The new Valléen télécabine
Andrea tested the route out today.
Andrea left the house at 7.30am for the 7.37am train from Les Tines. Her friend Holly hopped on in Servoz and they both arrived in the Saint-Gervais/Le Fayet train station at 8.40am. The half-hour drive and habitual carpark faff was replaced by a one-hour train journey with beautiful views.
Beautiful views from the Mont Blanc Express
No carpark faff - boots are already on
Empty trains
The train ride is free with a valid Mont-Blanc Unlimited ski pass - simply show it to the train conductor and they will give you a ticket.
Andrea's return ticket
Andrea and Holly turned right out of the station and walked onto the Valléen lift. It was then five minutes to St Gervais and a further five minutes on another brand new lift into the Bettex (St Gervais).
View of Le Fayet from the new lift
Andrea and Holly were now in the Portes du Mont-Blanc resort where they zoomed around for five hours making it to Côte 2000 and back (completing 7,000m of vertical descent and 43km of skiing). No problem getting a full day's skiing in.
They traveled back over and down to Le Fayet, arriving 10 mins early for the 2.28pm train (timing was crucial here as the trains run every hour).
Journey back down - Andrea was happy as the timing was spot on.
The train journey back to Les Tines took an hour and nine minutes (unfortunately prolonged by a 15 minute stop in Chamonix), completely justified by the opportunity to explore another resort outside of the Chamonix valley.
Conclusion: Andrea said she would definitely do it again - this is a great option if the conditions in Chamonix aren't satisfactory. The train journey is a great replacement for the palava of a car journey.
