Ski New Year

If you are looking to celebrate the New Year here in the Chamonix Valley, there is still some great chalets with availability. This however probably won't last for long and therefore now, rather than later, is the time to make those enquiries in order not to avoid one of the best ski New Years Eve parties you'll find anywhere in the Alps.

Family Ski Resort

It is a mistake to consider Chamonix as an experts resort only. Yes it does have some of the best off-piste skiing in the world, but that is just half the story. Les Houches which is at one end of the valley has some of the best family skiing your probably find in the Alps. The slopes are confidence building with few, if any, significant drop-offs and plenty of blue and red runs. Beginners are well catered for with a magic carpet travelator and its own chair lift.

Family Chalets

Family Chalets, a new site to launch later on in the summer is by all accounts looking for great family ski chalets at the start of its launch. To feature chalets will need to demonstrate that they are a true family ski chalet and minimum criteria is expected to include children's menu, free games, toys, cots, high chairs, and cild restraint seats in vehicles, free ski and creche booking prior to arrival, and support taking and collecting  children to creche and ski school. A chalet within a reasonable distance of the piste, and when its greater than 200m, an all day complimentary shuttle service is also be muted as possible criteria.

Luxury Catered Chalet

If you are looking for a great luxury ski chalet, Chalet Prarion in the Chamonix Valley offers great luxury ski chalet accommodation, at a price that may be pleasantly surprising. Set on the piste, and therefore a true ski in ski out chalet, it offers unprecedented luxury for the mid priced luxury ski chalet market.

Find alternative chalets offering:

• Ski in ski out convenience
• A sunken luxury hot tub
• Cinema projection (and Blue Ray, Bose, Yamaha, Denon too)
• Games Room (a full sized pool table, Wii, 50" plasma home cinema, games, and toys)
• 4 staff (professional chef, chalet host, on call driver, and qualified childcare entertainer)

And your probably pay twice the price. Outstanding chalet and service that really is a true luxury chalet offering, so why pay double, when you don't have to!

Gay Ski

A company called Pink Ski will apparently be launching a new Gay Ski site highlighting the best chalets, the best bars, and best nightclubs for the gay ski community. Whilst the exact launch date has yet to be announced, the site should go live late in the summer and we'll let you know if we hear more.

Skiing Easter Holidays

The Easter ski holidays here in the Chamonix Valley was a massive success with great snow, including 50cm of fresh powder, and there was plenty of sunshine too. If you missed out, our advise is don't next year. The on piste is typically great, but the off-piste is even better. So our recommendation is make sure your here for the 2011 Easter ski holidays.

Family Chalet

The best ski in ski out chalet in the Chamonix Valley just happens to be one of the best family chalets in the Alps. But it isn't just its ski in ski out location that makes this one of the best chalet for all, as well as families, its the standard of this luxury chalet, although some might argue that even the chalet is surpassed by the standard of service. Four staff, plus the management team, ensure that the high staff to client ratio means nothing is left to chance. The professional chef serves outstanding cuisine, and is supported by the delightful chalet host. Then there is the on call driver, and to cap it all a children's entertainer and an optional nanny service.

Oh, and did I tell you about the cinema projection system, the Games Room with its full sized pool table, Wii and home cinema (50" flat screen),  and the luxury sunken hot tub!

Half Term Ski Holidays

Ski half term 2011 may seem some way away but already some of the best chalets are being snapped up by families in the know.Chamonix is always popular with the family ski resort of Les Houches attracting a large proportion of the family ski clientele. A beautiful and exclusive resort that at the New Year ski week was recently the exclusive haunt of Tiger Woods wife according to press reports.

Luxury Catered Chalets Chamonix

Chamonix, despite being one of the favoured luxury ski resorts by those in the know, still offers some luxury catered chalets at an affordable price. I guess this reflects the influx of operators who increased supply, drawn by some, if not the best skiing in the world, and its all year mountain / sporting life.

This is influx has led to strong competition with the standard of accommodation in value terms and presentation, a cut above many of its rivals. So if you are looking for a great high end ski resort, and some of the best chalets in the Alps, Chamonix is a pretty good choice!
 

Easter Ski

If you are going to ski Chamonix this Easter weekend, then you are certainly in for a treat. 30 to 40cm of fresh snow and Chamonix reporting the best snow depths anywhere in the world with 414cm at the top list station, 184cm at the mid stations, and 50cm at the base.

So why ski Easter anywhere else!!

Luxury Catered Chalets Chamonix

Chalet Prarion operators Chamonix Exclusive have recently announced their latest development for their luxury catered chalet Chamonix. A ski in ski out luxury chalet that sleeps 12 people, the summer of 2010 sees the addition of a Games Room complete with a full sized pool table, Wii, home cinema, and a great selection of games and DVD's for all the ski family ages to enjoy, young or old. The new addition brings the total living space of this luxury catered chalet to 250 square metres of great ski Chamonix accommodation!

Already the premier ski in ski out chalet in Chamonix, this development will put it truly in a league of its own and cement its position as one of the best luxury catered chalets to ski Chamonix!

Ski In Ski Out

France with its purpose built resorts is probably has one, if not the largest portfolio of ski in ski out chalets. However, Chamonix, being an historic town, is very much a 'natural' ski resort and therefore there are very few ski in ski out chalets in the valley, in fact many chalets are some way from the ski areas and ski runs so bare this in mind when you are booking.

In fact, from our assessment there are only three true ski in ski out chalets and the finest is undoubtably Chalet Prarion. This is reflected not only by its facilities (see paragraph below), but by the well heeled and famous people that frequent this ski chalet, one being a famous American sportsman's wife the New Year ski week just gone.

Situated on three floors, it boasts all you could possibly want with six bedrooms, all with shower or bath facilities, a Games Room including a full sized pool table, a hot tub on a beautiful south facing wood decking, a large oak dining table in front of a log fire, cinema projection to have your own night in at the movies, and a beautiful living room to relax in front of the fire and listen to your favourite music on the Bose system.

All in all the finest Chamonix ski in ski out chalet, and one of the best luxury catered chalets in the ski Chamonix Valley too.

Ski Chamonix Christmas

As we enter the twilight part of the season, and the sun shines that little bit higher, many thoughts may already be turning to the next ski season, although there is still plenty of skiing to be done in Chamonix over the coming weeks here.

First on the list next year will be the Christmas ski holiday. With skiing at 3,275m Chamonix is as snow sure as it can get (3,842m for off-piste skiing on the Vallee Blanche) and the historic town offers that chocolate box Christmas card look that few other resorts can offer.

So a ski Chamonix Christmas probably should be high on the list of first choices!

Spring Skiing

Well the sun is shining at least, although with a cold north easterly it actually feels someway from spring! In fact the skiing in Chamonix seems, along with the rest of Europe, to have been quite a cold affair in comparison to some years previous. The snow therefore is good shape although high winds have left some slopes hard packed and although it pains me to say, the pistes the favourite options.

The next few days may see some snow flurries but significant snow is not forecast with a slight rise in temperatures expected by the middle of the week. This said, the forecasts haven't been that accurate for the second year running here in Chamonix!

Ski New Year Chamonix

Chamonix has to be one of the best ski resorts to celebrate and ski the New Year holiday, and don't just take our word for it, just ask the likes of Elin Nordegen (wife of Tiger Woods) or Kylie Minogue who were both rumoured by the press to have been two of the celebrities skiing New Year in here in Chamonix.

Being one of Europe's best high altitude resorts it is of course a popular destination and therefore Chamonix isn't the quietest Town see New Years Eve in, so it does appear to people looking to party as well as ski.

Amazon Creek

Rumour has it that Ruby Mahil, aka one half of the alleged 'Chris May' press pseudonym (the other half allegedly being Chris Hogg) that blabbed to the press regarding Tiger Woods wife's visit to Chalet Prarion, here in the Chamonix Valley, is now working for luxury ski chalet operator Amazon Creek.

Amazon Creek offer some of the finest chalets in Chamonix so we were somewhat surprised that they have taken on this individual should the allegations be true, in view of the sensitivities of their high profile clientele. I guess it would be interesting to see if they took references from her previous employer Chamonix Exclusive. This we doubt as we would guess Chamonix Exclusive, who were furious regarding both the appalling integrity shown by their employees at New Year, and their failure to heed to the confidentiality clauses of their employment contract, wouldn't probably provide a glowing report, if a reference at all!

Amazon Creek are a fine ski Chamonix operator and without the facts it is difficult to ascertain the reasoning behind this appointment, I guess they know better than us, or do they?!

Luxury Chalets

One of the great things about skiing Chamonix is that there is an abundance of great Chamonix luxury chalets and for a fraction of the price of some of the other premier resorts. With just a one hour transfer, and an all year round visitors, there has been a real influx of residents, many from the UK, offering ski Chamonix visitors chalet accommodation. As supply starts to match demand, the competition for bookings has been strong and as a consequence ski chalet operators have sort to differentiate their offerings by adding luxury furnishings and equipment. The hot tub is one example now a standard if you ski Chamonix (unless you really are going low budget), and now other features in some of the more up mark luxury chalets include Cinema Projection, indoor swimming pool, billiards room, games room, on call massage services to name a few.

So if you are heading to ski Chamonix, you'll not only being skiing one of the best ski resorts in the world, there's a good chance you'll be stopping in one of the best value luxury catered chalets!

Ski Half Term

Well the family ski week of the year is just 48 hours away and Chamonix is likely to be a busy place with all the ski half term visitors. Judging by the local catered ski chalet gossip, next week will be as busy as the New Year and if you didn't book your half term week to ski Chamonix months ago, you won't be skiing here next week! The ESF Ski Schools also have the sold Out signs as do many of the local ski hire shops in Chamonix for the ski half term week.

The good news here for this family ski week is that the gods have shined on Chamonix with snow falling at various times the last three days and all runs have great snow cover and conditions which will ensure the high number of ski half term chalet visitors will have plenty of pistes to spread out.

Nevertheless with so many children amongst the family skiing groups, please take special care and ski Chamonix safely and well within your ability.

Ski Les Houches - Chamonix

One of the first blogs of the Ski Chamonix blog we thought we would start with the first resort to ski in Chamonix, Les Houches. Situated at the entrance of the Chamonix Valley, Les Houches was recently in the press over the New Year with the supposed visit of a famous golfers wife, and described as the exclusive ski resort by the worlds press. Whether the reports are true or otherwise is subject to much speculation but regardless of this, it is very much the up and coming neighbourhood  in the Chamonix Valley.


Whilst Chamonix's ski reputation is for the steep and deep, and for great powder skiing, Les Houches is the friendly end, loved by all for its tree line skiing, and particularly appealing for family ski groups, beginners, and intermediates. This said, there is plenty to keep the hardy skier entertained in between the trees and many an expert will be seen carving the moguls underneath the lifts, the Prarion Gondola a particular favourite.


Les Houches also has two of the best mountain restaurants, the Vieilles Luge and the Taniere, both traditional mountain huts full of charm and serving great food.


A great resort for family skiing, mixed ability parties, beginners with its travelator at the top of the mountain on the green slope, and intermediates.  

Ski Chamonix

Welcome to the Ski Chamonix website on all things related to skiing Chamonix and chalets in Chamonix. Here we will bring you all the ski Chamonix News, from mountain tales through to the best chalet gossip in town. Who's done what, when, and spot the celebrity.