| Salt Lake City Stayed at: Inn at Snowbird Conditions: Day 1 - Epic day with 15" of new snow. |
Chamonix Stayed at: Hotel Richemonde Conditions: Day 1 - Spring - 50 and sunny at Brevent/Flegere. |
With Jon speaking at a conference in France (thereby getting free airfare/hotel), and Mark living in NJ, we knew the year would be different. Unfortunately, Jonathan and Mark couldn't join Jon so he took Donna while Mark and Jon capitalized on a last minute trip to take advantage of a huge dump at Snowbird. Snowbird proved great (as usual), and the Alps were truly breathtaking. A brief summary of skiing in Europe from Jon, and photos. If Fink ever sends along pictures, I'll post those too..
It is totally different here - very open skiing as it is 100% above the
trees. They have something like 30,000 acres (Vail has 5300) and 9,000 feet of
vertical. Also, because you never ski down to the valley, it doesn't flatten out at
all - no traversing. When you get off most lifts, you are at the top of a huge
bowl and you just go.
What is cool here is that there are 6 distinct ski areas (including one in Italy) all
either right in town, or a short busride away. Two are lower altitude, one you
need a guide as it is on a glacier and we did 2 of the others (not Italy). Very
different conditions at each - Brevent/Flegere on the north side of Chamonix (south
facing) is totally spring skiing - 50 degrees and corn snow from 9am. It is huge - takes a
day to just get to around to all the different bowls. On the south side, Les
Grand Montets is more winter-like and you can ski all the way to the
valley, which takes a good half hour from the top. Not quite as big but still
takes most of the day to ski it all. In town, it is like 60 degrees and people
all hang out outside drinking/eating/etc. The town is mostly closed to cars
and you are completely surrounded by glacier covered mountains - it is very surreal
walking on green grass without a coat and looking at these totally snow covered mountains
2 miles
above your head. I took lots of photos. Overall though I have to say
the snow is not as good at out west - when it snows here, I get the feeling a lot gets
closed due to avalanche danger. You can see past slides all over the place
when you are skiing. And there is so much terrain, that moguls don't really
form as people are so spread out (no liftlines at all). So my summary is
mostly steep intermediate skiing with amazing views.
That's my synopsis. It is definitely worth a trip. Although airfare
would be expensive, hotels ($90 for two with breakfast) and lift tickets ($45) are
cheap. Food is more expensive but (mostly) worth it - you have to watch out for
wierd French meats. Great fondue, good Italian pizza and cheap
wine. And I got Souppe de Poisson, which reminded me of my days in
Nice.
Also check out these videos on youtube: (Alps, Bowl 1, Bowl 2, One Run)