In reply to Morgan Woods:
Hi morgan, good to hear from you - hope you had fun in the Ecrin this winter.
Skiing helps but you can snowshoe to many routes - just takes longer so reduces the range of stuff you can reasonably do in any given trip. Most stuff off the Midi is snowshoe friendly for starters. The Cosmiques hut is a good base finishing by a return on the Midi (its a long walk down the Mer de Glace!)
To use skis for approach your skiing needs to be very solid. You will be off piste, wearing a sack full of climbing gear, wearing touring boots, and it will be dark on the way in, and you will be knackered on the way out! All the things that conspire to make you fall over. So plenty of ability in hand needed really. If you can ski 'resort' off piste with a sack on then you'll probably just manage. Skiing def. the most fun option and worth investing the time in.
Cham is great for the access, quality and variety. All the obvious Tacul couloirs, back of the Argentiere glacier, Grand Montets area, Petit Jorasses - all good, with equiped rap descents. This is pretty crucial as winter/spring can make descent a tricky issue. Anything involving an over the top descent line is suddenly a lot more serious and logistically harder due to potential deep snow. Best to rap back to yr skis and slide to Cham that nite for beers!
Responsible attitude needed RE winter travel on skis. You will be operating as a self contained unit and both parties need avalanche kit - shovel, probe, transceiver - and should know how to use it! On snowshoes on a glacier you will be roped up so a very cautious approach is needed - both of you are likely to be caught if one is caught in a slide. Good assessment and safe travel techniques are supremely important to avoid double trouble. The snowpack generally gets more stable as the spring wears on, but warm wet slides are still possible, as are fresh slab releases after new snowfall, so having a good idea about past weather history is essential.
I would consider an avalanche course, or at the very least do as much reading as possible, and practice with the kit lots beforehand.
See ya out there maybe! cheers, Rich