Swiss Potatoes

For what is about to follow, it may be useful to first study this. All great stories start with a map, and this is no exception.

The day started in the Ardent car park. All great stories start in a car park.



For the interested minority, when i refer to the "bubble" in "Ardent", it's got nothing to do with detergent, it's this:



The view from above Avoriaz is only slightly better than the view from the car park.



So much for a half-day out in the mountains. At about 14:00, when we realised we were at least 30km from home, it became apparent that our half day was rapidly maturing in to a full day out. We did the "full" Swiss Tour today taking us from Avoriaz, through Point de Mossette to Morgins down its 11km long gorgeous valley, which i've probably mentioned before is like standing on a moving platform and being whisked through perfect Alpine forest. Then we travelled up and down Morgins a dozen times in the sun and fabulous snow.

And when i say gorgeous valley, i mean this:



(Gorgeous, aren't i.) And this is rather a spectacular shot of the Dents du Midi (about 3200m).



On the way down to Morgins, Phil spotted a Snow Leopard making a kill in the nearby cliffs. Or, he saw some boarders being truly insane, i don't recall which.



From the top of Morgins there's an excellent view of the awesome lightning bolt stripes on the handles of my Bandit Earth poles. Neato.



After lunch, which consisted of about 600kg of rosti, we headed up to Super Chatel where we observed the Comedie Ecole du Ski Francais which consisted of several men falling over each other and down various slopes and a totally disinterested ski instructor who was skiing with the skis of another student on her shoulder who'd decided that skiing wasn't for him and was walking down the pistes in his ski boots.

In the midst of this we noted another spectacular shot of the Dents du Midi (still about 3200m).



From the Chatel village we took the bus to Linga where we ascended right back up to 2100m before dropping down to Plaine Dranse (and burying my head in some super-fine powder on the way) and then climbing over the Col de Bassachaux, heading down excellent off-piste to Lindarets and finally to the l'Escapade bar at Ardent.

(i don't know if you noticed, but Chatel is rather pretty.)



After that we rushed off down to Seytroux, where we're renting an apartment from the 2nd of February, to fix the WiFi there (essential). That accomplished we whizzed through the Champion (a bit like an Aldi or Spar) and did our shopping in record time (the advantage of having been a seasonaire) and headed home for tortillas!