In Chamonix, skiing on the edge

Chamonix, France â€”  Even in the Alps, where ski lifts as varied as the blades of a Swiss Army knife scale mountain after mountain, the 60-passenger tram to the Aiguille du Midi is mythical.

It is the highest cable car in Europe, and it reveals a panorama of France, Italy and Switzerland.

The tram rises from Chamonix, France’s original ski resort and the site of the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924. It ends at the Aiguille du Midi, a fortress-like granite spire that looms next to white-domed Mont Blanc, at 15,771 feet the highest mountain in the Alps. It covers the distance in two airy spans -- one of them the longest of any aerial tram in the world.

As if these superlatives weren’t enough, the Aiguille du Midi also is the departure point for the longest lift-serviced skiing and snowboarding run in the world: the 13-mile-long Vallee Blanche (White Valley). It is one of the most memorable day trips in the Alps.

Last winter, on a blue-sky day, my friend Armel Faron, a veteran Chamonix mountain guide, and I boarded the tram for the Aiguille du Midi. I had spent much of the winter in Europe, yo-yoing up and down the main ski runs of the Alps and searching for bedbugs between the sheets of two-star hotels while researching a ski guidebook. Life, even the good life of European ski-resort hopping, had become just days on the assembly line, and I longed to get lost. Armel had a suggestion.

“A ski day on the Vallee Blanche is the snapshot of the Alps you will carry in your mind all summer,� he promised.

Given the right conditions, and with an experienced mountain guide leading the way, any intermediate-level skier or snowboarder with a sense of adventure can cruise the Vallee Blanche’s 9,200-vertical-foot drop: the equivalent of stacking Vail, Steamboat and Stowe on top of one another. More than 2,000 skiers and boarders descend the glacier every winter.

The standard route to the village of Chamonix descends the ice-jumbled Glacier du Tacul before merging with the Mer de Glace, France’s largest glacier. For much of its length it does resemble its name, a rough sea suddenly frozen in storm. The route is littered with crevasses. Other dangers include train-car-size seracs -- large masses of ice isolated by intersecting crevasses -- that can shift, tumble and crush a skier.

From the 12,600-foot summit of the Aiguille du Midi, Armel pointed out major climbing routes on Mont Blanc, where he spends summers guiding clients on two-day trips to the summit. The stone overnight shelter called the Cosmiques refuge, an hour’s climb away, was in sight. We also peered at the glaciers on the west face of Mont Blanc, which can be skied all the way down to the glitzy Italian resort of Courmayeur, about eight miles away.

With skis cinched to our rucksacks, we began the roped descent of the steep, snow-plastered arete that leads from the Aiguille du Midi to the head wall of the Glacier du Tacul. At a level, airy perch we stepped into our skis and descended a nicely pitched snowfield down to the upper end of the glacier.

Armel crafted swooping parabolas through fields of crevasses intersected with porcelain-blue seracs. I followed in his tracks, zigzagging and banking like a bobsledder and often slowing to cross snow bridges so narrow that only one skier at a time could cross over seemingly bottomless crevasses.

After countless turns picking our way through the glacier’s obstacles with figure skaters’ smiles, we sat in the snow using our skis as a backrest. With the sun on our faces we enjoyed the extraordinary landscape while feasting on fat baguettes and a bottle of Cotes du Rhone red that I had stowed in my backpack. Surrounding us were some of Europe’s most imposing summits, cut against a cloudless sky.

The Vallee Blanche is squeezed between wedding-cake-like rock towers that include Le Dru, La Verte and Grandes Jorasses. And on top of the scenery is history. On these craggy granite faces Italian Walter Bonatti and the Frenchman Gaston Rebuffat completed the first ascents on what would become classic routes of 20th century mountaineering.

The final escape into the village of Chamonix is through the woods at the bottom of the glacier. Altogether we covered 13 miles on skis. If snow is sparse in the final stretch, skiers can bail out near the toe of the glacier at the Montenvers ice cave, where a cogwheel train travels back to Chamonix.

Of course, the Chamonix area offers skiers and snowboarders vast terrain beyond the Vallee Blanche. Chamonix Valley has 12 separate ski areas with 49 lifts. The 145 marked ski trails range from mom-and-pop cruisers to in-your-face steeps.

Most skiers begin the day on the sunny, east-facing slopes of Le Brevent and La Flegere, directly above Chamonix, where there are trails suitable for all levels of skiers and snowboarders. Beginners and intermediates can enjoy the Col de Balme area above the village of Le Tour. Advanced skiers can head for Les Grands Montets above the village of Argentiere. Throughout the valley much of the skiing and boarding is for the hard core. Particularly prized are the elevator-shaft-like couloirs, so narrow that only a sliver of sunlight reaches the snow each day. But off trail you ski at your own risk in areas that are neither machine groomed nor patrolled, so I advise you to take a local guide along.

Not only skiers but climbers and hang gliders are drawn here. The valley’s lifestyle is fueled on adrenaline, and it’s been that way since 1786, when a local hunter and a village doctor teamed up to make the first ascent of Mont Blanc.

An Alpine atmosphere

The 19th century village of Chamonix is pure Alpine. Walking tours led by Chamonix Tourist Office guides center on Chamonix’s mountain history. Also worth a stop is the Alpine Museum, with its photo collection of early mountain guides and mountaineering equipment. The Richard Bozon Sports Center contains a library, national school for skiing and Alpinism, and outdoor and indoor swimming pools, as well as a skating rink. Dog sledding also is offered in the valley.

Savoyard-style cream-and-mustard-colored walk-ups with pitched roofs dominate Chamonix’s narrow, carless alleyways. Fresh flowers brighten the central memorial to native sons who died in two world wars and the French-Algerian conflict of the 1950s. At 7 p.m., when the bells of St. Michel church ring, elderly residents make their way up the stone steps for evening Mass.

To make an entrance worthy of the setting, arrive from the Swiss border town of Martigny on the narrow-gauge train called the Mont-Blanc Express. (To call it express overstates its velocity, but nobody should rush through country like the Chamonix Valley.)

The valley’s population of 10,000 sometimes doubles during peak ski periods around Christmas and the last two weeks of February. But there are plenty of accommodations. I found a fine, central one-star place called Hotel du Louvre for about $40 a night.

Chamonix also has a range of restaurants featuring regional cuisine served by young Scandinavians enjoying the job-mobility benefits of the 12-nation European Union. Perhaps the veteran French waiters who never make a needless move have all retreated to Paris.

Chamonix’s apres-ski scene is among the liveliest in France. Locals gather at Chambre Neuf for drinks and live music, followed by the far-reaching dinner menu at Le Monchu. I had drinks at the richly appointed bar of the four-star Hotel Mont-Blanc. Choucas and Dick’s Tea Bar are favorite watering holes for American and British visitors. There’s even a chic casino.

Yes, Chamonix has everything a skier needs: the best scenery in the French Alps, huge and wild skiing, century-old tradition and night life worthy of Aspen.

But Armel was right. The Vallee Blanche is a place where snow and rock and memories linger. And it was the snapshot of the Alps I carried all summer long.

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It’s all downhill in Alps of Chamonix

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, Swiss, Air France, KLM, British and Lufthansa have connecting service (with a change of plane) to Geneva, 60 miles from Chamonix. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $469.

To get to Chamonix by train takes 2 1/2 hours via St. Gervais, $16; 011-41-512-20-11-11, fax 011-41-512-20-42-65, www.sbb.ch.

TELEPHONES:

To call numbers below from the U.S., dial 011 (international dialing code), 33 (country code for France) and the local number.

GLACIER SKIING:

Unless you are a mountaineer with climbing equipment and experience, a guide is essential when skiing the Vallee Blanche. Guides can be arranged by Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix, across from St. Michel church in the village; 450-53-0088, fax 450-53-4804, www.cieguides-chamonix.com. The cost for one to four people is $225.

WHERE TO STAY:

Hotel Mont-Blanc, 62 Allee du Majestic; 450-53-0564, fax 450-55-8944, www.chamonixhotels.com. A four-star in the heart of the old town center. Doubles from $163.

Hotel Alpina, 79 Avenue du Mont-Blanc; 450-53-4777, fax 450-55-9899, www.chamonixhotels.com. Fine three-star hotel in the center of town. Doubles from $128.

Hotel du Louvre, 95 Impasse de l’Androsace; 450-53-0051, fax 450-53-7039. Comfortable one-star tucked along a back street in the heart of the old center. Doubles from $43.

WHERE TO EAT:

Le Chaudron, 79 Rue des Moulins; 450-53-4034. The chef cooks regional dishes as you watch, $16-$26.

The M Brasserie, 81 Rue Vallot (located in Auberge Croix Blanche); 450-53-0011. Typical Savoyard-style brasserie, $8-$22.

TO LEARN MORE:

Office de Tourisme de Chamonix, Place du Triangle de l’Amitie, BP 25, F-74401 Chamonix Mont-Blanc Cedex, France; www.chamonix.com.

French Government Tourist Office, 9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 715, Beverly Hills, CA 90212; France-on-Call hotline (410) 286-8310 (for brochures), (310) 271-6665, fax (310) 276-2835, www.franceguide.com.

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Gerry Wingenbach is a former coach for the Canadian Ski Assn. And author of “100 Best Ski Resorts of the World� (The Globe Pequot Press).