Chamonix Honeymoon Advice?

[auvgeek]

I proposed last week to (maggette) jesski on Rainier, her favorite place in the world, and she said yes! So we're getting married! Big thanks to the great kevino for playing matchmaker and introducing us. Obviously, we'd love to honeymoon in Chamonix. We've both always wanted to go, but neither of us have ever been. So we're asking anyone and everyone we know to chime in with advice. We hope to spend a month there, so come visit!

First of all, when is the best time to go? We'd like to do a combination of lift-accessed and touring so we're shooting for late enough to catch some high-pressure, but early enough that we might still get some powder. We've heard that perhaps, during a "normal" year, we should shoot for mid-Feb to mid-March. Agree? Disagree? Obviously, weather is extremely variable, but we're hoping we can get some good weather in a month. Edit: We realize there's a major school holiday the last two weeks in February. Is it going to be overcrowded with tourists to the point where people generally recommend just showing up in early March?

Regarding lodging: We are planning to follow up on the advice mentioned in this thread and we have a couple other leads, but greatly appreciate any additional ideas, leads, or suggestions. Neither of us party much, so that's not really a consideration wrt the location, but good access would be ideal. We aren't wealthy by any means, but we hope to splurge enough to afford our own place with a real bed and (small) kitchen—it will be our honeymoon after all!

[tele.savalas]

Lots of places for rent late ski season. I'd recommend going for the month following the Easter holiday. Check out this site. http://www.chamonix.net/english/acco...ion/apartments
If you want something cheaper, with a shared kitchen, go with Gite le Belvedere in Argentiere. 5 min walk to Les Grands Montets.

[twann74]

Hi!

School holidays won't change anything for you because there are people from all over the world in cham, and basically it's always school holidays for someone
However I think you should be in cham in early march, there's still plenty of good snow and (if you're lucky) less people on the brevent/flegere area. So mid february to mid march is a great choice, but also early february/early march.

For lodging, I can't advise you because I'm from cham and I never used any of the hotels here

I hope you'll have a great time !

Antoine

[auvgeek]

Thanks for the replies! Sucks I might not get to meet Tom...guess I'll have to bring my own Rax.

tele.savalas: why April? Is that primarily corn season? Not trying to question your opinion; just hoping to get a bit more info about what conditions to expect.

twann: That's great info. I'm glad our timeline might work...I can't reasonable leave before mid-Feb because of deadlines at school.

Unfortunately, we can't spend a whole season there!

[PNWbrit]

Congrats to you both.

We've had good luck with VRBO for both Cham and Courmayeur.

[old goat]

Can't help you much with lodging--the place I've stayed a couple of times is not suitable for a honeymoon. I write to mention that two of my son's Squaw Valley ski patrol colleagues got married on top of the Aiguille du Midi.

[neck beard]

Congrats.

splurge enough to afford our own place with a real bed and (small) kitchen—it will be our honeymoon after all!

If you want something cheaper, with a kitchen ..... Argentiere.

My wife and I used to stay in a small and pretty basic apartment in Argentiere, above the Rusticana bar. It was a bit noisy as a result... but seemed to be good value and obviously had great access to GM and good touring options from the Argentiere Glacier. Who knows prices now, that was 10 years ago. I think it was owned by the Gite Belvedere people from really vague memory. Dunno, but I do remember having an xmas dinner at the gite one year due to some connection to the place?

[auvgeek]

Thanks again to everyone who's replied. Looking at Argentiere, as that's been recommended by almost everyone (here and in person). How far from Cham would be reasonable? For instance, we found a nice-looking place at a good price in Martigny-Combe, but that seems like it might be too far away. We definitely don't want to rent a car...

[Gepeto]

It's your honeymoon, ski till you drop and then get transport to Paris for the last two days.
Use De Gaullle as your departure airport. Stay in the Portuguese quarter (cheaper).
Within walking distance of all the romantic spots. Get it done at dusk to late night at some point.
Eat on the back streets and walk Siene until you can't.

She will remember it for the rest of your lives.

[::: :::]

congrats!

[tele.savalas]

Don't go any father up valley than Argentiere. It's 10km by free bus to Cham proper. Forget Martigny- that's too far w/out a car. Stay in Cham or Argentiere and you can pretty much walk/bus everywhere.
I say April because that's when I've been there. Snow is good and huts are open and staffed.

[Two06]

Congrats!

[Foggy_Goggles]

March or April. Could be pow, could be spring skiing, crevasses likely filled in, longer days, better stability etc.

Where to stay = depends. Given the choice, I'd rather be in Cham proper than Argentierre. The bus is good put it takes a while to go up and down valley. Much of it depends on what you like to do or ski. Grand Montets has the reputation as the best lift served in the valley however what it offers (lift served) probably isn't what an American goes to Cham for.

To keep your conversation going - What is your budget? What type of skiing to you envision? What do you want to do after skiing? Mont Blanc Unlimited Pass? How long you going?

[adrenalated]

Congrats!

Shoot a PM to Franz - he and his wifey did the Haute Route for their honeymoon this spring. So slightly different scenario but they did go through Cham and might have a tip or two. Bean and his wife joined them as well, so you could PM him too.

[concretejungle]

Pooperhausen

[Flyoverland Captive]

In this day and age? That was the first date.

[neck beard]

Argentiere is actually 'somewhat' central in the valley, with GM right there, Le Tour up the road (don't write it off), and Flegere down the road half way to Chamonix village.

Cham itself has Brevent and the Midi in town, with Flegere up the road on the bus. Although you can connect Brevant and Flegere on skis.

When GM is on, you will wish you were staying right there, rather than on the 10km bus from Cham.

The valley is very spread out.

ps - Easter is a horrible shit show. Once GM goes through a melt-freeze cycle is it a nasty shaded ice rink until it snows again. Flegere and Brevant soften each sunny afternoon.

[::: :::]

Pooperhausen

What's that in French?

[concretejungle]

What's that in French?

Der Pooperhausen?

[neck beard]

House de la poop?

[Lindahl]

Congrats dude!

[peds]

House de la poop?

"La maison du caca"

March is definitely when you want to go, in between the school holidays and the Easter holidays. Some years (it's rare, but it happens), there is still tree skiing right down to town, but all of the good touring options up high are coming into tip-top condition.

neck beard, the apartments are still above it but the Rusticana is no longer there, it is now a tapas and wine bar called 214. It is owned now by the people who owned the Belvedere back then, but they now don't. They also own the Stone Bar, up the road, home of, without question, the best pizza in Argentiere. Oh, how times change!

auvgeek, I would put a vote in for staying in Argentiere unless you are super-keen on spending most of your time up the Aiguille du Midi, in which case you'd be better off down in Cham. But then that does make it that bit much more of a hassle for getting to all the brilliant touring options from the Grands Montets, the Aiguilles Rouges, and Le Tour. So Argentiere would be my recommendation, because you can then access the nightlife and the fine selection of restaurants down in Chamonix using the trains (runs until 9pm) and the night bus (runs until 11/12pm, but only until the 3rd weekend in March).

Congrats!

[::: :::]

Maison merde?

[auvgeek]

To keep your conversation going - What is your budget? What type of skiing to you envision? What do you want to do after skiing? Mont Blanc Unlimited Pass? How long you going?

Hey, thanks for the replies everyone!! Sorry I neglected this thread—between writing papers, training (for Cham), and planning a wedding, we've been very busy. I read all the replies; just haven't had time to type out a proper response.

Dates are confirmed: Wedding (Seattle) on Feb 21, fly to Cham on Feb 22, ski Feb 23-March 18 and fly back to DC Mar 19.

Lodging: We're planning to book the first half in the Cham Sud area (still have to book it), and we booked a two-bedroom the second half in Argentiere. Our thinking was that we'd do the Midi scene for a bit and then tour in March. Looks like a friend or two might join us for the second half, and we'd love to ski with Yurp mags for sure! Haven't 100% decided on the pass, but thinking the Mont Blanc unlimited is the way to go. Any more thoughts on that?

Budget: We have a rough idea of what we can afford, but we really need to make one. Any thoughts how much should we budget for food and daily expenses, excluding gear, lodging, passes, and flights? Might be a dumb question, but, can we depend on buying the American dirtbag essentials for cooking at home most of the time (oatmeal, honey, butter, some cheap produce/ fresh goods like eggs and avocados), or should we realistically budget for espresso and french pastries every morning?

Skiing: I'd like to ski as much challenging (for us) terrain as possible—while acknowledging that our risk tolerance will likely be very different than that of many locals. We're okay with YFYD lines, but not so much with those that have a 30%+ mortality rate. But we definitely don't object to skiing some steep powder absent objective hazard, either. jesski would prefer if I'm around for our first anniversary.

Après: After skiing we usually tend to eat, read, and sleep. jesski will be stoked if we can find a cheap yoga place. But we'd also like to meet people to ski with, so we'll probably end up going out at least some of the time.

TL;DR: Mid-Feb to mid-March with 1.5 weeks in Cham and 2 weeks in Argentiere. Want to ski classic lines and do some touring, but definitely want to focus on the down.

Any more advice?

[c_moose]

thinking the Mont Blanc unlimited is the way to go. Any more thoughts on that?

jesski will be stoked if we can find a cheap yoga place. But we'd also like to meet people to ski with, so we'll probably end up going out at least some of the time.

The Chamonix Rapid card would be good for your needs. It's an Unlimited pass. Register for the card for 35 yo yos in December. You get a cheaper than normal daily tariff after that. The days you use are taken from your bank every week. After 6 days of skiing, you get the 7th one for free.

Downside: you don't get Courmayeur or Verbier.

http://www.compagniedumontblanc.co.u...onix-rapidcard

Your missus can get yoga here and potentially find people to ski with:
http://www.alpine-yoga.com/default.aspx