January 6, 2006, Courmayeur, Italy

Michael and I drove through the tunnel again with his brother Christian to the Italian side of the Alps (only about 20 minutes from Chamonix) looking to find better weather. It was pretty much successful; there were some drifting light clouds but mostly sunny and not so cold as in days past. Christian had only the two of us today, so he decided to try some stuff he might like to ski himself . . . first off, we went to Le Marbree, in the valley just east of the Courmayeur tram. Like most of these routes, the start involved climbing through the guardrail designed to keep tourists from sliding to their deaths and putting your skis on in some sketchy icey place; next was about 10 minutes of booting to get to the start of the run. <br><br>The entrance involved a bit of improbable traversing through steep rockfields, then some careful steep turns in windcrust topped pow. We were able to open up and make nice turns lower down, then some more careful traversing/side slipping, then the bottom with rain crust/avy debris/heavy fresh depending on aspect. The run is about 7,000 vert, and takes some time because you need to be very precise in your turns and wait until your guide figures out a safe way to ski.<br><br>Right before lunch, we took a "short" run from the mid-station and found excellent powder for a couple thousand feet, though the bottom was again avy debris and bushes (they DO bushwhack in Europe, they just don't have a name for it. Some of it is in people's backyards).<br><br>After a leisurely hour and a half lunch of wine, lamb, duck, fries, raspberry tarte, and cappucino, Christian asked if we wanted him to show us a couloir . . . after a second's hesitation, I said sure. I didn't realize he had in mind the quite steep one we had seen the day previous right under the tram. This one involved an even more improbable climb over the guardrail and winding through a maze of rocks directly under the tram. The couloir itself was amazing; a steady 45 degrees and maybe 1,500 ft. vertical. The mid-section required side-slipping my 184cm Atomics through a section about 188 cm wide . . . The bottom was mostly crust and avy debris, and my legs were toast by the time we hit the botttom of the road. Fortunately Christian still had energy to burn and walked the 10 minute walk up to our car while Michael and I sat by the road.<br><br>Lift skiing in Europe; it's a whole different thing!

Very nice Greg, thanks for sharing ;D. Can't wait to hear about your next "lift-accessed" ski.

Great day of skiing on the Italian side of Mont Blanc. Fun to ski one of the classics of the area in such good condition. <br><br>Finally got around uploading a few pictures:<br><br> Christian and Greg going to the entrance of the Marbrees <br> First section of the Marbrees Navigating through the rock bands <br> Marbrees from below...the line is obvious <br> Greg enjoying the snow on our second run of the day <br> More of Greg in the powder <br> Christian getting ready for the second couloir of the day... <br> Christian and Greg after having negotiated the rocks that lead to the entrance of the second couloir <br> Christian just above the second couloir <br> Christian and Greg skiing the couloir <br> Christian and Greg resting a little <br> Greg skiing under a nice serac

michael--fantastic pictures! i feel sketched just looking at them, here in my nice comfy chair at home...<br><br>i'm glad you both have had such an awesome time out there! what will you do when you come back to the tiny little cascades?? ;D

<br><br>i'm glad you both have had such an awesome time out there! what will you do when you come back to the tiny little cascades?? ;D

<br><br>I think we will just drive around the cascades and look for a gondola that can take us up to 12000 feet

Great trip, Michael. Great pictures -- keep 'em coming.