I know I said the same when we first visited Chamonix. But I will have to repeat the exclamation. Today we visited Verbier! OMG! It's one of the most amazing resorts we've seen in Europe so far. To be fair, we didn't make it to the 3 valleys, in France, but this resort was impressive. I can't remember the stats but I think there is about 400 - 500km of groomed trails across 4 valleys. The infrastructure is amazing. Brand new lifts, gondolas and telepheriques everywhere. You can smell the money in this town. It is definitely a home to the rich and famous. I mean to say, we passed Richard Branson on the chairlift this morning!! Apparantly he has a little shack here!
2/ Huge infrastructure - 150 person telepheriques!
But the attribute that most excited us was the vast area of backcountry that appears to be available from the resort. While it's glaciated at over 3000m, the terrain looks to be a lot more mellow than the Chamonix backcountry which generally requires serious mountaineering and climbing skills.
There are also a number of "intineraires hors piste" that are promoted by the resort. Well sign -posted, they are generally accessible with only a short tour from the lifts.
3/ At the summit. Mont Fort 3330m! Behind - Verbier backcountry. yum!!
In the last week of their season, Verbier was definitely in wind down mode. Only about a 1/4 of the mountain was open, so we managed to ski just about all the lifts. At 3000m it was still firm packed powder, while lower down it was Australian powder - ie., slush. We didn't mind. The sun was out for most of the morning with the heat cumulous cloud only building in the afternoon.
We spent a great deal of our time on the sides of the runs gazing at all the amazing off-piste available! In fact, we spent a lot of time with our mouths open, gaping in astonishment. Having met John Falkiner, the ex-pat Aussie who guides here, we couldn't help but think he has chosen the most perfect place to be a mountain guide. Verbier's terrain, its height, the infrastructure and the wealthy clientele must equate to good business for him.
Today, there is also a FIS World Speed Skiing Championship race. Having never seen anything quite like this, we were fascinated and spent a good part of the early morning watching these madmen hurtle down the slope. More about this with pictures in a separate post!
4/ The Speed Skiing Course from the top of Mont Fort!
What a shame we didn't get to Verbier earlier in the season. We had free tickets, but somehow time ran out? Relaxing with a glass of wine & enjoying a most delicious mountain lunch, we began making a list of all the things we "wished we'd done". That's Pandora's Box for you! Once you've had a taste of what Europe Alps have to offer - you want more!!
Oh well at least we've made it to Verbier today! Aren't we lucky?
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