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La Thuile delivered today. Everything previously discussed in TR’s was spot on. Easy drive from Courmayeur, empty on a Saturday, easy parking. On arrival at the top of the base gondola I was immediately awed by the scale of the area and the scenery. Courmayeur is beautiful in its own right but...

Off piste was a bust today. The trams opened but our one run off the back of the Arp cable car was terrible and we wound up with a 30 minute trek out of unskiable cement. Skied on piste the rest of the day. Visibility was good, place wasn’t too crowded, and had a great lunch at Chiecco. It is...

Yes they skied into it. They took the elevator down from helbronner and walked through a tunnel. From there they hopped a fence protecting the observation deck from the top of a colouir before putting their skis on and descending the colouir onto the glacier. They said the snow was slick in the...

Unbelievable afternoon on the valle blanche. Our guide said it was a 7/10. 10/10 weather, abundant sunshine. 5/10 snow. The stair case down from the top of the skyway was easy as could be and I was glad to avoid the arete on the Cham side I have read about. The top bit was heavy, after a while...

Well my cousin is getting the run of a lifetime, I am enjoying a beer at the top of the skyway. They will be back up in a few minutes and we will do the valle Blanche afterwords. The guide wanted to enter the toula glacier by taking the elevator down from the top of the cable car through the...

Not sure what the alternative to the ladder looks like in practice but hopefully we will go up and take a look. At least to the direct side of your photos that doesnt look bad. I think we will definitely get two trips in. Meeting at 9 and have all day so I don't see why not. I guess if we get to...

Our guide is trying to convince us that this can be done even without the ladder. He is pitching some sort of rope repelling or colouior. I have an aversion to heights and the last time I let a guide talk me into something I wound up on the West side of the Valluga in St Anton walking down some...

Mixed bag today. Still, the lunch and views made up for any shortcomings in the off piste. Coverage was not the issue, plenty of snow. There was a valley cloud that just hung around all day and the humidity seemed to crush the snow. At high elevation was still heavy, by the lower elevations of...

Did that on the trip to arlberg. I skied until noon. Was great. I was in Jackson in January. Getting there and back was just as difficult, more expensive, and most importantly to me burned as much time. A minimum of one wasted travel day. I’d just rather come here.

Always. In 2020 took a Neos air flight from JFK to Milan that landed by 6 am and was skiing at St Moritz by 1030. In 2018 landed in Zurich at 7 and was skiing in Steuben by 11. Geneva was easy, we were on the ground before 7. Swiss actually added a 430 PM flight to Zurich this year which gets in...

Pulled into Geneva early. When I entered the Mont Blanc tunnel there was virtually no snow on the ground. When I exited on the Italian side it was full winter. Lightly snowing in town when I got here with what seemed like at least a foot of fresh snow on the local roofs. Even operating not at...

We booked one guided day at La thuile on Friday and one guided day at courmayeur on Thursday.

For sure. And I know there is a mix of opinions on this board on the danger or lack there of off piste routes than can be easily scouted etc in terms of how safe it is or isnt to be cavalier with. level 4 seems high. and ive got 2 young kids so maybe im a bit too cautious. my hope is that maybe...

I was able to get a flight arriving early to geneva so should be able to get some turns in tomorrow. I have spoken with the heli company and the mountain guide association in Courmayeur and at the moment the avalanche danger level is at 4. They received 40 cm yesterday on top of what was...

I reached out to that Heli outfit to see if they have any openings this week. Would definitely consider that if the weather cooperates. First day skiing will be Wednesday. Plenty of rooms available in Courmayeur so not going to book any lodging yet. Will leave options open in case weather looks...

Realistically, if we chose Courmayeur, based on only skiing 4.5 days, I would say we would probably only do La Thuile. We would probably hire a guide at Courmayeur for 2 of the days. Chris trip report last year was very promising. It seems to pack a lot of the alps experience into a well wrapped...

Hadn’t given it much thought but if I remember correctly train access is pretty decent to that area from the airport. Might be preferred to renting if it is snowing. Powderhounds writes highly of the area.

Ok we are going to go. Either leave tomorrow night or Monday night still have not decided. I think we are ruling out the Dolomites. For 4.5 days of skiing it’s just too long a drive from Milan. I think a few weeks ago conditions looked materially worse everywhere else so we felt like we needed...

JFK to Milan leaving as early as tonight is $590 round trip. Same price as it’s been for months. Unbelievable.

I thought I mentioned in my OP but it is a short trip. 5 days of skiing. If it was 2 weeks Id have booked weeks ago and rolled the dice with whatever happens. Given such a short trip and given there are good conditions out west, and given that weve waited this long to give ourselves maximum...