Off-piste over the back of Le Tour

Le Tour lies at the top of the valley, past Argentière and right on the Swiss border. Its skiing can be split into two halves: the big sunny bowl on the frontside that offers nice intermediate blue and red pistes plus amazing views back along the Mont Blanc massif; and the mostly tree-covered backside offering some of the best off-piste terrain in the valley, down towards the village of Vallorcine and even into Switzerland.

New 8-person télécabine from Vallorcine

To reach this area, you've traditionally had to take the bubble up from Le Tour, freeze your knackers off on the windy Autannes chairlift, then traverse around the bowl and up another draglift. From Dec 2004, a new 8-person télécabine from Vallorcine cut out this faffing by taking you straight where you need to be. Take the train from Les Praz or Chamonix and step directly from the platform at Vallorcine onto the lift - and there's never a queue!

Whichever way you're attacking from, make a beeline for the Tete de Balme. Take the Plan des Reines draglift if coming from the main bowl or the Tete de Balme chairlift if arriving from the new télécabine. From the top, start with a nice blue to get muscles warmed up. Ski down parallel to the Plan des Reines draglift, keeping the lift to your left. Just before you come to a piste crossroads, there's a great little 'hole' in the terrain - perfect for practising jumps with a nice soft landing for the inevitable cock-ups. Sometimes you might see someone kitesurfing on a snowboard here.

Turn right at the crossroads and start heading down towards the trees. It's not particularly challenging or steep so keep your speed up. As you reach a steeper section, choose between the 2 variants - I prefer the left-hand one. Pause for a moment at this spot to get your bearings - you'll be coming through here again later, but from a different route. The piste swings around to the right and heads off down a flattish run through the forest to the bottom of the Tete de Balme chair. It's a good first run and you'll be set up nicely for the rest of the day.

Down beside the Balme chair - great ledges

Take the Balme chair again. From the top, bear right onto a red piste and head down more or less parallel with the lift. Here, you've got a bit of choice. Either stick on the red piste, veer right and take the black, or chop and change between the two - enjoying the bumpy off-piste terrain that is easy to reach. Be very, very careful not to stray too far to the right. Beyond the fence to the right of the black piste is very dangerous avalanche terrain. Don't go in there unless you're properly kitted up with transceivers, probes and shovels - and best of all a guide.

Whichever route you've picked, you'll come back down through the trees and eventually back to the Balme chair. There's some great undulating terrain over here, with lots of ledges and plenty of options to get some decent air. Watch out for some of the larger ledges/small cliffs, though - they can catch you out.

Ride the chair back up again and this time set off back down the blue you started with. Pick your route either side of the Plan des Reines draglift, on-piste, off-piste, wherever the hell you want. You're aiming for the little draglift beyond the bottom of Plan des Reines - it's called the Posettes and is the way into one of the best-kept secrets in Chamonix...

One of the best-kept secrets in Chamonix...

At the top, you're on the ridge that separates the main Le Tour bowl from the Vallorcine valley. It's on the edge of a nature reserve, so take care where you go and what you leave behind. You can either ski 200-300m down the ridge line, then dive off left. Or, best of all, ride just to the right-hand side of the ridge line (using 2 solitary firs as guiding points) for about 300-400m, before rejoining the ridgeline for another 300-400m into the trees.

All the way down this ridgeline, the terrain to the left is utterly fantastic. The trees are spaced well apart, the terrain undulates beautifully, there are steep drop-offs, gulleys, jumps. Best of all, it doesn't get skied out quickly like the Grands Montets and the snow stays in good nick (it's north-facing). We love it here and sometimes spend whole days doing laps round this smallish piece of mountain.

Don't drop too low or else...

Just make sure you know when/where to traverse out right. Go too low and it's either a tedious walk back uphill or a sometimes very steep off-piste descent to Vallorcine. You need to come out of the trees back onto the piste I mentioned earlier - at the spot where I said you should get your bearings, just before the piste bears right and into the woods.

The backside of Le Tour is great because it's north-facing, it gets lots of snow which stays in good nick, it doesn't get as swamped with powder hounds as the Grands Montets, the terrain is steep if you want it that way but with shallower options - and it's covered in trees, so perfect for a bad weather day. Pick your own routes down - either on-piste or via one of limitless off-piste options.

Take a packed lunch with you and eat it on the ridge near the top of the Aiguillette draglift. Beyond Vallorcine on one side, you look across towards the spectacular Emosson dam in Switzerland. While on the other side, it's yet another jaw-dropping panorama of the Mont Blanc massif. Not a bad spot for a feed.

Beers and a snack at Vallorcine station

Round the day off with a couple of beers at the bar/resto at Vallorcine station. It's actually part of the station building and is something of a local institution. If you're still feeling peckish, they also do great croutes (an oven-baked dish of wine-soaked bread covered in cheese, ham and cream).