Skiing for miles and miles at St Gervais/Megeve

One of Chamonix's less well promoted assets is the ease with which you can get to other resorts. Through the tunnel into Italy, the Aosta resorts like Courmayeur, La Thuile - even Cervinia and the Monte Rosa - are only 30 mins to 2 hrs away. Verbier in Switzerland is just over an hour. Back towards Geneva, the French resorts of Flaine, Morzine and Avoriaz are reachable in under 60 minutes.

But one of the best options (and least known about) is the Domaine Evasion Mont-Blanc - the flash name given to the enormous combined ski area of St Gervais, Mégève, St Nicolas, Combloux and Les Contamines. God only knows why it isn't better known. Together, the 5 resorts offer over 400km of pistes - that's more than Val d'Isère/Tignes, more than twice as much as St Anton. It's also got zillions of nice mountain restaurants. Only Paradiski (Les Arcs/La Plagne), the 3 Vallées and the Portes du Soleil can rival or beat it on size. But size isn't everything (ahem, ahem). Fortunately, there's some great skiing to had there, too.

The Mégève/St Nicolas/St Gervais/Combloux bits are linked together by lift. Les Contamines is just around the back - accessible either by car/bus or off-piste from certain peaks in Mégève and St Gervais.

Less than 30 mins from the chalet

From Chamonix, we usually drive to St Gervais - less than 30 mins from the chalet. Park at the Bettex télécabine, get the passes sorted and head onto the lift. The whole area lies mostly beneath the treeline. While this means snow reliability isn't as good as around Chamonix, it makes the area perfect for bad weather days.

The Bettex télécabine eventually chucks you out at Arbois. Here you're pretty much at the heart of the whole domain, with St Gervais/St Nicolas on one side, Mégève on another and Combloux away on a third flank. Head over the back towards Mégève and burn down one of the blue pistes to the Mont Joux chairlifts. From the top of the chair, carry on heading away from Arbois and Mégève, going in the direction of Mont Joly, the highest mountain right in front of you. Head down to the Epaule chair and take it. This is where the fun starts...

St Gervais is not over-run with powder hounds

This is one of the few parts of the ski area that is above the treeline. Consequently, you find some of the best snow because of its altitude (and north-west outlook). Either take the red run around the shoulder (épaule in French) of the mountain, or come straight back under the chair on the steepish black piste or off to the sides. Unlike Chamonix, St Gervais is not over-run with powder hounds - it's more of a family resort. So you'll have all day (or more) to nail fresh tracks down here.

Bear left as it flattens out and head towards the Mont Joly chair. This gets closed by the wind fairly often, so grab the chance to get up whenever you can. The chair takes you up to 2353m, the top station of the whole domain (with the exception of Les Contamines). There are spectacular views back over to Mont Blanc, but wrap up warm as it really can blow up here.

Mont Joly is basically a big open-faced mountain with a red and black piste coming down one side, but loads of great off-piste terrain on the other side and inbetween the pisted bits. My favourite bit is to bear right as you get off the lift, duck under the ropes, come round to skiers' right a little bit (through some sparsely-spaced bushes) and then bomb straight down from there. Obviously make sure you're with people who know the terrain and ensure you've got proper off-piste gear like transceivers and shovels.

It's a great run all the way down - steep at the top, flattening out at the bottom. You have to take the same chair back up again (otherwise, it's a walk out). But play around in this mountain as much as you like - again, it doesn't tracked out like Chamonix.

The best little bowl in the resort

When you're ready for lunch, head skiers' right from Mont Joly, back under the Epaule chair and to the top of the Croix du Christ chair. This is the way into another of our favourite, favourite little bits of mountain in the whole region. It's basically a bowl, with the Croix du Christ chair running up through the middle of it. It's not mega-steep and there are several red/blue pistes running down it. But it's got some absolutely wonderful off-piste terrain - in and out the trees, some fabulous rises and dips, jumps galore and there's never anyone here! We just don't understand it.

Anyway, pick a route in the middle or further to the left and go for it. Don't go too far skiers' right or you'll get stuck in a stream. You're aiming for the bottom of the chair, where you'll also see a draglift rising on the other side. As you take this drag, you'll see a charming-looking chalet tucked away beside a piste on your left - that's lunch. You can hop off the drag half-way up and ski across, or come down from the top.

Lunchtime croute at the Refuge du Gouet

The Refuge du Gouet is run by charming staff and serves up traditional mountain grub in beautiful surroundings. We usually have their croute - the white wine-soaked hunk bread covered in cheese, cream, a slice of ham and a fried egg. Let that stick to your insides, as you wash it down with a couple of bottles of the local Gamay - a light red often served chilled. Take your time in here - it's far too agreeable a spot to be rushing back outside. And don't forget to order a glass of marc de savoie before you leave...

Depending on what time it is (and with us, it's usually mid-afternoon by the time we stumble out), you'll need to start thinking about making your way back. Ride back up the Croix du Christ chair and head towards Arbois, taking a little drag to help you up a shallow slope. Then dive down to the right, into another bowl which has a new 4-man chair at the bottom. It's a bit like a smaller version of the bowl you've just come from. Take the 4-man chair back up before you head past Arbois and back down towards Bettex and St Gervais.

Cruisy home run

The home run here can be a right scream. There are a wide range of routes available - some v shallow green stuff if you're feeling a bit feeble, a couple of steep black pitches if you're still in good shape, or a great cruisy blue/red through the trees. Make sure you catch the little Les Bosses drag on the left, half-way between Arbois and Bettex. From there, zoom down the blue or red piste to Bettex - it's a great way to end the day. The piste down the car park is usually shut, so hop into the télécabine for the last stretch.

And on another day: go to Les Contamines. It's just over the back of Mont Joly and has a surprisingly varied skiing domain. It's got miles & miles of lovely, flattering blue/red motorway pistes above the treeline - intermediate heaven. The best part for advanced skiers is the easily accessible off-piste terrain and black pistes down from Veleray and the Aiguille Croche. You can still be skiing freshies here 2-3 days after snowfall. Take lunch at the R'mize a Louis beneath the Aiguille de Roselette - yet another charming old wooden chalet serving fabulous traditional nosh...