The last two days at Tignes were extraordinary in all regards. It snowed during the nights and the days were sunny or at least had good visibility. The weather can change quickly up here. One moment it will be very sunny and within minutes a cloud can roll in and cause near whiteout conditions. Since there were so few people on the mountain I could get fresh tracks almost every run through ankle to knee deep powder. At this point the chalet was at half occupancy so we skied together as a group and even with some of the staff. Random note: every time I skied down to a lodge I heard Call Me Maybe. The song has even infiltrated Europe!
I found a nice coulior here. Although the picture doesn't show it, this line is pretty steep. So steep that the first time I skied it, when it untracked, I really had to watch out for my slough (miny avalanche) so that it wouldn't take me out.
This section was fun to practice hucking small cliffs. The amount of rock showing can be deceive one into thinking the drop is small. The larger sections of rock were about a 30 foot drop (off screen to the left). I stayed clear of those and did the 5-10 foot drops.
View of Grande Motte from the top of the gondola.
Top of Grande Motte looking at the wonderful Alps
A closer look at Grande Motte. There were three really good lines I took off of here.
The first was to the left of the face. To the left of the rock line is the coulior shown in the first picture.
The second was between the face and the crevasses. I only attempted this on the last day when the sun was out and the snow was good. However by the time I skied it, many had taken the line. Near the end it became very steep and was narrow so the fresh snow had been scraped away. This made it pretty treacherous especially when I came to a point where there was line of rock separating me from safety. Only way to go was to point the skis straight and jump.
The last line was way over on the right on the other side of the crevasses. It is off screen. This run is probably one of the best runs I've ever skied. It was wide open, 800m vertical foot drop, untracked, knee deep, and very steep. I went back and skied it twice more before barreling down the mountain to catch the bus back to the chalet.
A shot from the top of the third line I described off of Grande Motte.
For the first time skiing in Europe I couldn't have asked for anything more. Amazing conditions on a spectacular mountain with a bunch of fun British people from the chalet.
By 16:00 I was back on the road heading back to Geneva. On the way up it was dark and I had fallen asleep so I didn't get to appreciate the beautiful scenery of the drive. After arriving and Geneva and bidding my farewells I hopped on the 18:36 train to Fribourg where I would have my first couch surfing experience.
I wasn't really nervous but I was a little concerned with the language barrier as my host's profile said her English was not very good. It really wasn't a problem though. We just used google translate when need be. My host, Jacqueline, and her boyfriend were wonderful hosts and cooked a great homemade meal. It's a shame my stay was so brief but I look forward to seeing them again in Houston when they take six months to travel the USA.
As I'm writing this (not when posted), I'm on the train to Zurich to meet Amanda, the first American I will have interacted with since leaving the states.
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