February 13-14. Chamonix, France. A Mountain Paradise.

Sometimes I get to mix a little pleasure with my business travels,  and this trip rated as one of the best yet.  I had planned some client and sales meetings spanning two weeks in Europe (Paris, Zurich, Vienna, and Montpellier), and so I had an intervening weekend to play.    I was thinking I would just poke around the fabulous museums in Vienna,  but I checked in with a friend, who lives in Geneva, to see if she wanted to meet up for some skiing.

http://www.bluebookski.com/bluebook9/France_Chamonix_Map.htm

Mette and her husband Sean Beyer had met and lived in the ski valley of Chamonix, below Mt. Blanc,   so they know the area as only locals can.  Mette suggested I might like to ski Vallee' Blanche.  Famous as the longest ski run in the world (20 Km long, 2700 meters of vertical), it boasts the most amazing scenery I have ever seen, running down a glacier coming out of the Mt. Blanc Massif.
http://www.chamonix.com/page.php?page=26&r=off-piste_and_the_vallee_blanche&ling=en

So, on Saturday Sean took care of the kids and Mette and I took off early Saturday morning to meet our guide Rick, a friend of Mette and Sean's from their ski bum days in the valley.  As we rode up the cable car, Mette sheepishly asked, "you're not afraid of heights, are you?".  Kinda late for that, I thought.  I turned around and looked up to the summit, and realized why she was asking:

From the top of the summit of the Aiguille du Midi, skiers don ice crampons (if they are smart) and work their way down to the top of the glacier,  and the run of a lifetime.  "No, I'm not afraid of heights!"  What else could I say???

Rick had everything we would:  Avalanche transmitters, ice crampons, rope,  backpacks, harnesses, and most importantly over a decade of experience as a mountaineer and guide around the Mt. Blanc area.  (It takes some 5 years of training to qualify as a guide!)   Yes, you really should take a guide to be safe skiing down Vallee Blanche; there are literally hundreds of crevasses along the way, and you need to cross them or avoid them on the right path, crossing over a stable snow bridge spanning the ice-blue chasm.   I am not a good skier in thick snow, so Rick took us down the easy way:

As it turned out,  enough people had already skied down Vallee Blanche since the last snowfall, so honestly, it was a relatively easy ski down.  The snow was crusty and windpacked;   I ate a lot of snow in spite of the "easy" moniker.  But the scenery was simply amazing! But first,  you gotta get past this sign:  All ye who enter here, .... (from here, you all rope up,  attaching our harnesses to a life line so, just in case someone falls, we all go together when we go.....

I asked Mette why she and Sean left the Valley,  and certainly steady employment was part of it.   But they also realized that eventually, the dangers of the area will catch up to you.  Mette could recount many friends who died climbing  or skiing, or flying down these treacherous mountains. 

This scene is looking back up across an area where the glacier tumbles down a steep area, each of these blocks are the size of a house or large apartment building.   SEE BELOW 6 pictures for a long view of this area from Grand Montets!

The next day,  we went skiing in an area called Grand Montets, part of Chamonix and known for its long steep slopes.     http://www.chamonet.com/ski-areas/les-grands-montets-ski-area.htm

Imagine an area that is probably 5X the vertical and 20X the entire area of the back bowls of Vail, and you just begin to get the idea of the immensity and variety of this amazing ski area.

Ok, from here you can see the difference between "On Piste" and "Off Piste" skiing.  The groomed superhighway is "On Piste".  Everything else is fair game,  just watch our for rocks and surprises!  And yes, it is HUGE;   this is only a small corner of the alpine ski area.

Actually,  these crazies ski just about everything you see here. EVERYTHING!   (click on these images and you can see the distant tracks of the brave on the far wall.) They "skin" up the mountains using touring skis and boots with natural skins attached to the bottom of the ski to give them traction on the way up. Then they take off the skins, and ski down.  Or, they cross the cornices and ridges and ski down the next valley, perhaps into a different country,  since this area straddles Italy, France, and Switzerland.  Ah, to be that young, daring, and crazy again!  Or, maybe not!

From where I am standing, it is 5000 feet straight down behind me.  

Sean taking a short breather.  Actually,  I usually only saw his backside, rapidly disappearing down the slope in front of me at speeds I can't imagine. 

From these 2 views above, you can see the glacial area we skied the day before down Vallee Blanche!

Which Way to Go!??  DOWN!!

These 2 shots are taken from yet another ski area (there are 5 in the Chamonix Valley), called Brement Flegere,    looking across the valley to the Mt. Blanc Massif. 

This shot is really disorienting!  You should have seen the real thing! Taken from the top of a ski area across from Mt. Blanc,  the area below is a massive playground for ski touring! No lifts, but endless meadows of powder!  (Click on the image!)

I can't begin to tell you how gracious my hosts were this weekend.  Mette and Sean really love these mountains, and enjoyed sharing their "home" with me.  Thank you both for a truly unforgettable experience! 

Till next time!  Ciao!

Starting a new blog

Hi there.  I will start posting new (travel) blogs here,  starting with this week's trip to Europe.

If you are looking for A Month in the Summit,  I have archived it to it's own blogspot, where I will be adding lots more pictures if I ever find the time, and will then print it out as a book to help remind us of our amazing month in the mountains of Colorado.

http://amonthinthesummit.blogspot.com/

Come back soon and enjoy the view!  I sure did!