Full Circle

Bonjour,

So eight and a half months ago we said our goodbyes to the snow and friends we had made in Meribel and continued on our amazing adventure around Southern Europe.  From France into Northern Spain, then Portugal, then Southern Spain, back into France for the summer then onto Italy, a brief stopover in Slovenia, then Croatia, a ferry from Croatia back to mainland Italy, a ferry across to Sardinia, another ferry back to mainland Italy and then back into France via the Mont Blanc tunnel and here we are today back in Meribel!!!  So we have been FULL CIRCLE but sitting here again now it seems like we haven’t been away and it all seems a bit of a blur.  

We decided to head back here to spend Julie’s Birthday, Christmas & New Year and to finish our year off and to hopefully get some snowboarding in and catch up with friends who will also be here over Christmas & New Year.  The way it’s all worked out we are here a tad early but that’s not a bad thing as from here if we need to get home to see Dad it’s an easier journey and we know if we need to we can leave the van here for a few days and it will be safe. Dad is still in hospital where he is being well looked after, I know he would want us to carry on our adventure but of course if things change then we can get home within 24 hours.  

The snow hasn’t arrived yet so it does seem a bit odd but to be honest it’s really quite nice as the resort isn’t due to open until 6th so if there were snow now it would be frustrating as none of the lifts would be open to get to the runs.  We always said we’d love to see Meribel in the summer and do some walking so as there is only a covering of snow on the surrounding summits it has enabled us to walk places we never would have imagined.

The campsite without snow

The day after we arrived we decided to walk up into Meribel (the free bus service is not running yet so it means walking everywhere which we don’t mind at all) and then headed to the La Chaudanne which is main hub of the resort and where all the main lifts depart from, it seemed really strange seeing it without any snow or people, it was so quiet!  

We then walked across to the green run Truite which is the home run from Meribel Mottaret 1750m back into Meribel 1450m, it was really strange and as we began walking we found ourselves walking up a tarmac road across a car park and over a tennis court, usually we are flat out down this run, it all looks so different and although it’s a green run, so very easy, it felt quite steep walking up it!!  We carried on walking until we reached Meribel Mottaret and had a quick look around but there wasn’t much going on apart from a few 3 valleys staff having a coffee probably discussing when its gonna snow!!! So we turned round and walked back down Truite chatting about the many times that we have bombed it back into Meribel.  We can’t believe the amount of work still going on to buildings and alike with only a few days to go till opening of the resort.   We walked all the way back to camp at Le Martagon and got to the bar just before closing for a well earned demi beer in the sun.

Every time we step from our van or walk anywhere you can’t help looking up to the mountains surrounding us, one in particular has the Olympic chair lift going to the summit at 2294m which is one of our favourites as there is some fantastic off-piste boarding/skiing to be had and also the views from the top over into the other valleys is fantastic but as there are no lifts running at the minute the only way to the summit is to walk.  As there are so many marked trails we said lets do it so after knocking up a packed lunch and getting our gear on we set off staring up to the summit both thinking thats a long way up!!!!  The first trail marker pointed us towards the Grand Lac saying 2.5 hours so we thought not too bad and began to climb on what is basically a goat track zig zagging its way up and with each step you got a better view of the Meribel valley below and as we stopped for a breather every now and then we pointed out the lifts and runs on the opposite side of the valley.  

The trail took us across the red Les Villages run which takes you back down to Les Allues and along the route there are little buildings which you never usually see as they are buried in snow.  As we continued to climb we could just about make out the van parked up, it was like a little dot far down in the distance.

The red dot is our van!

We carried on like this until we reached the summit and the Grand Lac which to be honest wasn’t that Grand as we were now up above the snow line so it was covered in the white stuff.  After a check on the map we had two options which were to either go back down the way we came up or to follow the ridge along the top of the mountain up to a view point at Le Verdet 2294m and the Olympic lift station which on the trail sign said 55 minutes, so off we set but this part off the trail was covered in snow so it was a bit tricky to follow and add to this a gusty cold wind blowing made it all a bit nerve racking but we just kept on following what we thought was the trail thinking it can’t be far now then I began to recognise parts of the mountain where I had dropped into when going off-piste last season with Pete so I knew that the Olympic lift station/view point wasn’t that much further up.  Julie and I finally clambered over the last ridge and snow covered trail and spotted the lift station so we decided to shelter from the cold wind by hiding round the back and had a quick drink and sandwich before deciding which way to head back to camp as time was getting on.  

Again we had two options, one was to follow the same route back along the ridge and down or ascend down what is known as The Face which we have done a few times on our snowboards.  It was created for the 1992 winter Olympics downhill, one thing we hate doing is back tracking so The Face it was!!!! Omg how steep, there is no way you could walk straight down it we had to traverse across from side to side, how the hell those down hill skiers straight line it from the top is beyond us!!! We eventually made it down as far as the Le Raffort run which takes you directly back to camp and is a lovely run down through the trees and nowhere near as steep as The Face thank god!!!   

The Face  

The view down the Face

It was a truly fantastic day and when we got back to the van we couldn't believe where we had been, I highlighted the route we took on the picture below which in no way does it justice, how far we actually went or the terrain we covered!!

Our route....

The next day we could feel the day before’s adventure in our legs and knees so as the weather was dry & clear and fairly warm again we decided to go out for a spin on the XT so we followed the road out through Meribel Village to La Tania & Courchevel which surprisingly wasn’t that far at all but somewhere you don’t ever venture by road as we usually board over directly from Meribel.

Oh before we go we forgot to say last week that while we were at Samoens there was a small earthquake and a couple of aftershocks just 18km North of Chamonix which measured 3.7 on the richter scale but although we were in the affected area we didn’t feel it in the van maybe because the rubber tyres absorbed the shock. Here's the link with all the details.

Small earthquake in Chamonix

We had a message from Jim about it and Julie also bumped into the cleaner and she was waffling on in French and after a lot of hand waving and a few familiar French words Julie understood what she was talking about!!!  I know exactly what you lot are thinking, no the Earth didn’t move for Julie……boom, boom!!!

Anyway that's all for now so over & out for another week.

J&J

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