Our biggest day yet: over a thousand vertical metres of ascent, fresh powder, and stunning scenery!
We joined Chris and Suzanne from Alpine Experience for a day tour of the Grand Vallon, one of the iconic freeride routes in Val d’Isère. This year, of course, it was different. With no lifts running we started early and spent four hours skinning up from the car park at Le Fornet. Whilst the walk up was easy – on predominantly blue runs, with a break at the foot of the Signal poma lift, it felt strange to be walking up empty pistes that would normally be crowded with downhill skiers.
Our trek uphill was rewarded with magnificent conditions on the Grand Vallon. There had been no fresh snowfall for about a week, but the north-facing slopes had remained in good condition, and with so few skiers, there were plenty of untouched snowfields. So different to our experiences of previous years, when this route, like so many in Val d’Isère, would have more closely resembled a mogul field than an off-piste wilderness!
Conditions were so good that after the first few pitches, we decided to put our skins back on and climb up to the ridge to skiers right and enjoy even more downhill. The extra skin brought our total ascent (according to Strava) to 1189m – the sort of climb we would usually associate with hut to hut tours, rather than a day out in the resort!
