Couloir Article on Vallée Blanche

Couloir magazine is a magazine for serious backcountry skiers/snowboarding/showshoers/etc. So when I saw their Winter 2006 issue had an article on skiing i Chamonix, I was psyched. We went to Chamonix in 2002, and I figured that Couloir's reporters would have some awesome hardcore of places we missed.

Instead, it turns out, the article had the benefit of making us feel like total studs!

My friends and I skied with Vincent Lameyre (their guide). He auditioned us on two lesser ski areas to evaulate our skills and stamina - routine for guides. ... Of the 15 of us who hoped to ski the Vallée Blanche, Vincent was taking eight.

Sweet! When we went, we were six people and all six of us skied the Vallée Blanche multiple days.

Groups with cross-border ambitions do the first part of the Vallée Blanche ... and then angle to the south to skin up the Col de Toule, as small pass right on the French-Italian border. ... We had neither the legs nor lungs for this detour.

Heh. On the last day we were in Chamonix, Oren, Justine and I took this route (see Snowboarding to Italy on the website).

Wow, I guess the next time we go we'll have to write an article of our own!