We'd heard that the road from Verbier to Chamonix via the Forclaz Pass had been closed due to a landslide, which threatened to turn our 50 minute travel day into a 3 and 1/2 hour meander through the mountains of Northern Italy and the Mont Blanc tunnel, so it was with some relief that we headed out two days later on the newly cleared road and found ourselves sailing up and down a "series of gentle switchbacks" towards the Vallee De Chamonix-Mont-Blanc. Apart from the freeze-up in Innsbruck we had been very fortunate with weather but we were now heading into an "unsettled weather system" which turned into a force 10 blizzard that was to last about three days and dump more than two feet of snow on the peaks around Chamonix. The skies did clear a bit later on our day of arrival which afforded us a temporary view of the magnificent valley that is home to a series of villages surrounded by impossibly steep cliffs that comprise the Mont-Blanc Natural Resort.
And when the weather deteriorated we settled into a Sports Bar to watch the Scotland vs Ireland rugby match because, after all, what else is there to do in Chamonix on a rainy evening!?
The pub was filled with Brits on holiday all of whom were cheering for Scotland to beat Ireland just to keep alive Good Old England's chance of winning the Six Nation Championship. Today that was not to be and the mood in the room became a bit sombre so we moved to a French pub for the second game (France vs England) where the room was more bipartisan and were treated to a fantastic game of rugby accompanied by a great deal of good spirited cheering and singing with France edging out a bit of a famous victory in a very hard fought game. "Allez Les Bleues"!!
More blizzard-like skies the next day kept us in town and we took the opportunity to visit the Museum of Alpinism which chronicles the evolution of Chamonix from a sleepy farming village to the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1760 and the eventual transition into the Mecca of mountaineering that it is today. Jaime, you were right, this is where it all began. The museum has a very cool collection of posters that celebrate the area's relationship with the mountains.
The snow pelted down all night and we headed up to Grand Montets to give it a go but the visibility was desperately poor and we had to settle for a morning on the lower slopes practicing skiing blind. Things cleared up a bit in the PM and we had an afternoon of playing in the powder (have I mentioned the Norwegian Weather App we've been using for the past few weeks? It was calling for a break in the cover from 1Pm to 4PM and, lo and behold, that's exactly what we got!)
The actual town of Chamonix is a traveller's delight and has the feel of a genuine mountain town with fabulous shopping (you can't chuck a rock in any direction without hitting a gear store ) , boutique hotels, coffee shops and lovely restaurants. But mostly this is a ski town and not just any old ski town; it is considered to be the destination for the best freeriding in the world and the town is full of these dudes. They are easily recognized by their appearance - lanky, hairy and disheveled but geared out from top to toe in the latest technical winter climbing gear, a slightly vacant look on their faces as they periodically peer skywards giving the appearance of one who cares less about where his next meal is coming from than when and how much it might snow.
And the snow, it came! More than two feet over 3 days and more to come overnight tonight before a forecasted clearing of the skies with a blue sky powder day on deck for tomorrow.
It will be our last day here before heading to Saas Fee back in Switzerland and we plan to make the most of it.
The next morning we were treated to the sight of the peaks surrounding Chamonix silhouetted in a clear blue sky. The second thing we noticed was a paraglider floating off the peak of Brevent in first light. He (and who knows, maybe I've got this pronoun wrong...) had obviously skinned up in the early hours in anticipation of a windless blue sky day and caught the early bird big time. That's the kind of place this is and it was going to be a day...!
We headed off to find an earlybird parking spot at the base of Les Grand Montets and found ourselves surrounded by skiers sporting shit-eating grins gearing up for a powder day. And this was no ordinary MEC display; we were entertained in the gondola line up buy a paraglider - dude getting all his chute strings straightened out, his weather channel obsessively checked, his GoPro blue - toothed to his phone, his 67 zippers all precisely aligned, his climbing harness tweaked and appropriately equipped and every pocket checked for its specific contents.
And beside him was another dude whose skis had the best graphics: " veni, vidi, viski" and "je pense, donc je ski".
And everyone was smiling in that recognizably blissed out way on powder day, hardly noticing the 40 minute wait for the ride to the top.
And here we were in line with "all the crazy people of Chamonix" (as referred to by the guy in the ski shop at our hotel) because Alayne told us that the run down from the top of Les Grand Montets was her "favourite run in Europe". The descent from Aguille Di Midi along the Vallee Blanche is the other bucket list ski day in Chamonix but the weather had conspired against us, the guides were all amped up after 4 days of waiting and the run-out at the bottom was going to be more of a prolonged walkout in deep snow, And we had run out of time so we were going with Alayne. Us and a few hundred of our closest friends, it appeared.
And boy are we happy we did! This was without a doubt the best ski run we have ever been on and we lucked out with the sunshine and a few feet of snow, although admittedly the crazy people from Chamonix had partially shredded the pow by the time we got up there. The run took us the better part of an hour as we dropped 2 vertical kilometres through jaw dropping scenery the likes of which we had never seen before.
http://www.chamonix.com/mountain/ski-vallee-blanche.html
https://www.chamonix.com/grands-montets-ski-area,285,en.html
https://www.chamonix.com/img/sitra/fiche/683716-plan-ski-grands-montets-2016-17.jpg
Back down a few more flights of stairs and you are at the top of the Point Du Vue where the real fun begins
The next morning we were treated to the sight of the peaks surrounding Chamonix silhouetted in a clear blue sky. The second thing we noticed was a paraglider floating off the peak of Brevent in first light. He (and who knows, maybe I've got this pronoun wrong...) had obviously skinned up in the early hours in anticipation of a windless blue sky day and caught the early bird big time. That's the kind of place this is and it was going to be a day...!
We headed off to find an earlybird parking spot at the base of Les Grand Montets and found ourselves surrounded by skiers sporting shit-eating grins gearing up for a powder day. And this was no ordinary MEC display; we were entertained in the gondola line up buy a paraglider - dude getting all his chute strings straightened out, his weather channel obsessively checked, his GoPro blue - toothed to his phone, his 67 zippers all precisely aligned, his climbing harness tweaked and appropriately equipped and every pocket checked for its specific contents.
And beside him was another dude whose skis had the best graphics: " veni, vidi, viski" and "je pense, donc je ski".
And everyone was smiling in that recognizably blissed out way on powder day, hardly noticing the 40 minute wait for the ride to the top.
And here we were in line with "all the crazy people of Chamonix" (as referred to by the guy in the ski shop at our hotel) because Alayne told us that the run down from the top of Les Grand Montets was her "favourite run in Europe". The descent from Aguille Di Midi along the Vallee Blanche is the other bucket list ski day in Chamonix but the weather had conspired against us, the guides were all amped up after 4 days of waiting and the run-out at the bottom was going to be more of a prolonged walkout in deep snow, And we had run out of time so we were going with Alayne. Us and a few hundred of our closest friends, it appeared.
And boy are we happy we did! This was without a doubt the best ski run we have ever been on and we lucked out with the sunshine and a few feet of snow, although admittedly the crazy people from Chamonix had partially shredded the pow by the time we got up there. The run took us the better part of an hour as we dropped 2 vertical kilometres through jaw dropping scenery the likes of which we had never seen before.
http://www.chamonix.com/mountain/ski-vallee-blanche.html
https://www.chamonix.com/grands-montets-ski-area,285,en.html
https://www.chamonix.com/img/sitra/fiche/683716-plan-ski-grands-montets-2016-17.jpg
The gondola delivers one to the station at 3275m above sea level and a short climb up takes you to a viewing platform from which you can see all the way back down to the base and the village of Argentiere.
Back down a few more flights of stairs and you are at the top of the Point Du Vue where the real fun begins
A day to remember!
And now we're off to our last stop on this journey, the Swiss alpine village of Saas Fee.
And now we're off to our last stop on this journey, the Swiss alpine village of Saas Fee.
Looks marvelous! So glad the skies cleared enough for you to play in the snow.
ReplyDeleteWow love vids! As Jim Boyd says “ Good ski’n is good ski’n!!
ReplyDelete