Ermitage Verbier

... control recently has broken down, this was the perfect sign to follow, where I planed to cross the border to Switzerland.

Just arrived in late afternoon to Aosta, I was not only already entered to the italian part of the alps but also to the point of good bye. Here I decided not to spend another night in Italy and crossed the border to my homecountry Switzerland a hour later at Calle del Gran San Bernardo.

BIENVENUE EN SUISSE - WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND

Rainy and cold has replaced sunny and warm in France but it has not curbed ambitions... Well, I guess any ambition to exercise has been exhausted but we saw that one coming.

Travel is still high priority. Last week the GEP cohort was treated to a day trip to Mt. Blanc in Chamonix. A three hour bus ride west took us into the steep peaked, deep valley-ed Rhône-Alpes. The landscapes only got more impressive as we wove through the valleys and eventually reached the base of Mt. Blanc. We ...

... way up the mountain with many 180 degree switchbacks that
were very narrow, I am glad I did not approach traffic coming the
other way in these turns. There also was not a guard rail to be
found and as I reached higher altitude, I became a little nervous
looking over the edge to the valley over 1,500 feet below. I reached
Megeve and decided that I had had enough nail biting driving for the
day, so I turned around and worked my way back down. I then headed
back to ...

... hotel and pick up the car for my first excursion
into the countryside. I decided to head over the mountains and back
into Switzerland near Martigny, a place I have been a couple of times
as that is where I have caught the cog train to come into Chamonix
the two other times I have visited. There was a cursory border check
and then I turned around and headed back into France and to Chamonix.
The roads were somewhat scary in spots, with many switchbacks and
Chamonix, Rhône-Alpes, France nedk

... poorly marked. Half the streets in Europe are so narrow anyways; they all look like one ways. So this car pulls up behind up and blocks us in, sweet, it’s the cops. They tell us we went up a one way.... So we honestly tell them it was a mistake and we're trying to turn around. Then they ask us where we are coming from and how much have we had to drink? Here we go... We had 1 big bottle of beer each 2 hours ago, then split ...

To finish off the season Rob and I have been loving a week of off piste skiing with one of the ES mountain guides. We have done loads of the classic routes that make Verbier so famous. For those of you that are not ski geeks, off piste sking is untouched snow that hasn't been compacted and beautifully flattened by machines. You can ski off piste or powder snow between ...

... skiing snow plough, carving, short turns and variable terrain - that's it!! BASI is the British Association of Snowsports Instructors. The association has a reputation for excellent training of snowsport instructors. Everyone found the weeks assessment quite stressful, but those that have now passed are very pleased!

... Vietimme siellä aikaa sunnuntaihin saakka ja majotus meille järjestyi Mofo pubin yläkerrasta superreilun Artun lattialta. Viisi henkeä pienessä huoneessa mutta itse olimme todella onnellisia tästä majoituksesta. Iso kiitos! Perjantaina oli Verbier Extreme, joka on siis suurin vapaalasku kilpailu ja ollut meillä haaveena noin seitsemän vuotta päästä katsomaan. Päivä oli upee, arska paisto ja saatiin itsemme raahattua ajoissa mestoille ja ...

The reason I went to France was to go skiing at chamonix/Mont Blanc, which i did and it was fantastic and i will be doing again very soon before i get tied up.. while i was there i did the world famous ski run Valley de blanche you ski over a glacier. which is amazing, the veiws you get on theis run are spectacular. definately take a camera.
to start this run however you take a gondola up to the summit of Aguille de medie (i'm unsure of the correct ...

www.elodie50a.com

Here is a video (sorry for the very bad quality)
http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=R5_9hODsqgs