January 15th, 2015 - Chamonix, France - Day 151c
Bluebird powder day in Chamonix
Getting blown off the mountain yesterday was no fun, but it did mean we received fresh new snow and because most of the lifts were closed in the afternoon we were going to have a foot of fresh untracked powder today.
Chris from Tinderbox picked Peter and I up at 8:30 and we headed straight up to Grand Montets for some powder turns. The line were starting to form for the first chairs up the mountain, so we loaded our gear up and scurried over to get in line.
We made it all the way up to the highest open point and then headed way over to the left side of the mountain to find fresh tracks. We made some really nice turns in a wide open bowl and then headed down into the trees. Skiing trees in deep powder is so much fun because you move slowly through them and every turn and it's beautiful.
We made a few runs through trees and then headed to the right side of the mountain for more fresh stuff.
Peter and Chris waiting for the old man in the back (aka me). Ice falls in the background.
After about 3 hours we decided to head down the mountain, eat some lunch and move up the valley to La Tour where Chris thought there would be more fresh snow and less people. We had a great little lunch and then headed up the bubble lift. La Tour does not look like much on the front side, but as we quickly found out, the back side is where it's at. In fact it's called the Dark Side because it gets very little sun and therefore the snow stays good longer.
We had to put our skins on to reach the dark side, but the hike was only 20 mins or so and we were standing over a large treed bowl with no tracks and no people. This was the beauty of having a guide, he knew all the good spots and more importantly the safe ones. We ripped off our skins and got ready for some deep powder.
Ripping skins before heading into the Dark Side
The skiing was unreal. The snow was deep, the skies were blue and the terrain was some of the best I have ever skied. Big rolling mounds, little cliffs, perfectly spaced trees, the Dark Side had it all.
We worked our way down to a cat track and had to put skins back on to make it back to a chair, but none of us cared - it was so much fun.
We spent the rest of the day doing laps on this side of the mountain carving big fresh turns on wide open slopes, bouncing through trees, and watching Peter drop off rocks whenever possible.
Peter dropping another rock - Chris watching over his student in the upper right
We could have kept on going forever, it was one of those perfect ski days that you just don't get that often, but the sun was setting and the lifts were closing - our time was up.
The last lift up
As we were skiing back down to the car the sun was setting over the valley and we could not have been happier with the day and with the overall experience we had with Chris for the past four days.
The sun setting on Chamonix
We worked our way home, had a nice dinner at home, watched the latest episode of Modern Family and hit the sack early.