This week was generally uneventful with the exception of skiing the Vallee Blanche. Lets just say our guests were not really 'newsworthy'.
Anna and I were lucky enough to be invited to join friend’s Ossi, Simon and Abby to ski a guided tour through the ‘Vallee Blanche’. This may not mean anything to you so I will attempt to make things clearer with a brief description of our day;
At 10am we rode a cable car to the 'Aguille du Midi'. At 3880m the panoramic views from here were awe inspiring. At 11am things began to get really interesting; we all strapped our skis to our backs and were harnessed together with our guide, Pete, acting as anchor. Our task was to then navigate a narrow ridge called the 'Arrett' which translates ironically to 'Stop'. With the Arrett safely negotiated we then skied the longest run in Europe; a distance of 22kms and 2880m of vertical descent. When skiing the Vallee Blanche you are on a glacier, this means there are crevasses which must be avoided, thus a guide is crucial for scouting a safe route through the hazardous maze.
We were under the capable guidance of Pete, who incidentally is only the second American to obtain his French mountain guiding licence. It is a natural human response to place the person responsible for your life on a lofty pedestal, we were no exception. It is very rare these days that I don’t start a sentence with ‘how about when Pete...’, ‘Pete said...’ or ‘what do you think Pete would do if...’ We finished the day with some ‘backyard skiing’ down to a bar in Chamonix for a well deserved beer. The girls discussed weddings, engagements and the like while the boys doted over Pete and his tales of adventure.
It was certainly a day to remember. Exhausted and Humbled I slept as deeply as I can remember.
At 10am we rode a cable car to the 'Aguille du Midi'. At 3880m the panoramic views from here were awe inspiring. At 11am things began to get really interesting; we all strapped our skis to our backs and were harnessed together with our guide, Pete, acting as anchor. Our task was to then navigate a narrow ridge called the 'Arrett' which translates ironically to 'Stop'. With the Arrett safely negotiated we then skied the longest run in Europe; a distance of 22kms and 2880m of vertical descent. When skiing the Vallee Blanche you are on a glacier, this means there are crevasses which must be avoided, thus a guide is crucial for scouting a safe route through the hazardous maze.
We were under the capable guidance of Pete, who incidentally is only the second American to obtain his French mountain guiding licence. It is a natural human response to place the person responsible for your life on a lofty pedestal, we were no exception. It is very rare these days that I don’t start a sentence with ‘how about when Pete...’, ‘Pete said...’ or ‘what do you think Pete would do if...’ We finished the day with some ‘backyard skiing’ down to a bar in Chamonix for a well deserved beer. The girls discussed weddings, engagements and the like while the boys doted over Pete and his tales of adventure.
It was certainly a day to remember. Exhausted and Humbled I slept as deeply as I can remember.
Abby, Simon, Ossi, moi and Pete.
The view towards our final descent into Chamonix
Voila, an amazing day.
1 comment:
WOW! it looks so beautiful guys. it seems like a better place than sunshine huh
Mani
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