The Vallée Blanche (What can you get for 62€?)

John (one of our Ski Techs) and 3 friends headed out to the French Alps for a mixed week of touring and piste skiing, as you will see a perfect day skiing The Vallée Blanche was very much their highlight.

Classic shot of the Midi and the ridge that gets onto the Col du Midi

With friends still confined to school holidays and having been unable to find common time at Easter for our usual hut to hut ski tour, Feb half term was the only option for the four of us to get away this year. The thought of resort skiing at half-term was a little daunting but to be fair it wasn’t as crowded as I had feared, except for a day in Avoriaz, when the poor rescue helicopter pilot mustn’t have had a break all day.

(Left) Wide open spaces on the Glacier du Tacul and (Right) Heading towards the Geant Glacier

Our cheap and cheerful self-catering chalet was in the little village of Verchaix which is 10 minutes from Samoens, which gives access to the Grand Massif, 25 minute from Les Get which gets you into the Port du Soleil and it’s about an hours drive to Chamonix so we had plenty of options. We did find a couple of local tours to get away from the crowds, however the highlight of the week was a trip to Chamonix and a cloudless classic alpine day skiing the Vallée Blanche.

At the starting gate! This is the infamous ridge that leads down to the Col du Midi

Now despite its popularity and the fact that you can do it on ordinary alpine skis or a snowboard you have to remember that this is a major glacial off piste journey with lots of large crevassed areas to negotiate, so unless you have the experience, equipment and general mountain savvy to navigate in a big mountain environment and have the ability to get one of your party out of a crevasse, should the unthinkable happen, then you will need the services of a qualified mountain guide.

Gearing up in the Ice Tunnel (Note we opted for crampons on the initial ridge)

A 49€ single ticket for the two stage cable car takes you to the top of the Aiguille du Midi and you can also buy your 13€ ticket for the train back down from Montenvers at the end of the day. Despite it being half term, advice from Brent’s pal Mark Charlton (British Mountain Guide) who works in Cham, to do it early in the week was sound and the expected queues at the lift station were non-existent.

Stage Two to the top of the Midi is definitely not for the faint hearted

Having geared up in the ice tunnel and strapped skis to our backpacks, much easier than trying to carry them down the ridge, we joined what had become a bit of a queue to get down onto the glacier.

Even with the well worn track and rope a slip would mean a big slide

From the Col du Midi there are several routes that will take down to Montenvers and some of them are extreme so it definitely isn’t just a case of following tracks in fact as you ski the route there are tracks going off in all different directions so you really do need to know what you are doing.

Cruising the gentle slopes of the upper Geant Glacier

It’s a fairly steady ski down on to Glacier du Tacul, surrounded by many of the big mountains of Chamonix, then over gentle slopes before avoiding some crevassed areas and heading more steeply onto the Geant Glacier which is again fairly gentle until you reach the Geant Icefall which is taken on the left heading down and gives the most challenging skiing of the day.

The yawning gaps on the right helped to focus the mind!

It is possible to visit the Requin Hut, just visible in the above picture on rocks on the right, however with the snow conditions as they were it looked like a bit of a hike up to the hut so we continued down to the Salle a Manger. This is a flat section of the icefall about 3/4 of the way down which is crossed and the less steep remainder of the icefall is taken on the right. The size and extent of the Geant Icefall isn’t apparent until you look back at it.

The route through the Geant Icefall

The route below the Icefall is fairly straight forward with a long flat schuss, snowboarders would be advised to carry a set of poles to help on this section. This is followed by an area of extensive crevasses as the glacier drops away for a couple of kilometers and the point where most people finish for the day.

Looking back up the Mer de Glace with the Grand Jorasses in the background

Given exceptional snow conditions it is still possible to ski all the way back to Chamonix but the rate of glacial retreat has made this increasingly difficult.

Global warming has a lot to answer for!

Now what awaits is probably the hardest part of the day with nearly 400 steps and a short gondola ride to get you to the famous Montenvers Station and the train back to Chamonix and a welcome beer. Oh and what do you get for 62€, well if you’re lucky like we were an awesome day you’ll never forget.