Snuck in a second attempt on the highest peak of the area: the (imaginatively named) Grand Mont today! Reaping the benefits of yesterday’s ‘Alpine Rest Day’, we were up early, intending to catch the first bus down to the town of Areche.
We got an unexpected bonus at the bus stop though, where Clare discovered that the previously slushy and slow ski trail had been groomed over night. In the cool of the early morning, it looked perfect and we shot off down hill, completing the 3km journey in about five minutes - before the bus had even arrived.
All we had to do then, was carry across the car park and get on the main chairlift.
Being first onto the lift system meant that we were the first skiers to put tracks on the slopes as we skied our way across the mountain side towards the highest lift. The planned ascent almost had a major setback when we discovered that the final drag lift wasn’t working. Luckily, by the time we’d skied an extra lap of the fresh pistes, they’d got it working meaning than we could reach the highest possible point of the mountain by mechanical means, before starting out on foot.
The sun shone as we left all traces of civilisation behind and began to climb.
The snow was icy and hard and the wind was strong, whipping up snow crystals into the air. There were a lot of tracks from the weekend low down, but today, we were the only people on the mountain.
The views were fab and we took our time to appreciate them along the way.
After crossing a small tricky col and getting buffered a lot by the wind, we could climb no higher. A small wooden post marked the summit at 2686m.
We’d made it!
Below us the views were great. The Mt Blanc range was clear over to the east, but in the west, a large bank of cloud was making a rapid approach.
Baguette and cheese accompanied the views while we took a short rest. The weather was changing though, so we couldn’t stay long.
The wind got stronger and spindrift blew up in plumes from the ridge line behind us.
With the prospect of a glorious ski descent of over 1600m metres below us, Clare set off first before the incoming storm could catch us and while the light was still good.
Just before I pointed my skis downhill, I took this last photo of what was heading our way! I hoped we had enough time to make it down before in impending dark sky blizzard arrived!
Despite my concerns on the ascent, the snow had by now softened up a bit and we were able to get some good turns in on the way down.
To stay on the safest snow, we followed a mellow route down the mountain, staying close to our skin track and avoiding the windslab accumulations.
Excitement levels remained high as we chased away from the bad weather.
On reaching the pistes, we had time to do a full lap of the mountain before ducking into the ‘restaurant panoramic’ (the only open cafe on the mountain) as the weather broke. Rain poured down and we could barely believe our luck that we’d magaged to bag the peak and get in somewhere out of the rain. Celebratory ‘tart du pomme’ and hot chocolate were ordered as the ‘panoramic’ view disappeared into the clouds. What timing!
After nursing our drinks for nearly an hour, we decided to ‘tog-up’ and brave the weather. We calculated that we could get the upper chair lift then ski on a traversing route back to the Refuge Des Marmottes to conclude at fantastic day. Skiing in the rain wasn’t looking too appealing. Amazingly though, our luck continued and we arrived at the high point to find that while rain had been pouring lower down the hill, snow had been falling at the higher levels! The clouds parted and we spent the remainder of our afternoon and energy skiing fresh tracks around the deserted upper pistes! What a finish!
When the last lift finally closed, we strolled the 100m or so back home tired and happy skiers...
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