So after the excitement of waist deep powder in Chamonix two days ago on Sunday we drove over to the freeride mecca of Verbier.
Verbier is a pretty famous resort, part of the huge 4 valleys. There are lots of new lifts opened this winter that link even more areass up. Verbier is not for beginers, in fact some areas are only linked by steep off piste itineraries, it does have some great free ride terrain and lots of fancy looking expensive chalets. Today, sadly the terrain was all tracked out or avalanching on north aspects. It appears last weekends storm hit here less hard than in Chamonix so instead of waist deep fresh snow it had 25cm of heavy snow from the warm +5c temperatures. Never mind we still found some fun and safe off piste runs and it was good to leave Chamonix for the day.
Verbier is just 1 hour away by car from Chamonix up the snowy Col des Montets and down the never ending hill into Martigny. Martigny has some stunning vineyards crafted into the steep south facing hillside above the town, they are so steep that they use cable cars to access certain points. It also has a castle perched on a rock above the town. Otherwise the place is a complete dump. The centre has no character, the architecture is Swiss utilitarian at its finest! The round about you approach has a hideous monstrosity of colours and shapes that someone potentially thought was a sculpture. This dull depressing vibe might be to do with the dark shadow the mountains cast over the town in winter, but no it’s depressing in summer too! The picture above was looking up the valley this evening.