 "The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky." - Dave R |
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It's hard to come up with something new about Chamonix. Every superlative that can be applied, has been. It is an awesome place to go to, an even better place to ride, and almost certainly a very easy place to kill yourself.
The valley where the villages are located, lie at a mere 1000m. Rising above you on both sides are huge mountain ranges, topped by Europes tallest mountain, Mont Blanc. You can catch a cable car to the top of the Aguille Du Midi, at 3850m. When you look down, it's 10,000ft straight to the valley floor.
In Chamonix, there's no end of places to find powder. There's no end of sick lines to ride that powder. But there's no end of people who are better than you, faster than you, and in the lift line before you. :) Get up early.
My first time to Chamonix, I was enrolled on a backcountry / avalanche course. We only rode the lifts to access the backcountry, and then we hiked. Some of the lines were super sick, and the powder even better. But get it wrong here, go out at the wrong time, make the wrong turn, and maybe they'll find you in the spring.
3 years later in April 2003, I went back to Chamonix to climb and ride Mont Blanc.
