We got up early at Bob Mazerei’s place in Le Chable, and told Jimmy we had to pack up from our hotel in Sierre before we could ski.
Bob’s house in Le Chable:
Early morning view from his deck:
We deferred to the locals on where to ski Wednesday after Tuesday’s widespread warmup.
Pistes in the core area of Verbier are plurality west facing, so Bob and Jimmy told us to meet them at Savoleyeres, which has Verbier’s small amount of east facing. That required a bus connection from the top of the Le Chable gondola, so we started skiing with them about 11:30. View from Le Chable gondola including a parapente:
View of Verbier from Savoleyres gondola:
Bob told us that the Savoleyres gondola will soon be replaced, and there will be a dogleg extension into Verbier’s terrain. Jimmy remarked that these projects take longer in Switzerland, because they are not government subsidized as in Austria and Italy.
As of now only a couple of sun exposed surface lifts connect Savoleyres/Tzoumas to the main part of Verbier, but that area had melted out during the 40-day dry spell. Thus Savoleyres/Tzoumas was very quiet and the pistes had some decent corn midday.
Bob and Liz with Grand Combin in background:
Jimmy and Liz, with Bob farther down the piste:
Bob does some professional photography so he set up a couple of spots on the pistes and had us ski by with suitable alpine scenery in the background. Here he’s waiting for a couple of uphill skiers to pass before Liz and Jimmy ski by.
After skiing the Savoleyres/Tzoumas pistes we settled in for a lunch at Croix de Coeur. This is what skiing with locals will get you on a day when conditions are so-so. Bob got the waiter to take a food porn picture.
I had the Savoie traditional cheese croute with ham and Liz had “the best risotto of her life.”
It was past 2PM when we finished, so Bob and Jimmy called it a day. Liz and I took a short bus to Meyeritzet and skied some Verbier pistes over Attelas, then over Fontanet to La Choux and back to Ruinettes. The spring snow was good but as predicted the light was flat with the incoming storm due the next day.
James will not be surprised by Verbier’s lift tower sponsor:
Given Verbier ‘s relative prominence of off piste vs. on piste terrain, I was surprised by its reputation as a hotspot for the international rich and famous, along with Fraser’s comments about the most expensive lodging in the Alps. Jimmy explained later that Verbier has relatively few hotels and apartments and a lot of private chalets, which are at this point only affordable by the aforementioned clientele.
We skied a leisurely 13,000 vertical, logical due to the late start, outstanding lunch and deteriorating afternoon weather.
Bob’s house in Le Chable:
Early morning view from his deck:
We deferred to the locals on where to ski Wednesday after Tuesday’s widespread warmup.
Pistes in the core area of Verbier are plurality west facing, so Bob and Jimmy told us to meet them at Savoleyeres, which has Verbier’s small amount of east facing. That required a bus connection from the top of the Le Chable gondola, so we started skiing with them about 11:30. View from Le Chable gondola including a parapente:
View of Verbier from Savoleyres gondola:
Bob told us that the Savoleyres gondola will soon be replaced, and there will be a dogleg extension into Verbier’s terrain. Jimmy remarked that these projects take longer in Switzerland, because they are not government subsidized as in Austria and Italy.
As of now only a couple of sun exposed surface lifts connect Savoleyres/Tzoumas to the main part of Verbier, but that area had melted out during the 40-day dry spell. Thus Savoleyres/Tzoumas was very quiet and the pistes had some decent corn midday.
Bob and Liz with Grand Combin in background:
Jimmy and Liz, with Bob farther down the piste:
Bob does some professional photography so he set up a couple of spots on the pistes and had us ski by with suitable alpine scenery in the background. Here he’s waiting for a couple of uphill skiers to pass before Liz and Jimmy ski by.
After skiing the Savoleyres/Tzoumas pistes we settled in for a lunch at Croix de Coeur. This is what skiing with locals will get you on a day when conditions are so-so. Bob got the waiter to take a food porn picture.
I had the Savoie traditional cheese croute with ham and Liz had “the best risotto of her life.”
It was past 2PM when we finished, so Bob and Jimmy called it a day. Liz and I took a short bus to Meyeritzet and skied some Verbier pistes over Attelas, then over Fontanet to La Choux and back to Ruinettes. The spring snow was good but as predicted the light was flat with the incoming storm due the next day.
James will not be surprised by Verbier’s lift tower sponsor:
Given Verbier ‘s relative prominence of off piste vs. on piste terrain, I was surprised by its reputation as a hotspot for the international rich and famous, along with Fraser’s comments about the most expensive lodging in the Alps. Jimmy explained later that Verbier has relatively few hotels and apartments and a lot of private chalets, which are at this point only affordable by the aforementioned clientele.
We skied a leisurely 13,000 vertical, logical due to the late start, outstanding lunch and deteriorating afternoon weather.
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