camp & ski

This weekend, we headed south in search of one more skimo outing. We went for a hike, made dinner, and settled in to watch the sunset Saturday night.  

I went for a short trail run before bed when I realized we had forgotten the cookies back in the car. It was a short run down to the car park, but then a good uphill jog to return to where we pitched the tent. I really wanted cookies before crawling into the sleeping bag.

In the morning, we waited for the sun and took a long breakfast before gearing up with our skis. Camp coffee is the best! 

The walk wasn't very long to reach the lowest snow, and the route seemed very popular with skiers extending their season as long as possible. From Prabert, we planned to skin to Pointe du Scialle. We stopped a little above la Coche to enjoy the view, but decided to end our day there. The sun was very warm and the thinning snow felt like it wanted to slide down the mountainsides to allow spring to take over. It was tough to cut the trip short, knowing it would likely be the last of the year, but it seemed to be the right decision. We had a great season, and we would enjoy our final ski down until next winter.

It got warmer and warmer as we made our way back, layered down to shorts, and started home. We made a stop to sit in the sun at Lac du Bourget, from ski to summer in an afternoon.

moriond conference (la thuile ski week)

We loaded all our ski gear onto the bus taking us from Cern to La Thuile, Italy for the Moriond conference. By the time we reached the hotel, the rain had become snow, a good sign for the upcoming week of skiing. 

The week started with fog, but the snow kept falling too. After a morning of presentations, we joined friends for an afternoon of downhill skiing the first day. The slopes were empty, the snow was pretty good, but we had to follow each other closely, slowly snaking our way down from the highest runs in white-out conditions. I hadn't ridden a chairlift yet this season, and although I missed skinning, it was fun to take run after run downhill. 

Derek gave his talk on Monday morning, and once that pressure released, we decided to try a skimo route I found. After a long walk with our gear, we knew we wouldn't reach snow for an extended climb on the south facing slopes, so we started making our way up a closed piste at the resort to a nice high point above the lifts.

The next day, back to downhill. I spent the morning skiing with Jess, and after racing down for a quick lunch, joined the guys for the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday was foggy again and still snowing, so we decided to skin up through the forest after the morning session, and have a late lunch before the ski down. While Derek attended the evening talks, I made it out for my only trail run of the week, up switchbacks, in the rain, and a fast downhill finish. 

For the first time, we had sunshine, and we spent the whole day, Thursday, on the slopes.

After lunch in the sun, we joined the conference slalom race. 

Our last day in Italy was sunny, but windy. The wind blew snow over the pistes, and actually improved the conditions. 

We started to feel a bit tired from the week of skiing, dining, conference-ing, but we were still able to stay out one more late night for karaoke and some friendly competition.

I was surprised how stable I felt on my downhill skis all week, compared to the toothpick-rando skis. It's been fun to speed down the steep slopes over and over, but I need my skimo days in between, and wanted one more skin up before the bus departure Saturday. I had everything packed and ready so that I could race up the mountain one last time in the morning. I made it up quickly, and even had time to recline on the sunny patio with a coffee before my final (slushy) descent. 

We all rushed to load our equipment onto the bus and ride home from a great week of meetings, skiing, making new friends, and celebrating time with close ones.

pointe des arbennes (2460m)

Starting from le Reposoir, today we made 1450m of climb to reach Pointe des Arbennes (2460m). We began up the wooded trail, reached the stream crossing, and up another wooded trail before breaking above the trees by the chalets de Méry where we stopped for lunch with a view.

We made the remainder of the exposed ascent on hard packed, icy snow, which was challenging at times, especially in the wind.

After a struggle against the wind-damaged ice-pack, we arrived at the summit, noticeably calmer than facing the gusts on the traverse. What an amazing panoramic and a surprise view on Mt. Blanc. We enjoyed our time alone, balanced on the small summit, impressed by the steep ridges and deep valleys.

View of Pointe Percée...another one for the list.

We transitioned for the downhill, and retraced our route. Carefully over the ice at first, then onto a lightly crusted layer that refused to move beneath the skis, next into a heavy sand-like texture, and Spring-like slush that continued through the narrow forest trails.