The day after I arrived in Chamoinx, it started snowing, and then it didn’t stop for the next week. Rocky trails morphed into groomed slopes. When the clouds finally parted, the peaks emerged, looking rather slammed with snow and ice. The Dru was even more sublimely beautiful with its new snow-streaked face. Once the sun came out, the whole valley knew that it was time for some serious play. Skis, snowshoes, and snowboards got dusted off, and we headed into the hills. The trees, thick with snow, looked as if they had been dipped in icing and places back on the hills:
And the forests were packed with thigh-high drifts. What had been a casual hike up the Berard Valley in the summer turned into a two and a half hour trail-breaking slog with snowshoes:
The same time on skis skinning up from Vallorcine offered a much better view:
And skiing down beats snowshoeing. Within two weeks, winter had arrived. Mountain biking, rock climbing on valley crags, running around the Source D’Arveyron: these things will have to wait for warmer weather.
