Trois Valleys - Christmas

Wow did we have good luck! This year Aoum and I went to Val Thorens in the three valleys area of the French Alps. We had a week of snow and a week of sun. Every day of the first week there was a little new snow. Aoum was learning for the first time, so this was perfect. We stayed in Val Thorens and ended up boarding just about every km of the area. The second week, the sun came out and it stayed cold. The snow was soft and we explored Les Menuires, Mottaret, Meribel and Courcheval. Aoum went from nothing to making good turns on BLACKS! I enjoyed taking my GPS around and uploaded the tracks at the end of each day.



It could not have been better.

Clachnaben - At night

It is getting dark about 3:45 now and I was getting tired of eating dinner and "turning in" for the night at 5:00 pm. I talked Aoum into a night climb of Clachnaben. It is only 25 km drive, so it was easy to get to. The temperature was -2 c and I wasn't sure the road would be passable, but it wasn't too bad. The drive up looked like a winter wonderland. The trees were all heavy with snow from yesterday and low temps today. We donned our headlamps and started up from the car about 5:15 pm. It was DARK but the lamps were great. We never saw the ground as every step was into (sometimes deep) snow. The wind seemed dead calm until we got to the top where it was blowing snow at 25 mph. We tried to find a sheltered spot to sit and have a bite but the wind was swirling and we decided to just head down. It was slick coming down and we both had trouble keeping our feet under us even on flat ground. We got back to the car at 8:00 and were happy with our speed.

Loch Muick and the Waterfall

After eating (and drinking) a bit too much on Saturday for our Thanksgiving dinner, we got a late start on Sunday. We walked the length of Loch Muick and then climbed up along the waterfall towards Lochnagar. Anywhere there was water running along the path was solid ice nd made for a difficult walk. We got as high as 750 meters and the views across the loch and onto the Cairngorm Plateau were clear as a bell. The loch was very uncharacteristically smooth and gave a mirror reflection of the hills.


Dan leaving Loch Muick behind


Water / Ice fall


Aoum at the top of the falls


Loch Muick looking like a mirror

Clachnaben - In the snow

On November 22nd, we had a nice snowfall. The mountains were all white and beautiful. We decided late to get out for a walk and only had time for a quick walk. Aoum's feet were still sore, so Dan and I ran out to Clachnaben for a climb. The weather had passed and we didn't feel the wind until we were on the top. The temp was -4 c and with the wind on the top, it was COLD! We were going to take a new route down, but some dark clouds started to move in and we thought it best to race back to the car.


Crisp


Dan in some of the shallower snow on the way up