Ask a child what they did on their ski holiday and you’ll rarely hear “I worked on my parallel turns”. You’ll hear “I did the big red one with the train!”. Children remember runs, not techniques. That’s why, when we built our kids’ progression, we started from the runs themselves.

We picked 16 of them across the valley: Le Savoy, the Brévent, the Flégère, Les Houches, Le Tour and the Grands Montets. Four green, four blue, four red, four black. Each one has a reason to be on the list: it’s the right step at the right time, and it has a story worth telling on the chairlift.

The short stories below come straight from our Ski Passport, the booklet our young students collect stickers in. They’re written for kids: read them together.

Green runs: the very first turns

Where it all begins: gentle slopes, wide runs and plenty of time to look around.

On a green run, your child learns to:

ride the magic carpet and the drag lift on their own
slow down and stop with a snowplough, right where they choose
link turns to the left and to the right
finish their turns with skis side by side

On the Skibex scale: Skibex levels 2 “Beginner” and 3 “Novice”.

Samaran

Le Savoy · Chamonix

At the foot of the Brévent, right in the middle of Chamonix, the Savoy is the town’s historic ski field: people from Chamonix have learnt to ski here for generations.

The Samaran drag lift is the little one, the one for your very first rides. Almost every child in Chamonix started right here.

Libellules

Flégère · Chamonix

Right at the top of the Flégère, on the plateau, a wide and peaceful run facing Mont Blanc. You get there on the Trappe chairlift.

Libellules means “dragonflies”. In summer, the Flégère is where the path to Lac Blanc begins, one of the most beautiful mountain lakes in the valley: a good place to look for some.

École

Prarion · Les Houches

At the top of the Prarion gondola, the École run is a big, gentle slope with Mont Blanc right in front of you.

École means “school”: generations of skiers made their very first turns here. Now it’s your turn.

Vormaine

Le Tour · Vallorcine

At the foot of the Col de Balme, Le Tour is one of the snowiest spots in the valley: the snow arrives early and stays late. The Vormaine is its big, flat, sunny snowfield, where everyone starts.

The stoat changes colour with the seasons: brown in summer, all white in winter, except for the tip of its tail. Keep your eyes open, it lives in the old stone walls of the village.

Blue runs: the terrain starts to talk

Longer runs where the terrain starts to talk: a few bumps, a slope that tilts, spots where you pick up speed.

On a blue run, your child learns to:

keep their skis side by side all the way round the turn
link turns without stopping, at a steady speed
make shorter turns when it gets steeper
side-slip down a tricky bit and stop exactly where they want
know the rules of the piste and keep a safe distance

On the Skibex scale: Skibex level 4 “Intermediate”.

Combe des Vioz

Brévent · Chamonix

Below the Parsa chairlift, this is the first blue run you’ll ski at the Brévent, and what a run: ten times longer than the green, with steeper rolls, wide parts and narrow parts, and the valley far below.

The combe is marmot country: in summer they whistle as soon as you come close. In winter they sleep under the snow, right beneath your skis.

Evettes

Flégère · Chamonix

From the top of the Flégère, the Evettes run winds down to the chairlift of the same name. It’s also the way to the cable car that takes you across to the Brévent.

Its name probably comes from “ève”, an old Savoyard word for water. Along the run, look for mountain hare tracks in the snow: in winter it turns all white, except for the tips of its ears.

Mélèzes

Prarion · Les Houches

Alongside the chairlift of the same name, the Mélèzes is the real challenge after the École run: much longer, with rolling terrain, narrow passages, and even uphill bits where you need to keep your speed.

The larch, “mélèze”, is the only conifer that loses its needles: in autumn the whole forest turns gold. The spotted nutcracker hides its seeds here for the winter, and forgets enough of them to grow new trees.

Les Esserts

Le Tour · Vallorcine

From the top of Charamillon, the Liaison and then the Esserts head towards the Col des Posettes, facing south, wide and smooth, with the Aiguilles Rouges on one side and Mont Blanc on the other.

Le Tour is home to the black grouse, a rare bird that sleeps under the snow. We ski in its home, so we respect its quiet zones.

Red runs: from top to bottom without stopping

Steep in places, sometimes narrow, with real bumps and snow that keeps changing.

On a red run, your child learns to:

fit their turns to the slope: short when it’s steep, long when it’s wide
grip the snow with their edges, even when it’s hard
ride small mogul fields with skis on the snow
try their first carved turns on the gentler parts
keep their rhythm all the way down

On the Skibex scale: Skibex level 5 “Confident Intermediate”.

Cornu

Brévent · Chamonix

From the top of the Cornu chairlift, a lovely, steady slope facing Mont Blanc, heading back down into the heart of the Brévent.

“Cornu” means horned, the name of the pass just above and of the lake hidden behind the ridge. A good name for ibex country.

Pylônes

Flégère · Chamonix

From the top of the Index, the Pylônes run comes straight down beneath the chairlift. An honest red, no detours.

It’s named after the pylons it follows. And on those pylons there’s often an alpine chough, the black bird with the yellow beak that lives up here all year round.

Col de Voza

Prarion · Les Houches

A wide, playful red run heading to the Col de Voza, at 1,650 m, between the Chamonix valley and Saint-Gervais.

Here you cross the Mont Blanc Tramway. When work began in 1906, it had a wild dream: to climb all the way to the summit of Mont Blanc! The First World War stopped it in 1914, and the line still ends at the Nid d’Aigle, at 2,372 m. Its old red train even had a name: Jeanne.

Béchat

Le Tour · Vallorcine

From the top of the Tête de Balme, at 2,321 m, the Béchat is a steady, sustained red that runs down alongside the Plan des Reines drag lift to the middle of the mountain.

Up here, you ski right next to the border: on the other side of the Col de Balme, it’s Switzerland. And just below, a little stream is born that becomes the Arve, the river that flows through Chamonix all the way to Geneva.

Black runs: chosen, never by chance

You don’t end up on a black run by chance: you choose it, and you read it before you go.

On a black run, your child learns to:

make short, rhythmic turns on really steep slopes
handle moguls, side slopes and sudden drops without losing control
ski every kind of snow: hard, soft or chopped up
pick a line before starting, and stick to it

On the Skibex scale: Skibex level 6 “Advanced”.

Charles Bozon

Brévent · Chamonix

This black run starts from the top of the Brévent, at 2,525 m, facing Mont Blanc, and dives down to Planpraz.

It’s named after Charles Bozon, a Chamonix boy who became slalom world champion in 1962, right here in Chamonix, in a snowstorm. Skiing the Bozon means skiing on his home turf.

Floria

Flégère · Chamonix

From the top of the Floria drag lift, below the Aiguille de la Floria, a long black run that heads away from the crowds, down towards the Trappe chairlift. It’s often left ungroomed: moguls, deep snow, real mountain skiing.

Right next door is the Aiguilles Rouges nature reserve, home to chamois, ibex and golden eagles. Look up: with a bit of luck, you’ll see one circling above the ridges.

Kandahar

Les Houches

The Verte des Houches, also called the Kandahar: 3,343 metres long and 870 metres of drop. It’s a World Cup run, which the best skiers on the planet race down in barely two minutes.

“Verte” means green, after the fir trees along it. But don’t trust its name: it really is a black.

Chamois

Grands Montets · Argentière

From the top of the Bochard gondola, at 2,765 m, the Chamois plunges into the Combe de la Pendant. It faces north, so the snow is often very hard. It’s steep, sustained all the way down, and not always groomed.

Probably the finest challenge of all the black runs in the valley. Up there, you’re in chamois country.

Collect them with your instructor

These 16 runs make up the Skibex Ski Passport, the little book our young students fill with stickers. Each time a child skis one of the runs all the way down with their instructor, and skis it well, they earn its sticker.

Nobody collects all 16 in one week, and that’s the point: the passport is made to be filled in winter after winter.