Haute Route Part I: Preparation and Practice

For our 'big' vacation this year, Will and I headed over to Europe to do a ski-tour, the Haute Route, http://www.mountainschool.com/content/main/haute-route-ski-tour/.  If you are into backcountry skiing you may have heard of this trek before (I had not --- Will picked this trip).  We hired a guide company, Northwest Mountain School, http://www.mountainschool.com/, owned by John & Olivia Race.

Part 1: Travel and Chamonix, FR
We set out mid-day on a Thursday and flew throughout the night to Geneva, Switzerland (with a short lay-over in Amsterdam).  Peering out the window of the plan was gorgeous and fascinating --- our flight path was an arch over Canada and the other icy-cold countries.  I was able to see slight movements in the ice and cracks and crevices -- while definitely desolate and not inviting for human life, it certainly was beautiful to look at from above.

To give you some perspective of how this trip was laid out --- we spent about 6 days traveling/hotels/ski resorts and the other 6 days in the backcountry of the French and Swiss Alps.  That made packing both easy and difficult.  For the backcountry part, we wore the same clothes every day (no showers except two days) and carried all our necessary supplies for glacier travel in our packs.  The list of gear needed for this trip was extensive, but luckily, we'd acquired most of it throughout the past year of living in Washington.  All in all, we headed to the plane with six bags (including skis and ski boots), and during the backcountry trek, carried only small 35 liter packs with supplies.  Our packing looked a little something like this.

The pack I carried for 6 days straight.
Also note, this is the first and last time my
hair was done and makeup on.  This was not a
glamorous vacation.

One of our bags has straps to wear like a backpack. Will carried
it b/c it was really heavy and he always wears
a blue coat -- he looked like a blue turtle! haha

 

Our first stop on the trip was Chamonix, France.  We settled into our hotel there and went out to explore the little town.  It was quaint and really cute.  On the drive into town, we caught glimpses of Mont Blanc.  We ate delicious food, shopped a bit and took it easy the day we got there.  The next day we went out and skied at Le Brevent, one of the local resorts.

We met up that night with the rest of the skiers in our group and our guides.  We did a quick orientation and gear check.  The next day we went out to Grands Montets, another resort in Chamonix, and rode an extremely long gondola up to the top.  When we got off, I was totally taken aback.  It's not like any 'resort' I've skied at in the US.  It was super intimidating. Clouds were in-and-out so we got some peek-a-boo views of the surrounding monstrous and jagged mountains.  They were breathtakingingly beautiful and frightening at the same time.  Following our guide, Nick, we slipped under the safety rope at the resort and onto a glacier.  We spent the remainder of that day practicing using our gear, skiing techniques, avalanche rescue practice and then proceeded to ski out of the glacier in a white out. 

Ready to head out for a day of training.
The guy in the red jacket is our guide, Nick Pope.

No, this is not the Tower of Terror ride at Disney (although
that's what it kind of looks like). 
This is getting off of a ski lift.

Putting on our skis at the top of the lift.

Tassos and Yannis, our two companions on
the trip.  They were from Greece.



Me -- look like I can handle this??

Glacier travel.  That's a picture of ice and crevasses
on the Argentiere Glacier.

 

Le Nick. Our guide, our leader, our everything.  He is
the one who led us like sheep through the white
mountains and kept us safe.

Look at the wiggly lines in this photo - those are crevasses.

This is a boot crampon (sideways, sorry).  It is basically
a set of spikes that strap onto your ski boots to give you
traction on ice and snow.

Will on the Argentiere Glacier.

That brings us to an end of this section.  So far, we've made it to France, explored Chamonix, skied at a resort, and practiced safe glacier travel with our guide.  Next starts the real fun... heading out to the backcountry.