Photo: 
A Hillside in France

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Twelve Days In France: A ski odyssey

Day Six. February 15, 1994.


copyright 1994,1995 Wesley Alan Wright

Chamrouse
Base1600m (5248')Summit2250m (7380')
Maximum Vertical650m (1968')
(850m to bottom of Men's Downhill, but there's no lift there.)
Skied Vertical650m (2132')

place I've been to yet, despite being home to the 1968 Olympic Alpine events. The 'route of the '68 Men's Downhill begins at the summit and continues down to a spot below the base village, just off the access road and without lift service.


Yet despite it's size, it was still fun, thanks to great snow.

The weather started out pretty gray and snowy, but reasonably warm and with little wind. I picked up a carload (2 French woman, 1 French guy, one German woman, and a Swedish dude) of hitchhikers on the road to the station - how they fit into my Renault, I'm not really sure. I think one hid in the trunk.

TREES! Chamrouse is a low elevation are, and thus had trees scattered all over. Some places were fully wooded. This was a rarity during my stay in the high alpes. And beyond the tress, POWDER!!! Untracked!! The lousy weather I experienced the day before at Le Deux Alpes had dumped gobs of the blessed white stuff, and it was mine for the taking.

My first run was an adventure - I followed some tracks and some people off into the woods on a leap of faith that proved to be a treasure trove of fresh lines and steep drops through the woods. I followed my "guides" at a discreet distance, until they stopped in the middle of the forest for lunch.

"Est-ce que vous connaissez ce chemin?" I asked.

"Non."

This seemed to be the typical dialouge whenever I headed hors-piste. Seemed like no one seemed to know where they were going. However, after some further discussion, the consensus was that if one just kept heading down, one would encounter the cross country trail network.

And sure enough, I did. A little bit of poling, and suddenly a lift appears. I put this run away for later....

Elsewhere on the mountain, pockets of trees were everywhere, each still hiding some untracked snow . The tree pockets were connected by stretches of loose, choppy powder. Even a few soft squishy moguls here and there. Clouds moved in and out, sun started to play peek-a-boo.

Near the end of the day I returned to the First Glade. Found a whole new set of fresh lines way outside and down through incredible open and rolling glades. Heaven for some 500m of vertical.

Fatigued, I took a couple more easy runs. Last trip was through a few more powder/tree pockets along an otherwise gentle green piste. I shot through the last strand, stopped and hung a left to avoid a cliff, and then swung back right, - but too soon and too fast! I had found another cliff - actually, a huge rock with a scouple of two meter plus drops, separated by a small shelf. Tried to stop/slideslip down the first, bounced my feet off of the shelf, and tumbled over the second drop flat onto my back - and a pile of soft powder. Didn't feel a thing: the sled ride on Sunday hurt more.

Just call me Mr. Lucky.

Back to Day 05 Les Deux Alpes or on to Day 07 Tignes.



Copyright 1995. Ski France Special
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Send comments to Wesley Alan Wright (email Wesley.Wright@uvm.edu) Last update November 15, 1995