With almost continuous heavy snowfall over the last week, finding powder has been easier than avoiding it!
Jack and I began the powder fest with a day of skiing from the Montenvers train, and were not disappointed. I'd never skied down from the train station and a bit of traversing and walking is required, but the terrain is great and the powder was bottomless. A good day by any measure. I took out my new headcam too, so there will be a video coming soon.
Chamonix - not rubbish.
The weekend came around with lots of resorts in the region beginning to open, and we decided to leave it until the last minute to choose a destination. After much umming and ahhing (and waiting for Compagnie du Mont Blanc to update their website with lift status, grr) Sharon and I opted to walk about 3 minutes and go to Les Houches. Although not blessed with great terrain, Les Houches is very scenic and doesn't get tracked out quickly, and we had yet another excellent day in the company of Sam and Tristan. As it turned out the Montenvers never opened, and the Grand Montets opened, but only the telepherique was running and not the lower chairlift, so I'd imagine the queues were MASSIVE!
You know it's truly winter when only a fry up is good enough at breakfast time.
Me in the powder at Les Houches. Photos Sharon Wray.
Next up was a day which started in Courmayeur and ended at Grand Montets. We headed over to Italy with high hopes of the top lifts opening, and providing us with miles of untracked snow, but they never opened and we bailed at lunchtime. The morning had provided some incredible snow, but the really good lines ended with some pretty horrific shuffling through trees, bushes and rocks, so we decided to leave it until there is a bit more snow over there. The terrain at Courmayeur is just so good though, and I can't wait until the lower sections have filled in enough.
After lunch we went to Grand Montets and skied a nice run down from the mid station. Not much at GM has been open and it showed in that the bottom section of the mountain (usually a bit of a "secret" area) was so tracked. Still, the snow quality was really good at all altitudes, so it should be great when they get a bit more open up there.
Generally everywhere needs a bit more base, but things are looking good considering that we're still only 10 days into December.
Next up was a day which started in Courmayeur and ended at Grand Montets. We headed over to Italy with high hopes of the top lifts opening, and providing us with miles of untracked snow, but they never opened and we bailed at lunchtime. The morning had provided some incredible snow, but the really good lines ended with some pretty horrific shuffling through trees, bushes and rocks, so we decided to leave it until there is a bit more snow over there. The terrain at Courmayeur is just so good though, and I can't wait until the lower sections have filled in enough.
After lunch we went to Grand Montets and skied a nice run down from the mid station. Not much at GM has been open and it showed in that the bottom section of the mountain (usually a bit of a "secret" area) was so tracked. Still, the snow quality was really good at all altitudes, so it should be great when they get a bit more open up there.
Generally everywhere needs a bit more base, but things are looking good considering that we're still only 10 days into December.