we parked at the bottom of the combe des Juments lift on the road in to the town - so an easy option to get to, although at this time of day (as we were early - 9:30) we could have driven through to the big car park at the Massif de Balme end of the resort.
The temperature overnight had been the lowest so far and it was still very cold as we got ready .... three layers on the bottom half and five on the top and still the cold got through.
We went up the lift to the mid station and then as it was all in the shade and exceedingly cold, debated what to do ... as the sun would take awhile to get up w opted to traverse over to the other end, involving dropping down towards the top of the crete du Merle lift facing the town centre. Only the blue run was open and even this was treacherous with the snow makers still blasting away. My glasses soon steamed up inside and iced up outside. Then we headed off down the long windy track to the Balme cable car. Much of the same all the way down, trying to avoid the snow makers spray and keep all gaps covered to keep the warmth in. This brought back memories of a place called La Norma many years previously.
We got to the cable car as the morning rush was just starting, and rode up to the main mountain station. here a couple of lifts went up, one to the col and one to access the next door bowl. We took the col lift in the hope of getting to the sun which was peeping over the top.
At the top the sun was shining but a breeze was rattling everything. there was a great view from the col, unfortunately my camera battery suffered from the cold at this point and closed down.
We took the red and the black down from here ... very fast hard packed but with lots of sluff patches to aid the turns and control the skid. Also the conditions reined in the speed merchants so prevalent on the blues as the needed control. Up the second lift from the main station to have a look around and back down the blue (not nice track and racers) and red (better crowd but still ordinary).
After a warm up in the cafe .. it was -6 in the foyer without any wind chill... we came out to try the bowl to the right looking up.
up the shorter chair then down the other side to a Poma... and a lot of signs about "expert skiers only!". The Poma ended up in a bowl below the ridge.
I should have checked the status of the runs below this when we first go there but failed so we ended up going back up to get back to the cable car station. Although this did mean I got to go again on the black - which was probably my favorite for the day (not saying a lot really).
Back at the cable car we chose to ride it down rather than follow the blue track and the snow cannons, as we looked down on it, we could see it was a wise decision.
Back at the bottom the crowds were really in full swing, and we had to queue for the first time to ride the bubble lift up to cote 2000 (back on the massif d'Aiguille side where we had started. In addition this stopped as we joined the queue and then again as we were just about to leave the bottom station.
Taking the motorway down was a case of finding a line following sluff patches and away from the popular bits.
As we dropped down below the bubnble lift we kept right to pick up the top of our first lift of the day - with the lower routes closed and only the ones to the town centre open we had to ride the chair back down.
To ride the chair we had to take the skis off and hand to an assistant to put in the rack .. the reason for his only became apparent at the bottom as the chair was way off the ground and needed a jump down.
On the other side as we walked back to the car we could seen the snow making still going on in the Mangold area..
Back to the apartment and some warmth, but a good reconnoiter. There was plenty of "side of the piste" activity available here (as opposed to the Megeve runs) if the snow had been better suited for it.
