Day 1 – Arrived in Geneva, made my way up to the family run Dahu in Argentiere (small village 10 minutes up the valley from Chamonix), found a market for cheese, meat, bread and wine. Mmmmm.
Day 2 - I arrived a day early so was able to have a day to get my ski legs under me before the Canucks arrived and the charging started. Skiing was nice and soft. Saturday night the guys started to trickle in, Cal and Jay, then Ryan, then The Fast One to top it off. Lots of wine and beer consumed…
Day 3 – Grand Montet skiing that ends up in the sunshine. After some sunny après we were picked up by our chalet driver, grabbed our bags and off to get into the chalet. The “Canadiacs” meet “The Paddy’s” and “Ze Germans” for the first time.
Day 4 – First day with Guillaume our guide. Started up the Aiguille du Midi and a great powder morning down the Aiguille du Plan in the Valle Blanche. In the afternoon we made our way across the valley to Brevent and skied the ENSA couloir (50 degrees, 2m-5m wide). It was clear that Guillaume was super jealous of my moustache. The Irish started their lessons and Ze Germans went off on their own.
Ryan.
Me. Day 5 – We wore out our guide so we rescheduled him for Thursday. Went back up and skied the Environs du Plan on our own. Cold temps and high winds kept us moving swiftly and on the constant watch for frostbite. Had a heinous hike out of the Mer du Glas as the gondi shut down because of high winds. We did get to ride a really old train though. Check Ryan’s blog for more detailed info about the train.
Day 6 – To Italy! Rumors of great snow and terrain at Courmayeur on the Italian side of Mont Blanc convinced us to make the 30min commute. We were rewarded with unreal terrain, unreal snow, and unreal food.
Me.
Jay in the Pow.
Myself.
Ryan.
Day 7 – Back with Guillaume we started at Brevent and skinned up toward the Col de Belvedere. A 40 min skin, a bootpack up a 50 degree couloir (crampons and ice axes most welcome), and another 45 min of skinning brought us to the top of “The Pants Pisser”; another 50degree couloir that had a 160cm track scraped into it by snowboarders (all of our skis are over 180cms….not a pleasant entry) Once down the couloir it opened up to a nice wide-open glacier and stellar heli-ski turns. Finished the day at a little pub on the Swiss/French border for a few pints before our pick-up.
I.
Ryan.
Me. (Pants Pisser Couloir)
Cal Hammett, Esq.
Ryan.
The great day got even better when Kelly arrived at the chalet and we enjoyed some wine in the hot tub. This was the chef’s night off so we had a reservation at a restaurant specializing in Haute Savoie cuisine. Raclette, fondue, tartiflette, cooked meat on stones. So. Much. Cheese.
Day 8 – Who loves Italy? We do! Had to go back, the skiing, snow and food were too good not to return for a day. Cal, Kelly, and I were the lone soldiers that day (rough night for J-bird/TFO, rough feet for Ryan)
Kelly, Cal, and I
Kelly.
Best ski lunch EVER!!
Our Chef Tom spoiled us with amazing food every night.
The Fast One.
Day 9 – Grand Montets for some group skiing. Took Gearoid, Spengler, and Dennis for some off-piste action and did they ever step up! Skied until the last lift, we knew it was our last turns until next Christmas.
Dennis
Dennis
Nightly lazing, wine drinking, and digesting.
Our final night we headed to the Chambre Neuf for some nightlife.Day 10 – Wandering around Chamonix we found Kelly some new ski boots (super jealous, our guide was making cracks about my skied-out, beasts-of-boots) and picked up some more cheese to bring home. One last crepe and it was time to take the shuttle back to Geneva and catch our flight home.
Needless to say the first few days back without a driver and chef were a little hard to take…
