One chair one T Bar one Drag + Perfect conditions : Liddes

Adam Symes with the Chamonix mountains .

 

When you know the conditions are good it makes sense to return.  This was my thried trip to the mega resort of Liddes in a week.  It is about an hours drive from Chamonix but worth it.

Adam Symes and I used the chair followed by the T Bar to help catapult us on our ski tour to the summit of .  There had been about 20cm of fresh snow overnight and I was thankful that someone else had ploughed the skinning  track.  

Our goal was the summit of the Bec Ronde, normally a straight forward ascent, but there was still a section where we need to take our skis of to negociate some underlying loose rock.  We summitted at linch time which also coincided withe the wind dropping and so we were able to eat our sandwiches and take in the marvellous 360degree panorama.

Aiguille de Argentiere.

our track with Lake Geneva in the back ground

After our picnic we skied back more or the less the way we had come through some good but frequently challanging snow.  Afterwhich we spent the rest of the afternoon skiing off piste from the lift system.

Before driving home we visited Liddes unique Fondue cheese vending machine.  Highly recommended for the best Fondue cheese in Switzerland [therefore probably in the world?]

A unique purchasing opportunity ...

Conditions are not what they always seem...

 You can awake to lashing rain drumming on the roof and think should I actually be going skiing? Certainly not in a wet soggy Chamonix. Yet investing a bit of time looking at the weather forecast in detail and the web cams and noting the word "Foehn" in the forecast always points to heading through the tunnel to Courmayeur.

This is exactly what Peter Whelan and I did.  We left a grey rainy miserable Chamonix and after 11680 meters of tunnel we arrived to 20 cm of light fluffy snow.

Needless to say the skiing was some of the best so far this season, plus the sun came out and the scene was just about perfect.

Late afternoon and still acres of untracked snow.

Skiing down towards the Peutry Ridge and Mt Blanc

Nearly into 9th decade of skiing.

 

Aiguille Belvedere in the background determined ski tourer in the foreground.

Peter Folkman is one of the few people who I  have "done" the alps ski and climb classics;  Namely: Mt Blanc,twice, The Matterhorn, The Eiger, then on skis the Vallee Blanche and the Haute Route.  Plus in our case countless other adventures including Britains finest climb : The Old Man of Hoy.

So I was delighted when he announced he was coming out to ski with me.  We would the same template as always: Be flexible and go where the conditions were good on the day and hopefully ski in some areas that Peter hadn't yet visited.  [A challange!]

On our first day we skied at Le Tour and then put the skins on for a journey into Switzerland.  The snow was quite blown and the descents were challanging.  We refuelled with a late lunch at the Appage de Balme which is alawys good.

Peter high above the ski station of Liddes CH

On our second day we headed to the mini resort of Liddes - On the road to the Grand St Bernard.  By mini resort it has one chair one T -Bar and one drag plus some excellent pistes and wonderful ski touring.

It is the sort of resort where you phone to ask what time they open and they reply "What time can you be here.?"

The first time I skied here was quite a few years ago the Chris Chataway in the late 90's - The man who paced Roger Bannister when he broke the 4 minute mile.

Our third day we headed to Les Contamines.  It was cold and clear and the pistes were in immaculate condition.

Looking down on the runway at Megeve

On our final day together we visited Courmayeur.  Again it was cold and the weather was beautiful.  The pistes were in great condition and empty.  We had an excellent lunch at La Chaumiere too.

Stunning skiing in Courmayeur with an impressive backdrop

Klosters : As good as ever.

Henny Bill Jane

 I was back in Klosters again.  When people ask me- which is the best place to ski off piste from the lift system   I have no hesitation in saying Klosters.  Its terrain, quality of snow is significantly better than any where else I have skied.

Mind you this trip got off to a bad start: No sooner had we left the top of the Gotscshna Cable car - Possibly five minutes into the skiing when out of no where an elderly women [ out of control] skied into Bill.  Whilst he remained upright , She did not. Instead she took an almighty crash,  knocking her self out smashing her face up and breaking her arm.  We called the Piste Patrol who in turn called in a helicopter and whisked her away.

So the first hour had not been straight forward.  Nevertheless for us, at least ,the day got better.  We enjoyed incredible skiing especially off the piste and into the Casanapass area and then down through the heavenly Conterser Schwendi meadows, where the skiing was through deep untracked snow - even more amazing because it hadn't snowed for a week.

It was then back to the iconic Wynegg Hotel which was our base.

The next day the weather was over cast , so inorder to avoid the flat light we headed for the tree skiing of the Chalbersaas woods.  Again if there is better powder tree skiing, then I dont know what it looks like. 

Bill enjoying the fabled Chalbersass tree skiing.

We emergerd from the trees and joined the piste back to Klosters, where now the sky had cleared . We again took the Gotschana Cable Car and then skied off-piste all the way down to Wolfgang for lunch where we met by several hunderd heavily armed soliders getting ready for the Davos Economic Forum.

Lunch was eye wateringly expensive, but to add insult to injury swiss restaurants also now charge you for tap water.  Eight Swiss francs.  Which is roughly eight pounds for a fucking litre of tap water. 

On our third day we skied another of Klosters fabled off piste runs the Gmeinboda.  This is done from the  top of the old T bar just north of the Paresenhutte.   It starts with a ten miunute walk with the skis carried on the rucksack.

Henny Bill Jane on the short climb

The top section was a bit wind blown, yet as we skied down we found lots of wonderful untracked snow which continued all the way through the trees and meadows.  

Summit ridge of the Gmeinboda

Ibex on the ridge 

After lunch we rode the lifts back to the top of the resort and then finsihed by another long run down to Wolfgang where we were planning to take the train back to Klosters.  However a combination of not reading the time table correctly [Bill] and the rare occurrance of a Swiss train being cancelled, mean t we had to hole up in the Bar for several beers which almost resulted in us missing the train again...

Ski trips dont always go according to plan..And why there is a firework ban in the Chamonix Valley.

Mt Blanc seen from the top of Le Bochard gondola

 A trip long in the planing for the Mills family who had travelled all the way from Creve Coeur- St Louis USA, did not go the way anyone would have wanted.  After an hour of warming up on the pistes of Le Tour we ventured off piste where Mary strained her knee ligaments and her leg would not support her weight let alone ski.

There was no real option but for me to call in the PGHM Rescue helicopter -  After the intial call to the rescue base in Chamonix, pretty much everything  is now transmitted via What's App.  The Police send you a message  which you click on and   they can get your exact GPS co ordinates.

They said that they would be with us in 20 minutes. However ... fifteen minutes later I got a message saying in fact the Helicopter had been diverted to a serious incident and would therefore be an hour at least.

Although the weather was good we were in fact on the north facing slopes and starting to cool down rapidly.  So I made a second call to the Pistuers at Le Tour and sure enough they turned up with a rescuse sledge.  They then strapped Mary into it and slid here down to a big flat area where they used a private helicopter to take her to Chamonix where she was met by my daughter Sophie and taken back to the hotel.

On our second day Paul his two daughters Emma and Sarah and his son Charlie skied with me at Grands Montets.  We had a big day skiing every meter of the area.

Our third  day [New Years ]was probably our standout day.  An early start took us to Combloux, where as ever, there were still acres of fresh untracked snow where all our off piste descents were in solitude.

Balloons pass in front of Mt Blanc

Descent to La Giettaz

On New Years day I greeted Paul in the hotel foyer.  "Happy New Year" I said .  

"I wish it was!" He replied.  Emma had had her brand new I phone stolen in the New Year crowds in the Rue du Moulin.  They had spent most of the new year trying to locate it on the find my app.  The app frustratingly shows where it is but you just can't get to the fucker who stole it.

So our first port of call was the Chamonix Gendarmerie .  This was a  real eye opener for me, because New Years day is  a busy place for Chamonix law enforcement.  For starters they are dealing with the fights ,stabbings, drunks of the previous night - but also the chaos the fire works cause.  Fire works are completely banned in the Chamonix Valley, but the law is ignored on a industrial scale. 

The reason for the ban is that it is impossible for the resuce helicopter to fly while dodging rockets.  Plus the fire works cause a huge pollution issue so again the helicopter can't fly.  Plus it drives a lot of the domestic dog population crazy and they all run off.  While we were waiting at the Police station several very destraught people came into the Station reportung their dogs missing.  

Frankly it was up-setting to see so many people so miserable.  It certainly opened my eyes.

After filling in the stolen phone report we went to ski up at Brevent/ La Flegere, where we were thank full to be able to use the ski school priority lane to avoid the crowds which allowed us to do a lot of skiing

On our final day we headed through to Courmayeur .  No longer did we have the big anticyclone of the last 10 days, because the weather had changed and the wind had started blowing really hard.  A lot of the lifts closed in front of us, funelling the holidays skiers into the lower lifts which remained open.  Fourtunaetly I had had the foresight to book the excellent restuarent La Chaumiere which saved the day.

Mt Blanc seen from top of Val Veny Cable Car

Mobilité Douce - It's now possible to ski in Megève from Chamonix without a car

The 2024 opening of the Valléen Télécabine that runs from le Fayet to St Gervais now means that it is possible to ski in Les Portes du Mont-Blanc (Megève - St Gervais) from Chamonix without having to drive. 

The new Valléen télécabine

Andrea tested the route out today. 

Andrea left the house at 7.30am for the 7.37am train from Les Tines. Her friend Holly hopped on in Servoz and they both arrived in the Saint-Gervais/Le Fayet train station at 8.40am. The half-hour drive and habitual carpark faff was replaced by a one-hour train journey with beautiful views.  

Beautiful views from the Mont Blanc Express

No carpark faff - boots are already on

Empty trains

The train ride is free with a valid Mont-Blanc Unlimited ski pass - simply show it to the train conductor and they will give you a ticket.

Andrea's return ticket

Andrea and Holly turned right out of the station and walked onto the Valléen lift. It was then five minutes to St Gervais and a further five minutes on another brand new lift into the Bettex (St Gervais). 

View of Le Fayet from the new lift

Andrea and Holly were now in the Portes du Mont-Blanc resort where they zoomed around for five hours making it to Côte 2000 and back (completing 7,000m of vertical descent and 43km of skiing). No problem getting a full day's skiing in.

They traveled back over and down to Le Fayet, arriving 10 mins early for the 2.28pm train (timing was crucial here as the trains run every hour).

Journey back down - Andrea was happy as the timing was spot on.

The train journey back to Les Tines took an hour and nine minutes (unfortunately prolonged by a 15 minute stop in Chamonix), completely justified by the opportunity to explore another resort outside of the Chamonix valley. 

Conclusion: Andrea said she would definitely do it again - this is a great option if the conditions in Chamonix aren't satisfactory. The train journey is a great replacement for the palava of a car journey.