In reply to hypnotoadmk:
Ive done quite a lot skiing in Chamonix, and its anatural choice for climbing i suppose.
Although, if you not able to ski off piste with a rucksack full of climbing gear you'll find getting any routes in very hard indeed. Nearly all of the winter climbers ive seen out in the mountains are good skiers. Mainly because of the hard going throuhg deep snow, and distance from lifts, plus glaciers in winter are far safer on skis.
Thats assuming that when you said winter climbing you meant alpine mountaineering and not valley ice climbing though.
Chamonix is not great for valley ice.
And true there are lots of gigs all over the place, but for the ones ive been to at least, sound quality was less important than volume
Good, luck its worth a shot!
Dave