Back to St Luc again.

Hotel Weisshorn.

 The brief was :  We want to explore the skiing and go somewhere that is completly different that we would never think of going on our own. 

So I put my thinking hat on and came up with a plan and suggestion.  

So on this basis Reuben Fiona and I headed to St Luc in the Val d'annvers.  This is a two hour drive from Chamonix.  We parked the car in St Luc.  Our plan was to spend the first night in the iconic Weisshorn Hotel.  

The logistics of doing this are not self evident - but ultimatly achievable.  Firstly we needed to dump our overnight bags at the Funicular, then go skiing for the day.  We did this and also stopped for a very good lunch at the Cabanne Bella Tolla.  

We then skied on and off -piste ultmately arriving at the Chalet Blanc which is the "road side pick" up for the Piste Tractor which would transport us to the hotel Weisshorn at 16.00hrs. 

Waiting for the Hotel "Shuttle Bus"

 We kept our side of the bargain but the Tractor was very un-swiss and arrived 20 minutes late.  This caused me some undue stress because I had no idea if it was coming or not.  Anyway all was good in the end. We enjoyed a wonderful night with wholesome food, good wine and all was good.

The next day we left after a leisurely breakfast. Our bags were shuttled back to the Funicular .  The three of us skied back down into St Luc and collected our bags.  We then skied within the resort for the day, plus enjoying lunch again in the excellent Bella Tolla Cabanne.

Then after skiing we checked into the truely wonderful Bella Tola Hotel. https://www.bellatola.ch/fr/ Part of the Swiss historic hotel group. It is even older than the Weisshorn Hotel built in 1853 versus 1882 for the Weisshorn hotel.  [This is remebering that Whymper hadn't even climbed the Matterorn until 1865.]  It is exquisite.  Plus the dinner was exceptional.

The next morning we drove for about 20 minutes before skiing in Zinal for the day.  The weather wasn't perfect - with lots of clouds swirling around, but still we had a good ski, before stopping for a late lunch in town afterwhich we drove back to Chamonix.

Fiona & Reuben with the Matterhorn behind them

Klosters in March: Sensational!

Fred Me Mark Dax having made it to the Austrian Border

 It had not snowed for at least two weeks in the eastern part of Switzerland this meant there was an avalanche risk of one. It would be easy to conclude that the snow was not going to be good for Off piste skiing. This conclusion was entirely wrong because the weather had remained cold, and on the north facing slopes, the snow was magnificent.

On our first day we skied the classic "Direttissima" off the top of Weissfluh. Sure enough even after 2 snowless weeks we found untracked cold snow.

We were all equiped with skins, so we then climbed out of the bowl and then skied the beautiful Untersaas meadows all the way down to Conterser-Schwendi where we got fried alive by the blistering sun while eating lunch.

On the Tuesday we skied to Austria 

We left from the to of the Madrisa lift system and then skinned up to the col in about an hour.

Afterwhich we skied down the long valley before picking up the pistes which lead us to the lift station of Gargellan.  Then the most surprinsing thing happened- because we had bought Klosters ski passes, we got a free journey back up and through the Austrian system.  

The resort was completely rammed , but we still felt it was nescessary to have a drink and a bite to eat before tackling our second skin of the day.  

A 50 minute skin put us at the next col and re entry into Switzerland.

The ski down was spectacular - we found lots of good snow, but we also took a fairly radical ine in places passing above some big cliffs.

It was then a ski down into St Antonien - but not before passing through a farm yard which had giant revolving brush rather like a car wash.  This was a cow massaging contraption which they clearly adored.

The farm with the cow massaging brush

It was then just a question of waiting for the Poste bus to take us down the valley to the train station and then the train back to Klosters.

St Antonien

On the Wednesday we skied the classic descent of the Gmeinboda.  This starts with a 10 minute walk with the skis carried on the rucksack.

Skis on the back packs

Followed by another classic descent:

The descent is in the background.

Sadly on the Thursday Fred was ill and he couldnt join us for the next adventure.  The ski descent known as the Giraffe.  This goes from the top of the Pischahorn. It starts by following a track along the crest of the mountain.  We skinned along this.  it is about 3km long.  At the end their is a convient bench which we used for our picnic lunch.

Bench with a view of Davos

The descent had a mixture of everything: Good snow /bad snow/ bush wacking/ mud/ river crossings/ walking/dead animals/ entanglement with electric fences- but ultimately full of stories.

Where next?

On the Friday, our last day we headed to Madrisa again- this time to ski the front face which had transformed into spring snow.  We then skied all the way down the Schlappin valley, but not before stopping for a delicious late lunch at "Ericas." 

We didnt see a cloud all week!