Last Day

We ended our ski season on a high note, with another day of great skiing under blue skies. Here's a shot of Emilie before one of our first runs of the day.

As we had raced all over the mountain the first two days, we were able to go at a much more relaxed pace on Sunday. I took the following photo shortly before we called it a day and think it is definitely one of my favortites.

We finished up a little earlier on Sunday than we had the previous two days as we still had a 3+ hour drive back to Lausanne. Fortunately, we left early enough to avoid the traffic -- the majority of which relating to all the British vacationers heading home via Geneva airport (it honestly felt like the Brits had invaded the city...).

Tignes

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On Saturday we had the full day to ski, so we bought a pass that included the adjacent resort of Tignes. Once again the weather was beautiful, with blue skies and temps in the 50s.

The following is the view looking down towards Tignes. Shortly after taking this photo, we went down my least favorite run of the weekend -- effectively 10 minutes of sliding on ice.

Here's a shot of me after we took the cable car to the top of the Tignes resort. The altitude was around 11,300 feet and allowed nice views back towards Val d'Isère.

Both Tignes and Val d'Isère had plenty of areas to ski off-piste. We didn't really take advantage of this, but nonetheless saw a number of spots where some other adventurous souls had blazed their own trails down virgin powder.

Here's a photo that I took as we were finishing up the day. While the snow generally held up pretty well despite the relatively warm weather, there were a number of areas towards the base of Tignes that were pretty slushy (or de la soupe as Emilie would say).

Given the amount of ground that we covered, coupled with the slushy conditions in some areas, we were pretty exhausted by the time we finished. As such, we decided to take advantage of the proximity of the hotel restaurant rather than venturing out for dinner. Thus, this photo that I took from our balcony was the closest that we came to heading back out for the night.

Val d'Isère

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Emilie and I took Friday off and headed to Val d'Isère, France, for a three-day trip to finish off the ski season. The resort area is near the border with Italy and just over three hours from Lausanne by car.

We arrived arround lunch, which allowed us to get in a half-day of skiing. The slopes basically funnel down into the center of town, so we only had to walk a couple of minutes from the hotel to get started.

The weather was beautiful and definitely gave the feeling that Winter has officially come to an end and Spring is now fully upon us. Nonetheless, there was still snow pretty much everywhere given the above average snowfall this year.

If you include the adjacent resort of Tignes, the Val d'Isère ski area includes roughly 300km (180+ miles) of pistes. And while we covered a lot of ground on our first afternoon, we barely scratched the surface and had a lot left to explore on our remaining two days.

By the time that we finished up we were famished and decided to cap off the day with a crêpe. The purchase fit the definition of an impulse buy perfectly, as the crêpe stand was right at the bottom where we took off our skis and we couldn't resist.

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For dinner we ate at a traditional Savoyarde restaurant in order to indulge in the local cuisine. And while France is full of great food, I have to say that la cuisine savoyarde has to be among my favorites that the country has to offer.

We both decided to go with the tartiflette -- potatos, reblochon cheese and bacon -- and it was delicious. It's definitely something that you can't eat every day, but after a day of skiing it's hard to find something better.

During our much needed walk back to the hotel after our gluttonous devouring of the tartiflette, we passed the city's 18th century church.

Cuisses de Grenouille

 

This weekend we visited Emilie's mom to see how she was doing following last Sunday's ski injury. And, crutches aside, she was moving around pretty well. Though she won't know how bad the injury is until she visits a specialist in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the fact that she's been able to move around a bit is a good sign.

On Saturday afternoon we got in what will ultimately be our last day of cross-country for the season. The weather was very nice, though this made for a fair amount of slush on the trail.

On Saturday evening, we went out for dinner for some cuisses de grenouille (frog legs or, literally, frog "thighs"). In all honesty, these aren't my favorite and my initial foray into this area of French cuisine a few years back was sufficient.

It's not that I don't like them -- they taste fine, kind of like chicken. It's just that they're typically drenched in garlic butter (see below), which makes them very rich and heavy.

Here's a look at Emilie's plate mid-meal, with the collection of frog bones piling up on the side.

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On Sunday we had planned to ski, but a storm ended up coming through and it snowed most of the day. Here's the view from Emilie's mom's place when we got up.

And here's another photo from the drive home. While the significant snowfall makes it appear that winter may be here for a while longer, warm weather is supposed to return fairly quickly.

La Voiture Gelée

The voiture gelée (frozen car) of the Versoix freeze has finally been freed from its ice shackles thanks to the recent warming trend. As a reminder, here's what the car looked like in early February.

And here's a local news story from when the owner came to pick up his car after over a month of waiting for it to fully thaw. The accompanying video is in French, but nonetheless includes some more shots of the car in its frozen state as well as the "moment of truth" when the owner finally attempts to start it (about 40 seconds in).

As can be seen in the video, his dog is clearly a bit camera shy and less excited about the car's return to form than the owner is.

La Vallée Blanche

Today Emilie and I went with her mom, sister and sister’s husband to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc to ski the Vallée Blanche. To describe it as a unique experience would be a drastic understatement – the off-piste route spans over 16km with a vertical descent of 2,800 meters (9,000+ feet) through the largest glaciated domain in the Alps (the Mont Blanc massif).

The day began with a cable car ascent to the top of the 3,800+ meter Aiguille du Midi peak (pictured below). The cable car, which holds the record for highest vertical ascent in the world, takes you up 2,800 vertical meters in the span of 20 minutes. In fact, the last 1,400 meters are without a support pillar and towards the end you’re effectively going vertical as if in an elevator.

Though I generally have no problem with heights, I have to admit that the final stretch of the cable car ride is a bit unnerving. I guess a vertical drop of roughly 4,500 feet will do that to you.

There’s a viewing platform at the top of the Aiguille du Midi that offers incredible 360 degree views of the Alps. We were fortunate to have a perfectly clear day, which allowed us to see the Matterhorn in the distance (the "tiny" pyramid-shaped peak visible in the extreme background just left of center in the photo below).

We also had an up-close view of the Mont Blanc itself, which at 4,810 meters (15,700+ feet) is the highest peak in the Alps. To the extent you ever want to rile Emilie up a bit, just tell her you prefer the Matterhorn…

After finishing up with the photos, it was time to prepare for the descent. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple a putting on your skis and being on your way. Instead, you have to put on a climbing harness and fix your skis to your backpack to prepare for the traverse down the Arête – a narrow ridge that must be negotiated between the exit of the cable car station (literally an ice tunnel!) and the start of the skiable area.

During peak season there is a safety rope, but given the steep descent on each side, coupled with the awkwardness of walking in ski boots with skis strapped to your back, it’s a bit hairy to say the least. As an additional safety precaution, we roped ourselves together, though this might be better described as the “if one goes down, we all go down” safety method.

Here’s a photo that I found online showing a part of the Arête. To truly appreciate the ambiance, picture howling alpine winds and steep drops off either side!

After navigating the Arête, we were all set for the fun to begin. For the most part, the main route down the Vallée Blanche is the equivalent of an “intermediate” run, so the day is mainly about taking in the beautiful views and incredible snow.

That said, you need to be extremely careful and not blaze your own trail – the biggest risk is falling down a crevasse. And the larger, visible ones (seen in the background of the picture below) aren’t the problem. In reality, the ones covered by “snowbridges” pose the biggest threat. You may think you're on solid ground, but a couple of meters (or feet) under you there could be a 50+ meter chasm.

While the majority of the main route is indeed intermediate (crevasses aside), there’s a stretch that narrows down and becomes much steeper shortly before the aptly named Refuge du Requin (“shark’s refuge”).

 

The descent in this area is further complicated by massive seracs (snow / ice blocks) and deep crevasses along the edge.

It was at this point that we had some unscheduled drama. While skiing down one of the steeper parts, Emilie’s mom twisted her knee and wasn’t able to ski any further (let alone walk). While this wouldn’t have been much of an issue at a regular ski resort, where the ski patrol could simply take her down on a sled, the Vallée Blanche is not patrolled and the only way out for those who are immobile entails…

Fortunately, there weren’t any real emergencies at the time and the helicopter was able to come rather quickly. And thanks to the wonders of the French health care system, Emilie's mom likely won’t have to cover much (if any) of the cost.

After Emilie’s mom headed off to the hospital via helicopter, the remaining four of us prepared to negotiate the balance of the route. Here’s a photo that I took of Yvain, Emilie and Cécile shortly before beginning the descent.

And here’s a look at a large wave of seracs after we finally got past the steeper portion. It definitely looks more intimidating than it really was -- the route down is actually outside of the photo to the left.

 

The final section of the Vallée Blanche is the Mer de Glace ("Sea of Ice"), a relatively flat expanse on the glacier that leads you through the valley back to Chamonix. Though it appears relatively harmless, you still need to be mindful of crevasses.

After reaching the end of the glacier, it was time to hike back up to a narrow piste through the trees that would lead us back to Chamonix. This ended up being the hardest part of the day – hiking up a steep hill in ski boots and with skis attached to your backpack definitely wasn’t fun.

 

But it sure felt good once we got to the top. Here’s a shot of me just before we put our skis back on for the final stretch. By this point I was too tired to detach the skis from my backpack, so it was nice to have an excuse to just stand in one place for a bit and do nothing.
 

After finally getting back to the car it was time to pick up Emilie’s mom from the hospital. Fortunately, she was free to go...albeit with a bum knee that will need to be checked out by a specialist. Hopefully it's something minor and not a torn ACL.

 

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For those interested, the following is a video that I found on youtube in which someone filmed a Cliff Notes version of his day on the Vallée Blanche. While the music isn't the best, the video does a pretty good job of capturing the experience from the first step on the cable car all the way to the bottom of the glacier.

Anne-Sophie Pic

Tonight we went out for dinner since we haven’t been to a really nice restaurant in a while. Plus, we've both been pretty busy with work lately, so it was a good excuse to treat ourselves to a special night out.

Our selection – the Anne-Sophie Pic restaurant at the Beau Rivage Palace hotel in Lausanne. And similar to our last visit to the restaurant – for Emilie’s b-day in 2010 – we had an excellent experience. Here are the highlights:

Foie Gras “Crème Brulée” (pre-appetizer)

Noix de Saint-Jacques (scallops – my main course)

Blue Lobster (Emilie’s main course)

Tazmanian Pepper Ice Cream in Mango Sauce (pre-dessert)

Cheese "Chariot"

While pretty much everything was excellent, the pre-dessert pictured above definitely stood out. It was a surprise included in the service to “cleanse the palate” before dessert and, to be honest, I wish they would have just served me a couple of these and cancelled my original dessert order.

Back...to the Jura

This weekend we went back to the Jura for a few days of cross-country. It’s finally starting to warm up, so there probably aren’t a lot of weekends left for skiing at lower elevations.

The weather was absolutely beautiful, with blue skies to complement the 50F temps. It really felt like Spring -- a welcome change from February's Vague de Froid.

Given the nice weather we decided to follow one of the longer pistes – the 15km “Les Pres d’Haut”. This is the same one that we took a couple of weeks back that passes by the farm with the sled dogs.

The last couple of kilometers take you through a wide open valley that is very nice. This is the same area where the sled dogs do their training runs, so you have to watch out for sporadic “landmines”.

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On Sunday we skied in Le Risoux. The piste began with about 20 minutes of incline, so it was extremely tiring from the outset. After the initial climb, however, the balance of the route was fairly relaxing and took us through the forest.

Despite the nice weather, there weren’t a lot of people out. For the majority of the route, we didn’t see anyone. Just trees, peace and quiet, which was very nice.

Here’s a picture of Emilie, taken during a brief respite.