mute1080

Saturday and Sunday

Sold.

weird flex but ok

I'll bring shenanigans to share.

.4" new in Verbier. Why am I here?

Day 3 was guide day and Luis was awesome. Met a guy Matt from Boston currently living in Chicago on day 2 and invited him with the guide. Two warm up laps where the guide was flat out ripping on the groomers was a good start. Passed the evaluation and went up Mont Font. Hit chutes skiers right on the top sections and took it down to Tortin for 4k drop. Next was up Chassoure and traversed the ridge to the right for le petite Mouche. Wild cresting the ridge line not knowing what is instore on the other side. Last run the boys wanted backside Mont Font but I passed on the sketchly entrance right off the top of the gondola. Did the same-ish first run down to Siviez for 5177' drop over 5 miles and met back up with them. Said backside wasn't bad after the entrance, until the bike path back past the dam and hike out. Biggest day yet was with the guide. Didn’t get to eat my curry chicken sandwich since I got yelled at so had tuna avocado toast with the guide and beire after. Day 4, last day. Cloudy for the first time this trip. Worked our way around the mountain looking for sun. First run down Gentianes was one of the morning challenging runs I've ever done with complete flat light and feeling my way down the mountain. After that it wasn't as bad but every 5 minutes the weather changed. Headed to Zurich tonight to catch the flight tomorrow morning.

Had a pocket chicken curry sandwich yesterday and it was so good I grabbed another one for today. The bread is phenomal. Pulled up at the Yeti Bar in Siviez and the waiter yelled at me in French that I couldn’t eat it at the restaurant. French def is a sexy language even if they’re yelling at you.

Day 2 had snow over night and pretty cloudy early. Headed to Bruson and first piste run was super pleasant with 4-5 inches of fresh snow. Turned sticky icky before the lift but first 3/4 were money. Went off the backside and did 2 laps next to the t bar. Decided to go for a tour and check out the trees. Easy skin to untouched trees. Awesome morning before heading across to Verbier. 4 gondolas later I had my skis back on. Did some laps off the super tram with great snow. Kept it easy while trying to save some legs for the guide tomorrow. Met him in town at 4 to go over the plan and now about to go ski it. Cheese Cave for dinner

Verbier Day 1 Massive doesn't do it justice. Did the gondola up to Attelas for two quick warm up laps and them up to Mount Gele and the 3100' down to Tortin. Stopped for a beer, espresso, and tart before continuing down to Siviez to make the run a total 4100' descent. Worked our way to La Dent and saw a north face with what looked like good snow so did a short tour up. Snow was good and was an empty party of the resort. Played around at Plan du Fou with some chutes and drops before working our way back. Last run took 2 hours and stopped at 2 mountain restaurants and finally a third one that was right across the street when we walked off the snow. Had hot wine, Blanche and beer tataki, and finally another Blanche. Made for a 10 hour day in ski boots. Went to the Shed for burgers and they had a banging old school American ski movie rap classics playlist going and ended up staying for an extra drink. Our server said laughed when he heard we went to Mt. Gele since he knew it was crusty. Snowing now but supposed to clear soon. Heading to Bruson for the trees.

The train system is awesome and goes right through Bern. We had a transfer there.

On the train to Martigny then 1 transfer to Verbier. I did a good job hydrating while traveling so I'd be ready to ski and threw it all away party rocking late night in Cham. YOLO We planned to let the snow soften up anyway so it worked out. Grabbed a full bus around 11 and was lucky to get a seat. For as warm as it is in town, the snow was nice fluffy chalk up high. Groomers had some skied off spots but we were off piste almost the whole time. Some north facing slops had better soft snow but only found a couple of those zones. Stopped at Plan Joran for bite and beer(have to get back on the horse sometime right?). We talked about doing a skin tour skiers right but we were pushing time to catch our train so we split to get some laps. Still took the rocky traverse across to check it out before they headed up. Did a top(ish) to bottom for the last lap and the legs were screaming. Watch said we finished with a little over 15k vert. Verb tomorrow and mad hungry as it's 8 pm and haven't had dinner yet.

Currently sitting at a wine bar in Chamonix after 19 hours of travel with no issues. Philly direct to Zurich, train to Geneva, bus to Chamonix, walk. Stopped in the Black Crows store and even though I didn’t buy anything, my new skis were on display in their window and I smiled. Caesar salad at Geneva airport waiting for the bus, charcuterie in chx. The plan is Les Grand Montets tomorrow and then Verbier for 3 days. Maybe Zermatt for the last day.

Saturday and playing Sunday by ear.

Arrived to row 3 at 840 to a minimal crowd. Only had 1 ticket window open and wouldn't have been a problem if one person didn't hold it up. Did notice every table inside was taken with boots on them so we expected a school group. On the snow just after 9 and up Iron Horse. First run was Snake to Fast Track. Super nice soft cord and able to slut it up as some would say. Without warning Lower Fast Track turned ungroomed. We stopped and skipped over on Pusher to Lower Runway with was also ungroomed. Besides White Lightning, I believe those were the only 3 ungroomed. The ungroomed was pretty smooth, just firm to start with exposed glacier sections. The buses showed up around 10 but pretty much stayed off Shuttle and Short Haul lifts. Lapped everything up top with Lower Runway-Rattler-Cannonball bottom finish our favorite. Snow was great, grooming could have been better. Not terrible but probably driving too fast with all the cat track marks. Caught @RidgeRacerwhen I was coming out of Rattler and took a couple laps with him after Boo went in. Long Haul was open so had to ride that and did a White Lightning to finish. One thing I wasn't ready for is after loading the Iron Horse chair, it get to 3 inches off the ground in about 15 feet . My knees did not like that and it was awkward to deal with. The other lifts were similar but not as bad as that lift. Soft snow and light crowds always make for a great day. I still don't care for the layout and taking two lifts to the top but it's good for once a season.