It’s known as a paradise for skiers and snowboarders, with some of the most iconic ski destinations in Europe. So is Chamonix a good place to learn how to ski or snowboard?
As unofficial capital of the French Alps, Chamonix is a perfect launchpad into incredible ski terrain. You’ve got the towering Mont Blanc and a selection of ski areas up and down the valley, as well as several cross border areas (such as Verbier and Courmayeur).
Not to mention the lively town full of restaurants, bars and great shopping. After all, Chamonix isn’t just a ski resort, but a living town with a lot going on all year round.
My friend Robbie had ‘learn to snowboard’ on his life bucket list. And so me being the enthusiastic snowboarder I am, I duly took it upon myself to book a trip and get him sliding down a mountain on a plank of wood. Like you do.
It’s worth pointing out that the entire experience here was self-taught. Robbie had no paid lessons, instead opting to follow my instruction after watching a bunch of videos from snowboarding influencers, such as Malcolm Moore. But of course, you need snow.
We booked a trip to Chamonix in March 2024. So how is Chamonix for learning to ski or snowboard?
Learner areas in Chamonix
For those who aren’t aware, Chamonix is the town, but it is surrounded by several ski areas of varying difficulty. While all of the ski areas, bar the Aiguille du Midi, have a learner area with green pistes and blue runs, some are less suitable than others.
The main learner slopes in the base stations are:
- Les Planards: A small ski area in the heart of Chamonix, accessible via foot or bus from the town centre. Also features a funfair and toboggan rides – which can make it a good day out in Chamonix in general.
- Le Savoy: Another small ski area in Chamonix, this one is a short walk from the Brevent gondola – just next to the Folie Douce. This one wasn’t open when we visited due to lack of snow coverage – but it is free to access.
- Les Houches: There are some nursery slopes close to the lift station in Les Houches – again this one wasn’t open as there wasn’t enough snow.
- La Chosalets: In Argentiere, this is the nursery slope before you head up into the ski area on the mountain.
It’s worth noting that Les Planards is open to access, but if you want to use the lifts, including the draglift or two person chairlift, you will need to pay for lift access. Les Planards is also where they have night skiing, when snow coverage is sufficient.
Le Savoy and the Les Houches nursery slopes are free to use for everyone, but are out of service when lacking snow.
If you decide to venture onto the mountain, then you’ll find green pistes at:
- Brevent-Flegere
- Les Houches
- La Tour/Vallorcine
- Grand Montets
It’s worth pointing out that Grand Montets is seen as the much more advanced piste in the area, so might not be suitable for absolute beginners. Les Houches is the best choice for newbies, with much more forgiving pistes although it is lower altitude than most other resorts in the area.
When it comes to learning, truth be told, so long as you have decent run on snow – it almost doesn’t matter where you are. At least in the early stages.
Check out the video guide of our experience of learning to snowboard in Chamonix.
From absolute beginner to snowboarder
Robbie’s first steps on snow were at the Les Planards, the learner area with a proper chairlift and funfair a short walk from the town centre of Chamonix. It’s worth pointing out that Les Planards is part of the Chamonix Le Pass area, so prices are the same as if you were to go up on the mountain.
BUT… You can just walk onto the pistes and start doing your learner skills, if you pay attention to the ski schools here. It is busy with lots of learner kids and grown ups, but it’s relatively simple to find a quiet corner and start practicing heel slides, toe slides and early turns. Perfect for a free intro to snowboarding (or skiing, if thats your bag).
We literally had about one hour for practice, but we got the basics under our belt and felt confident for the first full day.
The next day, we hit up the Brevent side of the Brevent-Flegere area.
There is a small area with a drag lift flanked by green pistes. The runs are short, probably only a few hundred meters, and are suited to absolute beginners. From here, a blue piste drops down onto a busy run which offers a mixture of terrain, including some wide open pistes. While the width of the runs are very forgiving, when we came in Match 2024, it seemed to be very busy and the traffic could be quite challenging for a learner.
But… Robbie styled it out and by the end of day one, we were confidently linking turns and heel/toe-sliding down the more challenging parts.
Our next day took us to the Flegere side of the hill, which offers a longer green piste, although just as busy and with some pretty long lift queues.
The thing we found with Flegere is that all of the runs end at one of two lifts, meaning that those two lifts get very quickly congested. And the main learner area ends at probably the busier of the two, To add to this, the exit from the chairlift is kinda fast and a lot of people were falling over (even skiers). We felt like they kept the lift fast due to the high volume of skiers – so this would not have been ideal if Robbie hadn’t already mastered skating on a snowboard on days one and two.
As it stood, we managed to not fall over at all, but it was a sketchy dismount every time.
But… After three days Robbie was carving quite confidently down blue runs and looking like an actual snowboarder. After the first day, truth be told, he was linking turns. But as anyone will tell you, the biggest piece of the puzzle is building up confidence – which is definitely the focus.
Is Chamonix good for learners and beginners?
While there are lots of learner areas in Chamonix, such as Les Houches and Les Planards, the actual on mountain areas were busy and limited. While you can definitely learn to ski or snowboard in Chamonix, it isn’t quite the ideal location. The lower altitude areas can have thin snow cover, and the higher altitude areas offer limited learner terrain with a lot of traffic.
But, anywhere with snow is good to learn. And Chamonix is also a vibrant town with a lot of things to see and do off the mountain, so this could be appealing for people looking for good shopping, dining and apres ski.
Read our full Chamonix guide.
If you’re considering learning in Chamonix, you might find other options in France better suited to you, including:
- Morzine/Les Gets/Avoriaz
- Val Thorens/Les Trois Vallees
- Megeve
- Le Grand Massif
Many of these offer much more extensive learner areas and more choice of on mountain learner terrain.
Can you self-teach snowboarding?
While it’s a good idea to have lessons, there are a lot of resources online that can help you learn to snowboard before you even step on snow. It will help to have a guide who can shout instructions and generally give you pointers – or even (literally) hold your hand to make sure you don’t fall and do yourself an injury.
If you genuinely want to get good at snowboarding but have no one to help, then yes, you can teach yourself. But it’s a good idea to study up on some theory first. You can do this by watching some of the snowboard tutors online such as:
Malcolm Moore, who offers excellent and crystal clear tutorials. Both his YouTube and his Instagram are great for anyone looking to learn the basics, or level up to confident riding.
Snowboard Pro Camp, who are one of the original snowboard learner channels. Again, they offer a comprehensive list of online tutorials on both YouTube and Insta.
Tommie Bennett is another great option for learners, with his enthusiastic delivery.
If you’re going to teach yourself to snowboard, I’d follow these steps.
- Watch the basics videos on any or all of these accounts.
- Consider riding a skateboard or longboard before heading off to snowboard just to get the feel of riding sideways on a board, and how moving on your toe side and heel side helps you control your movement.
- On your first say on snow, take it easy and focus on getting comfortable with the fundamentals of toe sliding, heel sliding and falling leaf (side to side sliding). Avoiding injuries on day one is key to your rapid progress.
- Learn how to fall over without hurting yourself. Falling is part of snowboarding – so working out how to fall on your butt or face without injuring yourself will be a big part of your early experience.
- Consider paying for at least one lesson if you don’t have access to a knowledgeable friend – or even if you do… Even a few lessons on a dry slope are better than nothing.
Snowboarding is a really fun and very addictive hobby, so a good intro can set you up for a great experience (and potential obsession). While you might wanna get out and start shredding ASAP – your first few days will be slow. Perhaps frustratingly so. Injuries can and regularly do happen. So factor in that falling happens and that you will need to work out how to fall without causing damage and setting yourself back, or even scaring yourself off the whole experience.
Done right, you can teach yourself to snowboard within a couple of days and be ready to ride for life.
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