Hi Blog, I am sorry, I have neglected you big time. I didn’t realise I missed you? I do. I really do.
So I am trying to make amends by posting our skiing trip to Chamonix last January. I hope this is the start of my true repentance with posts lined up in the coming weeks. Why is it too difficult to promise these days? Life has changed so much…. but I will try.
Due to Covid, we haven’t skied for 2 years. So this trip was quite exciting.
Also, for the first time, we are road tripping to the French Alps (through Switzerland) with a 100% electric car. It was our first time driving long-distance so were not just excited but a little bit stressed. What if we run out of power in the middle of the highway or some remote place in the mountains?
Driving an electric vehicle brings you to strange places. We charged the car in a dark parking place in front of an ALDI in Germany in the middle of the night. In Switzerland, we charged in a parking lot of a hotel.
Our skiing destination this year is Vallorcine located in the Chamonix Valley.
This is the border control between France (Chamonix) and Switzerland (Martigny). They do not really do controls so you do not have to stop but just slow down. The border police mainly check your windshield if you have a (Swiss) vignette. We purchased our vignette online ahead of time.
We picked this hotel resort in Vallorcine, Dormio Resort Les Portes du Mont-Blanc located just a few kilometers from the Swiss border because it is literally 100 meters to the Balme cable car. Telecabine Le Tour Col de Balme is the official name. There is also a slope going down to the resort as well but we weren’t lucky as this was closed the entire week. The hotel resort has a spa – a pool, sauna, and a steam room, which is quite a necessity after a day of flexing your muscles and knees.
This is the village of Vallorcine:
As with Covid restrictions, you need to be vaccinated and boostered in order to travel. Hotels and restaurants were quite diligent in checking our Corona Check App – QR codes. Here
As a backgrounder, the village of Vallorcine lies in the Chamonix Valley and is part of the bigger Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ski resort. We have been lazy on this trip, we didn’t visit or skied in the other resorts in the Valley, except for a day out in Chamonix and a walk to Mount Buet due to bad weather. The ski pass we had was the Le Pass Chamonix with access to Brevent – Flegere, Les Chosalets, Les Planards, Plateau 2000 (Planpraz), and Balme – Le Tour – Vallorcine which is our ski resort.
We arrived late in the afternoon and after going for a small walk around the village we settled for dinner at the resort hotel’s restaurant.
The food was quite good. There were not many restaurant choices in the village, so we planned to check out Chamonix town center one evening.
And et voila, here is our first day of skiing…
It was a Sunday and it was lovely weather. It was rather busy though with local weekend tourists, but we knew that it will be quiet the next day.
The first ski run is always a challenge. Every single time. Every year.
My feet need to sit well first with the boots and it usually takes some time to get used to it. You also need to have that feel for skiing back again. So the first run is typically a warming-up session to get you the feeling to be back on track with skiing.
The Dutchman managed to get some really nice pictures of moi.
Having a little break here at the cafe terrace with the sun shining brightly. Blue skies and not a wisp of a cloud in sight. What a perfect start to our skiing trip!
After skiing, we enjoyed the pool and the steam bath which helped prevent those annoying muscle pains on the first day of skiing.
Day two was quite a drama. There was a storm brewing in the mountains, and very silly of us, we still went up!
We were on the Solonges slope 2,270 meters above sea level. We noticed that many skiers went back but a small group went ahead so we followed them but they disappeared immediately from sight. The wind became stronger and was howling like crazy, there was zero visibility, and snow was falling hard on us. We can’t go back. The wind and snowfall were very disorientating. I don’t have any idea how steep the slope I am standing on and if I am still within the perimeters. Buckling up, I skied down but quickly went off-piste. The snow was pretty hard off-piste so I took off my skis and walked slowly back waiting for the opportune time to ski down. However, the weather conditions just went from bad to worse. I need to get off this mountain! So I tried finding my balance but fell down and went off-piste again. I looked around and couldn’t find the Dutchman. We seem to have lost each other! I stayed calm but can’t help the tiny seed of fear slowly creeping in me.
I can’t remember if I have been lying on the slope for 10 or 20 minutes or maybe more. I only see white and snow. Lots of snow swirling around me, and nothing else. Nobody was in sight. No one seems to have dared to take this slope.
Should I call for help? Is there actually a phone signal here?
I was on the ground clinging on to this mound of snow because if I let go of it I will for sure just glide down to god knows where I will end up to. It was quite a steep area where I was. I managed to crawl back to the piste, just on the ridge of it, enough for a passerby to see me. Then I heard voices. I got lucky with 2 Danish guys who saw me, thanks to my red jacket. The guys were very experienced skiers.
The older Danish guy kept telling, “It will be all right.” My confidence level was 1 out of 10 so they helped me get down the slope. Because of the helmet and goggles, I could not see his face but his voice and the way he was trying to comfort me made me think he was older. Perhaps around my age or older.
While going down, I managed to get reunited with the Dutchman who also ran into problems.
This is me trying to recover from the snowstorm ordeal in a cafe.
After this, we took the cable car down to Argentiere, then we rode the bus to the town center to get on the train to Vallorcine. The train goes once every hour so while waiting, I went on a little French gourmet shopping. After what had happened earlier that day, I need to lift up my spirits. What better way to pamper me with food! I know the French will always deliver.
The train station in Argentiere…
Argentiere town center….
Trying to make up the day with some delicious French dried sausages, cheeses, and wine…. just before we hit the very much-needed spa. My muscles were aching!
The weather was still very bad on the 3rd and 4th days so we decided not to ski. Instead, we went to Chamonix town center and the day after, we hiked Mont Buet. I will probably post the photos of these excursions separately in another post.
The 5th day came and the weather was better. Time to get back on track.
The weather wasn’t that great but it’s ski-able weather. On and off blue and white skies. Not bad at all.
It’s my turn to take pictures of the Dutchman :)
We finished the day with another relaxing visit to the spa and afterward, we treated ourselves to some local Savoyard cuisine (all cheeses!) at the Restaurant La Ferme des 3 Ours.
We really enjoyed our time here at this restaurant which I believe, except for the restaurant at the resort hotel where we ate on our first night, is the only restaurant open in the rest of Vallorcine. The village is that small. So we are quite happy about this dinner.
And on our last day of skiing, the weather was a perfect 10. We could not have been more than happy!
I took these pictures of the Dutchman using my mobile camera.
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Yup, that is the dutchman there in the distance… that tiny speck there in the middle.
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This is our last pit stop in the mountains before doing our last slope run for the holiday. So that’s it, and until next year’s ski holiday again!
Travel Period: January 2022
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)