Chamonix ski touring holiday, France

Ski touring is the purest form of skiing – taking the sport back to its roots, strapping skins to your skis, unclipping your heels and heading off high into the mountains under your own steam. It’s the purest, most environmentally sympathetic - not to mention fun - way to enjoy the mountains in winter. Well away from the main bustle of the resorts, there are no chair lifts, no pistes, and no people. Just you, the mountains, and the amazing thrill of making first tracks down a face that you’ve spent 3 hours hiking to. The hard work is worth it a million times over when you find an untouched powder stash that’s all yours! Be warned – prepare to fall in love. Once you start touring there’s no turning back …

We work in partnership with local company, Dream Guides, who are all fully qualified IFMGA mountain guides (the highest possible qualification). Our guides are professional and dedicated ski mountaineers who have trained extensively in the Mont Blanc area and know the valleys and glacier systems inside out. They are a wealth of knowledge about the region - not only do they have inside info on where to find the best snow, but are full of facts about the mountains themselves, and the delicate balance of natural systems operating to keep the mountain ecosystem alive.

Community
Chamonix is the home of Alpinism and mountain guiding in Chamonix is an important part of the traditional culture of this historic mountain town. Being a guide in Chamonix is an important, respected profession in the valley, dating back to the birth of modern Alpinism. Maintaining that tradition and supporting local guides is an important part of our aim as a company.

We are committed to supporting the local economy. We don’t automatically opt for the cheapest supplier – it’s the closest, smallest, or friendliest who usually wins our business. In addition to Dream Guides, we work closely with a network of trusted local suppliers to help ensure your stay with us is fun, hassle free, and supportive of the local economy. From your breakfast croissant to the wine we serve at dinner, it’s all produced or supplied locally, and carefully chosen by us to support tradesmen and small businesses who we know.

Environment
Ski mountaineering is our biggest passion and we’re keen to share it with as many people as possible – in as sustainable a manner as we possibly can. We keep our ski group sizes to an absolute maximum of 6 people (often less), to help minimise the environmental impact of our holidays. We work hard to ensure that our ski touring holidays leave no mark on the beautiful mountains around us.

We encourage all our guests to think about the environmental impact of their actions during their stay, providing information about the local ecology, encouraging minimal use of water and heating, and offering easy access to recycling facilities, free public transport, and environmentally friendly methods of transport

We are a young company and a small team, offering a 100% tailor made service. We are fully integrated into the French system, and we all live year round in the Chamonix valley. Our aim is to grow slowly, sustainably, and in the most environmentally conscious way we can. As a company, we recycle, reuse, and actively promote the environmentally friendly option in terms of transport and travel around the valley. We support the Chamonix tourist office’s campaign for an ‘eco-friendly’ town. We run shared minibuses, use natural cleaning products (vinegar, baking soda etc), and run an almost entirely paper free office.

At every step of our company development, we consider not only the economic viability, but also the environmental viability – we want to keep our mountains the way they are for the rest of our company’s life, but also for our children and grandchildren to enjoy as we have.

Our company supports Cool Earth, and encourages all our guests to contribute too - offsetting their carbon emissions by sponsoring the replanting / conservation of rainforests. Our holidays maximise the use of ‘green’ transport including ski touring, snow shoeing and even parapente! We provide free public transport vouchers for all guests, and also run shared minibuses around the valley to help minimise the use of personal cars.