Its the first day of spring, but it is still full on winter here in the Chamonix mountains, though today it was warming up in the middle of the day to a pleasant temperature in town, with the sunshine. We have had an awesome amount of snow in the mountains here the last few days, since the foehn wind stopped on Sunday. This winter season is pretty incredible.
This week has been great, with storm skiing and some clear weather windows at the Grands Montets and Brevent, and those 3 days had lots of deep powder, with different quality on every day. Tuesday had 46 centimetres of fresh snow on top of Monday's powder, and it snowed more yesterday.
Today is the first really clear day that we have had since last week, even though the high cloud is coming in this afternoon, and since many places were tracked out yesterday, we headed to the Aiguille du Midi once again. Skiing next to the Vallee Blanche, there wasn't the usual March circus that we used to see a few years ago. The ridge down from the cable car was well equipped with a rope, and it was pretty mellow, with not many people charging around. Once into the skiing, the snow was sublime, some of the best snow that I have ever skied, deep, supportive, and fluffy on top with yesterday's extra 30cm or so. A guide and local knowledge is essential, though, even on the regular Vallee Blanche, as there are crevasses everywhere, and avalanche slopes too, waiting to eat up anyone who does not respect the mountain.
Pictured are Ray and Sparky, who I have been skiing with, and who are playing Apres ski music today at the Jekyll (Thursdays from 5pm), and on Mondays at Bar'd'Up for Apres-ski at 5.
The winter is not done yet, with some more weather coming in over the weekend...
