Saturday morning: sunshine, blue skies, some fluffy high clouds. Time to check out and head north to Alpe d'Huez, en route back to a rest day in Genolier.

We first had to strap on some chains and climb over the col de Lautret (2100m) - perhaps the most spectacular drive of the trip. Everywhere snow and huge mountains, and mountains of snow. At times, the highway was a canyon seemingly carved out of a glacier, with snow walls on each side some 20 feet tall. Lord knows how they plow this sucker. While we were all agape, the pass proved to be little impediment to the Grenoble crowds intent on skiing Serre that Saturday: the traffic heading from whence we came was phenomenally steady.

The road through the pass drops some 690 meters down to the sleepy village of La Grave. Since I was all "been there, done that," and Vickie was like "I ain't gonna do that," we stopped just to snap some pictures of the Glacier de la Meije. We then raced off for Oz.

Specifically, Oz en Oisans, something of a forgotten back door to the Alpe d'Huez domain. The drive to Oz took a bit longer than anticipated, and of course we sputtered out of Monêtier a bit later than planned. Subsequently, it was 11:30 before we boarded the Oz gondola and 12:30 before we rose the 1980m to the Pic Blanc summit.

And promptly turned around and rode part way back down. Ah, Alpe d'Huez - "l'isle de Soliel." When we got on the télépherique du Pic Blanc, we had a clear view of the summit station. When we arrived, we were immersed in pea soup. By mutual decision, we decided that the Glacier de Sarenne, one of the longest pistes in all of Europe, wasn't such a good idea after all. So we got back on the cable car, and headed back down a bit.

The cloud followed us.

Just a miserable day. I had never skied in France on a Saturday before, and I vow never to again. I think the entire city of Grenoble was there. Alpe d'Huez boasts an uphill capacity of 90,000 - Yes, 90,000 - skiers an hour. Downhill capacity, however, is about half that. The Killington of France.

They promised us sun: we had snow, clouds, fog, and back in Oz, rain. They claimed 220 cm of snow pack at the summit. We found rocks near the base. Vickie was miserable, and I was not much happier. Still, I managed to get 12,000 foot of vertical - in three runs - and found the odd patch of good snow. But after such an epic day at Monêtier, we was bumming.

Next day, Sunday, rest day. Went to the market, bought some wine, ate some cheese, took some pictures. Tomorrow, we drive to Val d'Isere.