Putting all the kit in the car I got in to drive it up the hill, then manoeuvring out of the lay-by, the was something wrong .. the front left chain had jumped off. No problem I thought .. just put it back on... Wrong .... the chain had actually pulled out of the grommet ... not simple to fix ... after trying we could not get it to stay on the chain.
So plan B ... use the avalanche shovels and ice axes to chip the ice and snow off a trail up the hill, a bit of salt later and we had a one wheel runway, and succeeded to get the van to the top. The initial problem was that there was a manhole cover under the snow and it caught the chain and ripped the grommet off.
Down at the bottom we parked in the car park and went up the cable car ... the first target was the highest point from this side. Mont Joli ... I wanted to see where Dave and I had got many years before.
We did some fast descents and 3 chair lifts, before we got there. Despite the sun and blue skies t here was a vicious wind blowing over the col at the top of the highest lift. We dropped down almost immediately without checking out the tops.
We dropped down to a mountain hut, and managed to get a table for some lunch ... unfortunately for Steph .. no chips, just alpine food.After eating we went back out on the slopes and shook out the cobwebs on the pistes below the hut.. We had so much fun we repeated it several times ... each time getting progressively further from the piste.
The off-piste runs were well skied and packed down, with just enough loose snow softened in the sun to make it good fun.
After we had exhausted our energy we headed back down the pistes to the van ... this was on wide open runs at the top with the occasional outing to the sides of the run, then in the woods the "outings" got more adventurous. At the top of the cable car we had a few anxious moments finding the route down the last section... this was hidden behind a few houses.Down a the bottom we had a few roads to cross on foot before we had to put the skis on our backs and walk down. Unfortunately we walked right rather than left .. and added a few hundred meters to our walk.
Back at the van we took the ruined chain to a ski shop, in the hope it had a press to squeeze the grommet on, but it was not successful. So a second diversion to the shops in town for food for dinner, and fortunately a new set of chains (supermarkets sell all kinds of things these days!!!)
Here is the trip track