Geneva Airport- a sight for sore eyes after an intense few days of packed meetings and reviews outside Amsterdam....
Happy to be back, and when I turn on my phone I'm reminded that Jani is in town for the weekend as I have a message from him. Patience is not one of my virtues so I call him straight away to hear music and activity in the background (of course, it's Jani!) And he's asking if I want to ski Valee Blanch with him on Sunday... We were already planning to ski on Sunday, I say... not having a clue what about Vallee Blanch- He mentions something about needing a guide, going off-piste... a trip of a lifetime...
Max ended up bailing as he was back from Boston just Sat morning and thought he'd be too jet-lagged for the altitude. On the fence myself, a text at 12:30am Sun morning to Jani confirmed my trip... and a few hours of sleep later we were on route to Chamonix to meet up with Jani, Lucas, Mario & Zina for what would be an Alpine Adventure to remember!
Being a mixed crowd not know for timeliness (Argentinian, Chilean, Lebanese, Italian-American, and Brazilian,) we were inevitably about an hour late getting on the lift (to which our French Instructor reminded us SEVERAL times throughout the day!) and after 2 (or was it 3) gondalas up, and then an elevator ride, we reached the viewing platform of Aiguille du Midi!
With an INCREDIBLE view of the Alps...
And Mont Blanch was so close, felt like you could reach out an touch it!
Luckily I had googled Vallee Blanch that morning and had an idea what I was getting into...
Had a feeling Mario didn't show this to Zina before she signed up for the trip! Although we didn't get to repel into a crevasse, but maybe next time :)
Back down the elevator to get started on our treck down the cat-walk like Alpine ridge to our launching pad... Jani led the way down the icy and narrow path while we were all strapped together and had a rope to help us down and our guide with cramp-ons securing the rear...
Yay! We made it!
Off to the powder covered Glacial slopes...
With Breathtaking Views...
And great company!
Enjoying the powder
Or, at least the boarders were!
But always reminded of the ever-present danger peeking trough the cracks...
Led us to the icy glacial wonderland!
After we almost lost Mario (again) to a treacherous pass over a crevasse we finally stopped and had lunch- we were too exhausted to go on!
All fueled up- we were ready to move on!
And then we reached the flats...
Waiting for Mario... :)
But we all finally made it to the end... and just when we thought it was over... 360 stairs back UP to the goldala!
In the end, an amazing day, great friends, not so great guide, but for sure Jani was right- an experience of a lifetime!
