This outline represents a typical ski touring course; however, your itinerary may differ based on weather and snow conditions. Your mountain guide will adapt the program to ensure you get the most out of your ski touring experience in Chamonix, prioritizing safety and enjoyment.
Welcome meeting at Chamex Office
You will meet your guide and the rest of the group at the Chamonix Experience office the previous evening to discuss the plan for the upcoming week.
Day 1: Warm-Up Ski Tour and Avalanche Awareness
We will take you for a warm-up ski tour, which is an opportunity for your guide to check everyone’s skiing and ski touring ability. You will polish your ski touring skills and learn some useful tips. You will also practice a simulated search for an avalanche victim using your transceiver, shovel and probe.
Day 2. Steep Skiing and Rope work practice
This day focuses on mastering steep skiing techniques on couloirs and open slopes. Brevent offers an ideal training ground, starting with the Autel face and advancing towards the ENSA or Bellin couloirs, depending on group ability and snow conditions. Another option is ascending the Aiguille Pourrie to ski the north side into the expansive Glière Bowl.
Throughout the day, you’ll refine essential skills, including steep skiing, jump turns, and techniques for navigating challenging terrain. Instruction covers setting up belays, abseiling, using a short rope to secure partners, and other vital safety practices to enhance your confidence and ability in steep skiing scenarios.
Day 3. Brèche Puiseux and Crevasse Rescue
We will take a lift up to the top of Aiguille du Midi and ski down Chamonix’s famous glacier run, the Vallée Blanche, to the Mer de Glace. Here we start the climb up to the magnificent Brèche Puiseux. You will skin and climb up a steep couloir using crampons and an ice axe. There is a short technical section and an abseil on the other side of the couloir. The descent is fun and it will bring you back to the Mer de Glace, an ideal venue for crevasse rescue practice.
Day 4. Refuge d’Argentière (2771 m)
You should be feeling confident skiing in any mountain terrain by now, so it’s time to go for a 2 day ski tour adventure! You will start by skiing from the Grands Montets top station down to the Glacier d’Argentière. After traversing the glacier, we skin up to the Refuge d’Argentiere, where we can enjoy the beautiful sunset and spend the night.
Day 5. Summit of Aiguille d’Argentière and ski the Glacier du Milieu
Today we have an early start. Using your newly acquired skills, you will skin and climb to the summit of the Aiguille d’Argentière. This is a long hike which should take about 3 – 4 hours, but all your hard work will be rewarded by a long descent of 2670 metres. The day and the course will finish in one of Chamonix’s bars with a well-deserved drink! Course ends with a debriefing in the Chamonix Experience office on Friday evening.
