jamesdeluxe
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2020
For the final day of my trip, I went straight to the massive Swiss side of the Portes du Soleil, which includes six ski villages.
Before I forget, the French have, thankfully, gone really hardcore about protecting the environment on the Portes du Soleil, with all sorts of unavoidable reminders to recycle and not to throw garbage and cigarette butts from the lifts or on the trails:
It takes about 30 minutes of lifts and connecting trails to finally make it across the border. Throughout the region, signage is excellent:
Les Dents du Midi ("Teeth of the South").
Whereas the French side is predominantly serviced by high-speed lifts and dozens of on-mountain restaurants, the Swiss side is mostly fixed-grip or t-bars and far fewer food/beverage options; thus, a more back-to-the-basics environment. Here's a map, which, as mentioned in other TRs, doesn't come close to conveying the vastness of the terrain:
Hike-to couloirs everywhere:
So here's my bit of unplanned adventure from this trip -- when you're skiing by yourself in the midst of such huge expanses, there are all sorts of opportunities to be seduced by tracks going off into untracked paradise. Most of the time, you just say no and stay within visual distance of the trails and that's that. But between the Champoussin and Morgins trail network, I saw a football-field-wide gully of barely touched snow that I couldn't resist: knee-deep bliss. I left the trail here and kept going right:
And kept going (my tracks on the left side):
I must have gone down 1,200 verts before coming to a stop and realizing that I had completely lost my bearings. Long story short, I had to hump my way diagonally uphill in the sunshine for at least an hour (which felt like a lot longer). In addition to concerns about getting cliffed out, another real worry was being stuck in a valley on the Swiss side after the lifts close and the buses stop. A car service back to the French side is, no joke, $300+. Lots of people I talked to know friends who'd made that mistake, which is a lousy way to end the day.
I eventually found a snowshoe trail and ended up gliding into my goal for the day, the chocolate-box village of Morgins:
Today's Special Entree: Horse Steak
Enjoying lunch while looking up at 5,000 skiable verts:
On the way back to France, I ran into this unique shot for Europe -- an organized single's line (lift corrals generally don't exist).
Before I forget, the French have, thankfully, gone really hardcore about protecting the environment on the Portes du Soleil, with all sorts of unavoidable reminders to recycle and not to throw garbage and cigarette butts from the lifts or on the trails:
It takes about 30 minutes of lifts and connecting trails to finally make it across the border. Throughout the region, signage is excellent:
Les Dents du Midi ("Teeth of the South").
Whereas the French side is predominantly serviced by high-speed lifts and dozens of on-mountain restaurants, the Swiss side is mostly fixed-grip or t-bars and far fewer food/beverage options; thus, a more back-to-the-basics environment. Here's a map, which, as mentioned in other TRs, doesn't come close to conveying the vastness of the terrain:
Hike-to couloirs everywhere:
So here's my bit of unplanned adventure from this trip -- when you're skiing by yourself in the midst of such huge expanses, there are all sorts of opportunities to be seduced by tracks going off into untracked paradise. Most of the time, you just say no and stay within visual distance of the trails and that's that. But between the Champoussin and Morgins trail network, I saw a football-field-wide gully of barely touched snow that I couldn't resist: knee-deep bliss. I left the trail here and kept going right:
And kept going (my tracks on the left side):
I must have gone down 1,200 verts before coming to a stop and realizing that I had completely lost my bearings. Long story short, I had to hump my way diagonally uphill in the sunshine for at least an hour (which felt like a lot longer). In addition to concerns about getting cliffed out, another real worry was being stuck in a valley on the Swiss side after the lifts close and the buses stop. A car service back to the French side is, no joke, $300+. Lots of people I talked to know friends who'd made that mistake, which is a lousy way to end the day.
I eventually found a snowshoe trail and ended up gliding into my goal for the day, the chocolate-box village of Morgins:
Today's Special Entree: Horse Steak
Enjoying lunch while looking up at 5,000 skiable verts:
On the way back to France, I ran into this unique shot for Europe -- an organized single's line (lift corrals generally don't exist).
Last edited:
