm everywhere but hopefully some more good snow falls soon and we can enjoy better conditions through December and January than we have had in the past couple of winters.

Follow more from Lorne in his ski blog.  

NB: Off piste skiing and mountaineering are dangerous. The opinions expressed in these articles are very much time and condition specific and the content is not intended in any way to be a substitute for hiring a mountain guide, undergoing professional mountaineering training and/or the individual's own back country decision making.