After skiing yesterday afternoon we met up with Fabio, our guide for today at a bar near our rental for a quick drink and to make plans. We decided that with Chamonix being quite crowded (it’s a school holiday this week for a lot of Europe) our best bet for finding more untracked powder would be to head to Courmayeur first thing in the morning and then to ski back into France from the Italian side of the Vallee Blanche.
How convincing was Fabio’s description of the skiing Valhalla that is Courmayeur? So convincing that Sara actually agreed to board a bus at 8:30 in the morning to cross into Italy through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Yep, a bus.
Our plan decided, Dave and Fabio rushed across the street to purchase tickets for the bus. The lady at the ticket counter made it quite clear we were to bring our passports with us. “No passport, no travel.” Dually noted. Skiing with our passports, definitely a first.
After saying goodbye for the evening to Fabio we went out for an early dinner at the Le Monchu, a restaurant specializing in mountain food near our hotel. Mmm, more cheese. Also, the local wine grape is called Mondeuse and it’s delicious. With an early morning border crossing bus ride in our future, we went to bed early.
This morning dawned clear with the sun casting a pink hue on the snow covered mountains. No clouds and no wind. In other words, the beginning of a perfect day for skiing. (And bus riding) After a solid breakfast we met Fabio at the same bar, downed an espresso and boarded our bus for the 30 minute ride through the tunnel into Italy.
The Mont Blanc tunnel is pretty cool. It is 11.5 kilometers long and goes from Chamonix to Courmayeur. You ski on top of it and the tram parking lot on the Italian side is literally right next to the tunnel exit.
We plan to go back to the town when we get to Aosta but for today all we saw was the parking lot and the hill. (A note to anyone planning to ski Mont Blanc. Your MB Unlimited pass is valid for Courmayer but you must stop at the ticket counter in Italy and get it activated before riding the lifts). We took the first tram up, switched to a lift, then a 70’s era gondola, then to a tiny antique tram and then to an even more anitque peak to peak tram. We noticed the same thing in Zermatt that the higher you go, the older the trams get. That last one today seriously was museum quality. Finally at our destination after one bus and 5 rides I must admit I was doubting our decision a little bit. After a tricky traverse and many warning signs I was beginnging to doubt it even more, especially when Fabio started side stepping down the backside of the traverse into what looked like a giant coulier. Another traverse, this time on the north facing slope and then we saw it. A giant, wide open untracked bowl of fresh powder. Fabio looks at us, grins and says “Stay 3 meters apart and have fun. See you at the bottom.” And that was only the first part! We skied at least 3 of these amazingly delicious bowls all in row, making our way down eventually into some really fun tree skiing and finally to the track along the creek. Sara began to ask herself; Is Courmayeur really ski heaven and was this our Italian ski angel? Does riding a bus always lead to these amazing experiences? Who knows but then the day got even better! Just at the point when the run out and poling became tiring, Fabio turned to us and says well it’s about lunch time and if you want to go to this one place they will come and get us with a snow machine and give us a tow back to the restaurant. How could we say no to an Italian lunch that starts with a ride behind a snow machine? Clearly we could not.
So glad we opted for the free tow, it was a very long run-out from where we stopped. After a lovely lunch on the Italian snow beach with an insane view of the Mont Blanc, we headed back towards the base area to catch the Skyway Tram back towards France across Helbronner Pass.
The Skyway tram is by far the newest tram we’ve been on and it’s very fancy. It’s circular and rotates 360 degrees as it climbs, which, with the steep terrain is a little dizzying. Terrible construction idea.
But the views at the top were pretty breathtaking.
At the summit of the Skyway we put on our harnesses and Fabio tied a climbing rope called a sling to each of our harnesses and carabiner clipped to our jacket collars. He said it was for easier crevass rescue. Umm…yes, sign me up for the easiest method of crevass rescue please. We headed out onto the lookout terace and then down a few flights of metal stairs marked with really scary signage about immiment danger and then climbed over multiple closed gates (apparently optional) until we got to the end of the staircase and handed Fabio down our skis so we could make the last few meters on a rebar ladder stuck into the side of the rock supporting the Skyway terminal. Queue the happy skier sounds, we had arrived at the famed Vallee Blanche, a ski route that goes over high alpine glaciers and eventually back down to Chamonix. Directly in front of us was the Aiguille du Midi which is the more common beginning to the route. This also means that while the route across from us was already tracked out even one day after a big snowfall, our route was still quite pristine and we had lots of fresh, untracked powder, again to play around in. (Thanks Fabio!) Even with all the crazy signage, the skiing itself wasn’t that technical today, the snow was amazing and it’s not that steep. There are however giant pieces of glacier jutting out of the snow everywhere which, while arrestingly beautiful, reminded us that skiing a requires thoughtfulness and care. The route is 22 kilometers long and we had the place pretty much to ourselves for the first half. After joining up with the run-out for a bit, Fabio took us to the far side and into this crazy glacier-ice luge. It was one of the most amazing, coolest, unforgettable experiences we’ve ever had. Skiing these narrow chutes, at times taking our skis off and walking between 20 foot tall ice walls and ice arches, was something we’ll never forget.
Towards the end of the Vallee Blanche there is a staircase that takes skiers up to a short tram and then the cog train. 30 years ago, skiers could exit the glacier directly to the tram. Now there are literally hundreds of stairs that have been continually lengthened as the glacier retreats at an unexpectedly rapid rate. It’s a dramatic real life example of climate change for sure.
At the bottom of the valley we took our skis off, attached them to our backpacks and hiked straight up a steep hillside for about 15 minutes. It didn’t take that long but after a long day of skiing, it was really hard. After the hike we put our skis back on for the long cat track back to Chamonix. We arrived back at the base in Chamonix a little before 5 and walked back to our rental, saying thank you and so long for now to Fabio, our intrepid guide for one of the most amazing days we’ve ever had on two planks.
Editors Note: We skied two runs today and our legs are completely destroyed. Also, at least Dave’s upper body is destroyed from all of the poling that was involved. If you were to do this every day, you would be in such good shape! Our guide took a ton of photos for us. We will add them as soon as we get them.