Skiing and avoiding Covid

We always reckon February is the best month to ski in the Alps … it has perhaps the best chance of fresh powder and soft snow, slightly longer days, and a fair chance of sunshine kissed weather! However, we last skied in France in February 2020, just before the Covid pandemic took the world into a tail-spin of lockdowns and travel restrictions. Thankfully though, after a knee-jerk ban on travel from the UK in late 2021 in response to the Omicron variant spreading widely, France opened up for tourism – and skiing – just in time for our February 2022 ski. Not so bad, we only missed one ski season.

During the closure the Alps looked super quiet, and ski trips were being advertised at amazingly cheap rates. But, as soon as travel restriction were lifted, the prices started to go up on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis! We had to act quick, and so our favourite, Chamonix, was quickly selected for our piste (and off-piste) 2022 ski adventure…

We kicked off with a day at Les Houches to check we could remember how to ski…

Laetitia getting her skis back on after a lunch stop at Les Houches

The next day we went to Le Tour to remember how to ski off-piste…

Skiing amongst the trees in soft snow at Le Tour

Then it was time to get away from it all and go “over the back” with the Crochues-Berard Traverse in the Aiguilles Rouges…

After the zig-zag ski tracks the climb up to the Col Des Aiguille Crochues requires a bit of effort in boots! At least the snow was soft and the crampons stayed in our packs.
Over the back of the Col Des Aiguille Crochues at the start of the Crochues-Berard Traverse
With such great weather and snow conditions the route was popular … a busy Col Du Berard with many people transitioning from skins to skis.
After the amazing descent of the Vallon de Beard one reaches the ultimate goal of this trip, a beer at the Hotel du Buet! A bit later, after soaking up some sunshine, reliving the powder and turns of the day, and downing the last drops of beer it’s time to catch the train back to Chamonix…

At the end of our long-week we overlapped with Saskia and Nick for a couple of days of ski fun. We even took them down what I think was possibly their first ever black ski run! Woo hoo! Plus, it’s always great to enjoy a bit of apres ski…

Enjoying some French wine at Cha-Cha-Cha

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