Vallée Blanche

Steady skiing on the "standard" variation under the Tacul

The Vallée Blanche is one of the most famous off-piste runs in the world. There are numerous variations to suit most levels of skiing ability.

We meet at the Aiguille du Midi telepherique station at 0900 unless previously arranged otherwise. Two sections of lift take us to the top of the Aiguille du Midi, from where we go down the snow arête. This is normally equipped with a fixed rope from mid February onwards. If the rope is not in place, the team size is reduced to a maximum of 3 clients.
From the base of the arête, we put on skis and then choose which variation to take, depending on snow conditions and skiing ability. The hardest section is often the Geant icefall, which requires controlled careful skiing in a potentially dangerous environment. Depending on snow cover, we may stop at about 1900m and take a lift to Montenvers, from where a rack and pinion railway leads back to Chamonix. In good snow cover, we can ski all the way down to Chamonix, though there is a 20 minute uphill walk to get off the glacier. We normally reach Chamonix in the middle of the afternoon for a well-earned beer!

See the VB gallery for images of this great off piste run