Skiing The Perimeter Of Courchevel
Today was Algernond’s and my last day to act like irresponsible juveniles - both our Daughters had extended skiing lessons, and were going to be busy until around 2pm, and then too tired to do anything at all.
So we set ourselves a challenge - to ski the entire perimeter of Courchevel, taking in every village along the bottom (La Tania, Le Praz, Courchevel 1850, 1550 and 1650), and all the peaks along the top (Signal, Chanrossa, Creux Noires, Vizelle, Saulire, and Col de la Loze). In itself, this would have been challenging - take a look at the piste map:
But it gets worse - the chair lift up to Creux Noires had been closed all week. How to get ther and claim it? We ended up skiing and traversing off-piste from Vizelle, and then (because I can be bloody-minded about these things), strapping our skis to our rucksacks and climbing up the piste to the summit:
As you can see, the excitement got the better of Algernond!
I also have to say that ski slopes are pretty steep, and damned hard work to ‘walk’ up. The only way to do it is on the points of your boots, pretty much kicking your own staircase in as you go. And with something like a 2-300m vertical climb, this is damned hard work:
But it was worth it!
By the time we got home, we were both exhausted - any sense of skiing with style had been left far behind . . . apart from the grins on our faces.
Workout:
- Type: Other
- Date: 01/16/2009
- Time: 23:22:18
- Total Time: 00:07:00.00
- Calories: 46
[...] A more wordy acount of todays action can be found by skiing partner here [...]
Pretty impressive!
you crazy crazy boys. I remember doing Creux and that end of town was pretty bleak.
Was the lift closed for a reason i.e. potential avalanches? Or just windy?
Looks like you’ve had an amzing week though.
Jx
I think it was closed for mechanical problems with the lift. There was hardly any wind, and the avalanche risk for the resort has been at 1 on a scale of 1-5 for the whole week. Walking up the piste, we also got to have a good look at the snow - it was a little slabby due to sublimation & wind compression, but still very powdery under a very thin skin. Total powder depth on the top was around five inches - enough to be flattering, without the depth to hamper my limited style.
Oh, and for anyone interested in following a similar route, here are the (extensive) details:
La Tania: Up the La Tania bubble lift.
Down: Jockeys
Le Praz: Up Foret bubble, then up Crêtes chair
Down: Loze to 1850 and then Tovets to 1550.
1550: Up Grangettes bubble to 1850 and then up Verdons bubble
Down Verdons to Le Lac
Up: Biollay chair
Down Super Pralong, Mur and Pramereul to the Pramereul lift
Up: Pramereul chair
Down Un-named green to Bosses, and then through Indiens & Ste Agathe to 1650.
Up: Ariondaz bubble.
Down: Ariondaz and Granges
Up: Granges drag lift & across to the Signal chair to Signal
Down: Rochers
Back up Signal chair and across to Pyramide drag lift via Grandes Bosses
Up: Roc Merlet chair to Chanrossa
Down Chanrossa with some off-piste to avoid the thin snow on the official route.
Up: Marmottes to Vizelle
Down past the routes from Saulire to the Meribel / Courchevel junction rock.
Off-piste traverse across to Roches Grises
UP: Roches Grises piste to Creux Noires. (Celebrate, whoop & take photos)
Down: Roches Grises, taking the direct black run, and continuing along Creux.
Up: Marmottes again to Vizelle
Down: Combe Pylones to Verdons.
Up: Saulire cable car to Saulire, and so very glad to find that the Grand Couloir is still closed. We’d been off-piste, and on closed pistes today, but the Grand Couloir is unbelievably scary at the best of times. Any excuse to give it a miss!
Down: Combe Saulire and Verdons
Up: Chenus chair and then Col De La Loze chair.
Down: Dou Des Lanches, Bouc Blanc and Folyères. Take the scenic route through the woods, and make a wrong turn, having to wade through snow & undergrowth back to civilisation.
In La Tania, up Gros Murger drag lift.
Down: Plan Fontaines and Moretta Blanche.
Arrive back at the chalet, exhausted but grinning from ear to ear!
Am exhausted reading your list - but it sounds like fun (although I’m truly glad I didn’t get roped into doing all of that with you!)
I did some slalom skiing today on wii fit and either hit the flag poles or ski the wrong side of all of them. It told me I was unbalanced - I think it may have meant it in more than one way, but either way it felt like it had seen me skiing for real…