Chamonix {Skiing in France}

After a night in Geneva, we headed into France, and up to the mountains.  We rented an apartment right in the middle of Chamonix as our base for the weekend.

Chamonix is the cute little French ski town that you would imagine.  All the delicacies of France (wine, cheese, bread) nestled in a valley, surrounded by the Alps.  A dream come true.

The thing about Chamonix that surprised me the most was that it was so affordable.  We bought a 2-day lift ticket for about $100 each - for multiple mountains.  Need I say more?  Ok....our rentals were less than we spent on lunch.

The weather moves fast in the mountains.  It was foggy, then sunny, then snowing.  I didn't know when to take out the camera.

Just arrived in Chamonix

The sun starting to come out

Blue skies! 

The clouds lingered, but it was still beautiful

The sun setting

Town as the sun is going down

The view from our apartment

Our first morning, we checked the forecast and decided to take the bus to Les Grands Montets.  It was about a 20 minute bus ride before we were dumped into a mess of people queuing.  So, we queued, because we had to.  For a ticket, then for the Tram up the mountain.  It took ages, but when we finally stepped into our bindings at the top of the mountain, it was all worth it.

Finally ready to go

The slopes are wide open.  Looks so different from all the trees we're used to at home.

Blue skies and smiles

They call that gondola "the bubble"

Our lunch spot, from the lift.

Our first ride up a lift after lunch was unfortunate. We debated on what lift to take, and chose wrong.  About 3/4 the way up, the lift stopped. And then it started and we moved and inch, then stopped again. We sat. And sat. And waited. And waited.  Nothing.  Brian was sure we were going to be stuck all afternoon. I was just happy we stopped at a point that wasn't too high, in case of an emergency exit. We analyzed the situation. We figured the person they needed to help was at a leisurely lunch, over a glass of wine.  Finally, a patroller skied down the lift, shouting up to us unlucky stuck ones. Bad sign. Brian yelled down in English "What's going on?" and we found out there was and electrical problem and they needed to get an engineer out.  About 35 minutes later, they had finally fixed the lift, and we were moving.  Thank goodness.

Skiing above the clouds

We ended a great first day (minus the stuck lift) with a local Mont Blanc beer, before heading back to the bus and back to town.

Local beer

Day 2 we woke up to this:

A wonderful view to wake up to

An incredible blanket of snow that gave us an equally incredible powder day on the mountain.  The resorts here are set up with very open runs, so you can ski pretty much everywhere.  This meant, we had fresh powder runs All. Day. Long. 

It is days like these you live for on the mountain.  As a (want-a-be) photographer, with a point and shoot camera, not as much.  We started our day at Flegere, and ended at Brevent.

To the tram

We lucked out in the morning, they opened the Polma to the top of the mountain, leading to a few runs down the backside.  We must have been one of the first to spot it, as it was practically untouched when we got to the top.  It was Brian's first time on a Polma, and as a snowboarder, it was a challenge.  As a skier, you just pop the disk between your legs and enjoy the ride.  I even got the camera out, while giggling, to snap this shot of Brian hanging on for dear life.   

It looks like the baby lift, but it's actually the only way to the very top!

It was actually really steep, and admittedly looked challenging to go up sideways with the only thing pulling you up is a disk that is meant to be held straight on between your legs.  At the top, Brian swore he would never get on one again, ever.  But the run turned out to be so good.  Easily the best run of the morning.  I wanted to go back, and so did he.  He changed his mind.  Round two was still a challenge, but he looked slightly more graceful.

After lunch, we took a gondola and traversed over to the other resort.  The fog had settled in so thick, you literally couldn't see 10 feet in front of you.  It was a little scary since we had no clue about the mountain or where we needed to go.  They don't do mid-mountain signage.

It took me back to a day on Mt Bachelor with my family and our family friend's the Burnham's.  We also got stuck in really heavy fog.  The kind you can't see more than a few feet in front of you.  It was our last run before lunch.  We were 4 pre-teen and teenage hungry girls.  And we got stuck, thanks to mom and dad taking us out of bounds - probably to find some good powder. We eventually made it out, but it wasn't pretty.  Traversing through the woods, literally having to step over trees for hours.  We were not happy.  And hungry.  But we made it out to tell the story. 

Back in France, Brian and I slowly made our way down trying to stay close to some fellow stranded skiers and found the lift.  Honestly, it wasn't as dramatic as my experience as a kid, but it was still scary not knowing where you are and not being able to see a few feet in front of you.  Especially since the runs are so open, there are often big rocks in the middle of runs.  And, it's just not that fun.  We really didn't want to stop skiing, so we said 1 run, and if it was bad, we would make it our last.

About 1/3 the way up the lift, almost instantly, we broke though the clouds and it was blue sky and sun!  It was the last thing we expected, it was incredible.

It looks like a painting

We found some really fun, powder knolls and spent the afternoon doing it over, and over again.  Each time, the weather was different, sometimes we could see across the whole resort, other times, that side was fogged in too.  Each time we went up, we were sure the fog was going to settle in at the top of "our lift", and it was moving fast, but it never settled in to stay.  It was just that last little pitch before the lift where the cloud refused to move.

The weather, moving quickly

Our day was nearing an end, and we hadn't had a photo together on the slopes so I set the camera on self timer to get a shot.  What I didn't think about was taking off my skis.  So, it was a bit challenging to get down to Brian in 10 seconds.  Good thing it was set to take a few in a row.

haha

That's as good as it's going to get

Shred.

It turned out to be the best ski day we've had together.  The snow was light and fluffy and there wasn't a lift line all day.  I hope we make it back someday.

Our last day in Chamonix, we spent exploring the town, and soaking in the hot tub and heated pool at a rooftop spa.  The photos don't capture the views very well, but when the sun finally broke through the clouds, we had an amazing view of Mont Blanc, and the rest of the alps.  Our tired legs were very thankful.

Mont Blanc is the rounded mountain, just left of the center.

Rugged mountains 

From the mountains in Chamonix, you can ski in Switzerland and Italy as well. We didn't do it, but it's so cool that it's possible.  It reminds me of Heavenly when you get to the top of the lift and there is a sign pointing right to "Nevada" and left to "California".  I tried so hard to plan another ski weekend after coming back from this trip, but it didn't happen.  So, until next season, we'll be dreaming of our powder day skiing in France.  Merci Chamonix.