Grands Montets
Monday 21st March. Chamonix is actually a series of ski areas connected by road. Grands Montets is the highest of them and probably has the best skiing. It is about 5 minutes by bus from the hotel Excelsior, where I am staying - the bus stop is 200m from the hotel and the bus to Grands Montets comes every 30 mins. There are two types of pass available - Chamonix and Mont Blanc Unlimited. Sneakily, the top of the Grands Montets gondola is not included in the Chamonix pass area - but I would have got an unlimited pass anyway. Ski'd fairly hard on bumpy blacks and off-piste for about 4 hours and that was sufficient for me. Glorious sunshine, perfect touring conditions. Snow is good, but it's not powder. I'm skiing on much narrower skis than I've had for my last few trips and in these conditions they seem to be performing well.
Later in the afternoon I took the bus into Chamonix to book a guide for skiing the Vallee Blanche - which I will do on Day 4