During our last trip to Chamonix two years ago I discovered the Vallée Blanche, a famous 20km off-piste ski run with a vertical descent of over 8,800 feet. So we decided to go back to Chamonix for this once in a lifetime ski run. Marissa was equally excited because it meant eating at her favorite Creperie and indulging in her newly discovered love for macaroons.
The trip got off to a rocky start. The night before we left, the guide company called and said that the conditions would not be ideal to ski the Vallée Blanche on the day I was planning and my guided tour had been cancelled. Then 2 hours into our drive one of our tires popped, and I had to change it on the side of the Autobahn. After that we ended up sitting in a traffic jam that added about 5 hours onto our drive. However, once we made it to Chamonix everything went smoothly.
Saturday night I was able to find a guiding company to ski with on Monday when the conditions were supposed to be good. We spent Sunday strolling through town stopping at cafes and eating crepes and macaroons.
Monday I met the ski guide at 8:45 at the bottom of the Aiguille du Midi. There were 6 other people in the group, and we all had to put on mountain climbing harnesses and wear avalanche beacons. The ride to the top of the mountain took an hour and from there we had to walk along a ridge at the top of the mountain for about 200 meters until we could put on our ski equipment. From the top of the mountain the Matterhorn in Switzerland was visible. The ride back into town took about 4 hours and the snow was two feet deep the whole way down.
After snowboarding over 13 miles I was pretty exhausted so I met Marissa in town, and we had a few more macaroons and headed back to Germany.
crazy!!!
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