Chamonix skiing -- Day 2: Les Grands Montets

Today, after Olivia and Avery went to ski school (the bus picked Avery up at the hotel this morning as promised) we drove down the road to the neighboring village called L’Argentiere. L’Argentiere boasts Les Grands Montets which is one of the highest skiable pistes in the Chamonix valley (I believe it’s second to the cable car at Augille du Midi). Unfortunately, once we got there, Josh realized he left his ski boots at the hotel so he had to circle back. Can you imagine how happy he felt at this moment?

 Charlotte and I went up the mountain and took a run while we waited for Josh to get back. We also figured out that in order to take the tram all the way to the top of Grands Montets, we needed to upgrade our Le Chamonix Pass. But with the exception of that one run, we could ski the rest of the mountain. So we did. The terrain and the snow conditions were fantastic. If only we could see where we were going?!?, it’d be really great! The low light was creating very poor visibility. As such, the visibility on the top would be even worse and so it wasn’t worth taking the tram to the top.

Today, I packed hand-made sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies for our lunch – provisions I had picked up during our outing into town yesterday. Plus, I had some help from the hotel breakfast buffet. Josh carried our lunch and some water in his backpack. We stopped at a picturesque chalet restaurant; and to our surprise, everyone was eating sack lunches inside. It seems this is just the thing to do here in Chamonix. Later, I noticed a posted sign that indicated that this part of the restaurant was reserved for those bringing their lunch. There was another section with table service, but it was empty.

Just as we finished eating our delicious sandwiches, along with the crepes that Josh ordered from the stand for dessert, the sun came out! We took a few more runs off the gondola – 2000 vertical feet each time – with great visibility. All the elements came together to make it a phenomenal afternoon of skiing.

I was reminiscing fondly of the days when I used to ski “bell to bell.” By 3pm today, we were all spent. We drove the 15 minutes back to Chamonix, and I made a bee-line for the steam and sauna. Avery was taking the bus home today and wouldn’t be back at the hotel until 5:30. That’s a long day for the little guy. I was expecting a tired soul. On the contrary, Avery arrived full of energy and very talkative about his day. It wasn’t until a few moments later that HE realized he was never given his skis when getting off the bus. (The skis would make it back to the school where they would remain until the morning).

While Olivia, Charlotte and Josh were playing in the pool, Avery took a (much needed) bath, and shortly we were all ready for dinner. Another delicious feast at Restaurant “A” including all the baguette you can eat.