La Grave

We loaded the Telephrique this morning expecting to become acquainted with the mountain again. We ran into my old friend Joe Vallone who Jess, Angela and I skied with us last year. He is someone that loves La Grave and the mountains more than anyone I have ever met. He also knows these mountains very well and has guided in La Grave for 9 years. He was accompanied by his french friend named Frank who has lived here for 16 years. It was so cool to learn more about the area and here more about all the different lines that are doable. The first run we just traversed high under the Telephrique and skied a North facing shot that still had some great powder.

The runs here are so long that you get about 6,000 vertical in one run. We then decided to go adventure skiing to the road, with the lack of snow I was not sure how far we would get. We skied the first 5,000 feet in awesome untouched powder with amazing views of the mountains and canyons. The last 2,000 feet was some serious bushwacking and walking, but it was still worth the upper turns and ended up being quite and adventure. We caught a ride back to the bottom of the telephrique and caught the last ride up and enjoyed some wine in the sun at 12,600 feet and then skied the second Trifede couloir at sunset. So beautiful! Can't wait for another day of skiing in the sun.