Beginners in first week of April - Chamonix?

unfortunately i am unable to cancel my pre-booked hotel at chamonix...
i wish i have made this post earlier..

although it is still snowing in chamonix, april tends to be sunny and warm...
i hope that the snow higher up in le tours can stay up till the first week of april.

have anyone just got back from chamonix? what's the snow condition there is like?

It's only next week, there will be plenty. Don't worry.
:-)

Yes definitely nothing to worry about, there is still 6 weeks of season left. The beginners slopes in Le Tour or Le Houches are plenty high enough and fantastic (did you manage to book lessons?). Interestingly the beginners slope in town @1000m is rarely used, mainly on the basis that in almost all other resorts it would be considered a red/black.

"April tends to be sunny and warm", ?, so many posts on this site about Chamonix being famous for bad weather and closed lifts. You will have a great time and have chosen best time of year to learn how to ski.

Thanks for the reassurance!
It's the ESF ski school that told me the snow is staring to melt.
That makes me feel worried that its going to be like April 2011 where the slopes were forced to shut early due to warm weather!

We are off to Chamonix on Saturday and will ski Le Tour as it is fab for beginners and they have their own lift pass so you don't have to fork out massive sums of money to cover the main ski areas if you're not going to use them. there is a drag lift on the nursery slope that you use to practice on for free. Also Le Tour is high altitude compared to other beginner slopes in the Valley.! I wouldn't be concerned about snow levels there- they have loads of the stuff :-)

Chamonix is a beautiful town and no more expensive for eating out than any other French ski resort we have been to.

Enjoy :-)

Darcicles

How would you compare Le Tour to Les Houches in terms of scenery and variety of slopes to progress?
It seems both resorts offer some good beginner slopes

Hi there,

I've not spent a great deal of time in Les Houches,, it's very pretty too, quite family orientated. We had our lessons at Le Tour and I asked our instructor where he thought the best area was for beginners and he said Le Tour. It is South facing, lots of sun when it's out :-). It has the most magnificent backdrop of mountains, stunning scenery. The thing we like best a about Le Tour is that is very wide and open, doesn't seem to be as busy because of it being a bit of a trek up the valley. The green run is really like a blue in steepness just that it's wider. The area has plenty for progression. Have you bought a ski pass yet, If not i would hold on as you'll probably just be using the free nursery drag lift for the first day at least. When we were there last year you could buy a lift pass just for that area for the day or half day and it was so much cheaper than paying for a pass for the valley. We had friends who met us out there and they had lessons on the Savoy slopes; they came up to Le Tour and loved it so much they spent the rest of the week skiing there :-). We may see you - we will be up there on Sunday, 2 adults and 3 young kids making fools of ourselves again. Have fun.

You'll fid it a lot easier to learn in spring snow and slush than on hard packed ice