Minimum altitude: 1,411 meters
Distance: 93.4 km
Slope Aspect: Various
Vertical Climbed: 11,258 meters (36,937 feet)
Vertical Descended: 11,230 meters
Saturday at Valloire was one of those pleasingly quiet ski days that feel better than the forecast or the piste map might suggest. I was there with a group of university friends, and for most of the day the mountain seemed almost empty. We skied mainly on Sétaz and in the main bowl, only once crossing over towards Valmeinier, and otherwise stayed happy on the Valloire side.
The snow was good almost everywhere, with a surface that was enjoyable and reliable for most of the day, though interrupted here and there by odd icy patches in seemingly random places. My impression was that some sections had probably softened too much in the afternoon sun the day before and then refrozen overnight, which would explain the sudden changes under ski. Most of the time conditions were very good, but every so often you would hit a harder patch that kept you paying attention.
What stayed with me most was the emptiness of the slopes: wide pistes, very few people, and that easy feeling of skiing without urgency. We ended up covering nearly 90 km of skiing and over 11,000 metres of vertical, which made it a properly full day even though we never felt any need to chase mileage or range too far across the domain.
It was not an epic day in the grand sense, just a very good one: quiet slopes, generally good snow, plenty of fast skiing, and the pleasure of sharing it with old university friends.
Spring snow, some ice, we followed the sun. cloud came in in the afternoon with some snow flakes when we left. Heavier snow as we headed west on the autoroute but above 800 meters.
