Question about Chamonix France, not the camera

[percepts]

We were hoping to ski for a day and sight see for a day.
-rob

Well Argentiere might be your best option. If grand Montets Lift is open and snow cover reaches to bottom, then you get 2000 meters vertical to play with which depending on your level might take 10mins to most of the day. Be warned though, the exit from the lift to get on the piste can be an experience to remember and the moguls get very BIG if it hasn't snowed for a while. If you are not hot skiers then Les Houches might be a better option for a day which is the other end of Chamonix.

Chamonix is not a linked up resort like the modern French resorts so you can't ski from one area to the next but for only one day each area has more than enough.

Check out Flyers-lodge run by Dennis Trott, a Brit, for cheap accomodation just down the valley from Chamonix. 20 mins by car into Chamonix and you pass by Les Houches on the way. He may even run his mini bus up there for clients.
He used to run a ski holiday company called Trott-Ski before he took up flying.

Still recommend a trip through the tunnel to Courmayeur for a days skiing though. Predominantly intermediate level. If its snowing in chamonix its probably sunny the other side of the Mont Blanc and vice versa.

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

We were hoping to ski for a day and sight see for a day.

I second percepts for Grand Montets, probably the most spectacular piste in Chamonix.
I mostly know the Grand Montets as the access point to several classic ski-alpinism tours, including the first day of the legendary Chamonix-Zermatt route plus some other classical tours like "Les Trois cols" and "Col du T our Noir" ... and access to the Argentiere mountain hut (definitely not for beginners and probably closed in February...)

For the sight seeing day, you could try La Flégère, on the other side of the valley, above Chamonix, where you can both go skiing and have a grand view over the whole Mont Blanc range.

[percepts]

[i]For the sight seeing day, you could try La Flégère, on the other side of the valley, above Chamonix, where you can both go skiing and have a grand view over the whole Mont Blanc range.

Yes, depending on skiing ability you may find one the other satelite resorts easier with well groomed blue(easy) and red(intermediate) runs. Black (expert) runs in Chamonix / Argentiere tend be very black compared to many other resorts.

If you are not a very good skier and fit, then the top of Grands Montets is not the place to head for on your first mornings skiing.

If you find lodgings at Flyers Lodge then dennis will advise where to go based on your fitness / experience level.

[David Hedley]

For the sight seeing day, you could try La Flégère, on the other side of the valley, above Chamonix, where you can both go skiing and have a grand view over the whole Mont Blanc range.

Last summer we walked from the top of L'Index, via Lac Cornu and les Lacs Noirs, to Planpraz. The views across to l'Aiguille Verte and the Massif du Mont Blanc were sublime;



but it's not a walk that I'd consider in the winter.

[Robert Skeoch]

Nice shot and a nice area.
We're getting excited about the trip.
-rob