What Goes Up.......

A pre Christmas getaway to Grimentz saw me arriving by rail at Sierre to be met by the Postbus which was on chains. This was the first time I had seen a bus in the valley on chains, and on arrival in Grimentz it was easy to see why they were needed.

Of course, the path to the apartment had not been cleared, so I was soon knee deep in snow. Next day the snow continued, and once I had dealt with some admin matters, I decided that I would try snow shoes for the afternoon. Visibility was quite poor at times, but I was very pleased with my 1st attempt. I did realise whilst walking down the Bendolla piste, that it is quite steep.

The next day saw slightly improved visibility, and as the lifts were still closed I decided to try my skins on the same ascent to Bendolla.

I was very pleased with my climb times, which were double last years' attempts. Of course, as the lifts were closed, I got to make some lovely turns in untracked powder.

The next day I was heading for the Bendolla lift, and I received a surprise txt from Ian, who was on his way over from Zinal in his car. We agreed to meet at the restaurant at the top of the gondola, however quickly went to Plan B, when the lift broke down.
After a coffee at the bottom, the lift resumed running and we headed up to blue skies and glorious conditions. Ian was on new skis, Black Diamond Kilowatts, and as he is a rock magnet soon made a hole in them.



We had wonderfully fluffy powder which lasted all day, although I really only got into turning properly mid afternoon, which was a shame, as the powder turned to overdone meringue overnight, robbing me of the chance to perfect my turns!

That evening saw the Grimentz Christmas Fair in full swing. This creation from the local bakers' really grabbed my interest.

The next day I skied Grimentz again, and tried the off piste, but it had frozen hard overnight and was just awful. I stayed on the piste, as the visibility was a bit poor as well.

Grimentz closed it's lift system again on the Monday, so I headed for Zinal. It was quite a long journey as there is no skiers bus linking Grimentz and Zinal until the 22nd December, so I had to travel via Vissoie, 2 buses each way. With delays at the cable car, it was really a 2 hour journey to the slopes, and it was a shame that the visibility was not so good, since the snow was quite nice.

The next day I made the same journey and was rewarded with better weather, though the off piste was as crusty as the Grimentz stuff, which is not too surprising really.


The snow began again next day, and I needed to pack, so I spent my time walking in and around Grimentz, which looks very pretty in it's winter coat.

It was lovely to get away from the overly commercial and tacky aspects of the run up to Christmas in the UK, and chance to get some great skiing done.