March 24th, Chamonix, Grands Montets

Grands Montets is the ticket in Chamonix. Big, wide, and steep, I skied it on two bad visibility powder days. Black Diamond bump runs are fairly continuous and wonderfully long (3,000 - 4,000') Getting off the marked runs was almost worth my life on a couple of occasions, as nothing off the main runs is marked. Skiing off a cliff, into a rock/moat, or a long drop to a flat road, is very easy to do in bad weather. On my last run of the last day, the weather cleared under that 3,000 foot cliff pictured, and I had 2,500 feet of face shots on partially tracked out snow. The other picture snows the top of 8 flights of steep stairs leading to the Argentiere Glacier. Of course by the time I got there - it was another whiteout. I could live at that resort!

The big mountain outside my hotel balcony is Mount Blanc.

Grands Montets is the ticket in Chamonix. Big, wide, and steep,... runs are fairly continuous and wonderfully long (3,000 - 4,000')

Is there an overall better lift served area in the world? Personal preference I suppose, but the GM is my favorite.

Is there an overall better lift served area in the world?  Personal preference I suppose, but the GM is my favorite.

I haven't even been there in good visibility and I am a fan. When I can get runs that consistently pitched, and that long, and that high, and all north facing??? Where on earth can I do better? The only thing that I started to not like on my second afternoon late in the day, was the long wait at the tram. It seemed every other guy in line was a Mountain Guide and got to cut the line... But Silas probably got to cut the line there too