There were 6 chalets in this one building, each sleeping about 20 people. Finding your way around inside involved negotiating a bizarre maze of stairwells and ascents/descents (which I believe were designed to confuse invading foraging parties from neighbouring chalets), but the wood and snow were very beautiful. For addicts like me they even had wireless internet!
The main resort of La Rosiere was a 10 min walk through this forest. It was very beautiful.
Mad vegan skiiers and boarders en route to somewhere very high and cold ...
Near the top of Chaz Dura, ~ 2,550 m. The highest peak was nearby at 2,641 m. That's the main range behind us, with Mt Blanc rising to 4,810 m, hidden by cloud.
The peaks on the left rise to 3,485 m (Tete du rutor + glacier du rutor). A helicopter will drop you off there to ski down if you're extremely brave/foolhardy.
This century-old fort on the French side guarded the pass leading to Italy. We passed it every day on our way to and from Italy, on the Col de la Traversette, 2,383 m.
The fort lies deeply buried under snow. There are tantalising stairways leading down into the snow, and half-buried doorways ... I wanted to explore more but ski boots make for slow walking and I was freezing. It was routinely about -10C during the cold mornings up there, when it was snowing, which it did for most of the week.
These grew steadily longer during our week. By the end we had 5 foot icicles hanging from our chalet.
This was the highest restuarant on the Italian side, half way up the mountain range. I'd go there most days and eat pasta, tomato sauce and chips (the only vegan food up there), and listen to appalling dance music in the plastic-enclosed deck area on the right, which (only) I loved.
This stunning run goes all the way down to La Thuile, the Italian town at the base of the mountain. Apparently it was about 11 km. Two mad vegan guys who refused to stop, and I, did it in 15 mins, averging about 40 km/h. It runs from wide open snowy places to deep forests and has plenty of great photo opportunities ...
One of the nameless people sometimes known as Neil who refused to stop all the way down (you knackered my leg muscles Neil!). At least he stacked it once near the bottom on steep ice. He's actually a great skier and naturally emerged with all but his pride intact.
For two days I'd arrived at the restuarant too late to join others lounging in the alpine sun on the deckchairs at the Italian restuarant, because leaving the area too late means you won't be able to get back to France before the lifts close around 1630. This was my last day and I was determined not to miss my chance, despite the building blizzard ... note the snow whipping past my feet. With the wind chill it was about -20 C.
After the deckchair photo, the restuarant staff advised us the pass back to France would probably be closed due to bad weather, stranding us in Italy! I was supposed to catch the Eurostar back the next morning ... and so we raced to the top, skied into the blizzard, found that the lifts were still open, and made it across this long valley towards France. The white-out at the time limited visibility to about 30 feet, ie one pole at a time, and with the wind chill the T was about -25 C. It was, of course, snowing, nearly blinding my companions who lacked goggles, who also did not know the way. And so we slowly and very painfully skied the 20 min connection back to France ...
When we finally reached the base of this lift back up into France, it was a huge feeling of relief, because no matter how much suffering we were enduring, we knew at that point we would definitely make it home. It would have been an easy place to die in .... The pain as the circulation returned to my fingers, while going up this lift, nearly doubled me over, but vegan cakes and hot choc was only 20 mins away! There was even hot wine at the top for the drinkers. Note the red run curving down the left side of the mountain. The fort is at the top. That was the scenic ski run into Italy.
I just can't resist climbing the highest peak, wherever I go, as quickly as possible ...this was near the top of Chaz Dura (2,579 m) (again), with the Mt Blanc range in the background. Mt Blanc is to the right, off-shot, but the peak was visible on this day, not too far away!
