Almost too deep in Courmayeur... almost

Fri 30th: Went to Courmayeur with Bob, Lukas, Arvid and Rasmus. Made the lift early to find it closed. The main lift opened up at 9:15-30 but we decided to wait. Val Veny eventually opened at 10am so there wasn't much in it.

We got up to pristine snow. A great first run, although the terrain at the top was getting tracked from the Courmayeur side. In most places the terrain wasn't quite steep enough for so much snow; impossible to build up any kind of speed. We decided to hit directly under the Zerotta chair as it was steeper and untracked. Great snow although I still managed to clip a few rocks. After a few decent laps around Zerotta (with a little too much faffing) we headed over to the main face and down.

Happy Lukas

After more faffing and good snow we were back up and dropped into the trees above Bertolini. Some really good un-skied sections with insanely deep snow. The lift was closed but they were clearing it... here's hoping. Went for a poke about the slow Peindeint chair above Val Veny and found some good tracks, a few pillows and a bit of poling in between. We spied the Bertolini moving with people on the slopes so headed straight over.

Face shots collecting in the beard

Bob's going white...

We lapped over and over through the high trees and it was amazing. Bouncing down the steeper terrain rewarded with face shots galore. More runs of tree skiing and further traverses netted some untouched lines and great turns. After a run entering from above Arvid and Rasmus split off for more of the same, Bob headed off down the piste and Lukas and I carried on the high traverse which still netted the same powder but without the sketchy entrance. Two of the lines we did were undoubtedly the best of the season. The only tiny downer was that the lift was baltic. At one point Arvid noticed early signs of frostbite on my nose so I quickly hid it away.

Lukas, Bob and I took a quick break to warm up then headed back out for a few more. Bob was knackered so Lukas and I messed around taking a few photos in the still untracked snow on the Bertolini. We all met up at 4 and headed back. On the final run we hit a nice pillow line and after a slight miscommunication four of us got the gondola down whilst Bob skied down.

Lukas in the white-room

Rasmus hot-dogging

Arvid dropping pillows