1, 2, 3...Chamonix!!

There is no better way to celebrate February break than escaping to the French Alps for a week full of skiing and snow. And, in addition to having a wonderful time with wonderful people, I can confidently say that after this trip, I am officially a downhill skiing convert. I've finally overcome my fear of going too fast and have improved my form thanks to the many pointers from my experienced skiing friends. This is quite a lengthy post since we had a jam-packed five days in Chamonix, but it's worth a read for the pictures alone!

Elena and I began our travels to France with a flight from Bilbao to Geneva where we stayed the night in a (thankfully) very quiet hostel. After checking in, we got a quick dinner with our friend Noema and we decided on Indian since it is pretty much impossible to find this cuisine in Santander. We called it an early night and I have to say it was the best I've ever slept in a hostel...earplugs and an eye mask truly do make all the difference! (Mom, I'm slowly, but surely, turning into you).

The next morning we had a quick continental breakfast and after walking along the lakefront, we hopped on a bus to Chamonix! I had been hearing about this special place for years from Emma Sab and was so excited to see it for myself in person. Just the thought of staying in an adorable mountain town completely surrounded by snow capped peaks sounded too good to be true.

We arrived midday and immediately befriended another group of highly energetic and entertaining American skiers who had been pretty rowdy on the bus. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to chat with our new friends for long since Elena and I wanted to catch the tail end of the Chamonix farmers market. We said goodbye and promised we would try to meet up with them later on in the week…spoiler alert: it never came to fruition.

Elena has a friend from college (who she met on the ski team) who is currently living and working as an au pair in Chamonix. We met up with Tilli at a coffee shop and got the low down on everything she’s been up to since moving to France. She gave us a ton of recommendations for places to eat and where to après (skier lingo for going to drinks post hitting the slopes). We ended up trying all of her spots and there were no misses! Thank you Tilli for being an amazing tour guide <3

After checking into our Airbnb, which had the most beautiful view of the mountains out the kitchen windows, Elena and I hiked our way down the hill to pick up our ski rentals. This hill will come back time and time again throughout this post...it really kept our legs working hard especially after days full of skiing. We then met up with the rest of our group (!!!) Emma, Val, Walker and Thomas at the bus stop and helped them haul their luggage to our place. It was absolutely fantastic to be reunited with Emma and her Boston gang again and everyone was so excited for our vacation to begin!

However, we were all pretty exhausted from traveling (especially those who joined all the way from the USA) so we decided to order in some pizzas from The Dainty Pizza. This proved to be the first of Tilli’s recs that received glowing reviews from everyone! Our personal favorite was the hot honey and garlic white pizza....SO yummy. After some wine and game planning for the next day, we called it a night. 

We had decided as a group to buy lift tickets for three consecutive days and I was pretty nervous to see if my body could handle that level of activity. I hadn’t skied in years until just over a month ago when I went with Emma, Walker and Thomas. I knew I was signing up for some sore legs and stiff joints but I was excited (and nervous) to give it a go!

Day one on the mountain started out strong with an early wake up and some of Walker’s famous scrambled eggs. We layered up our gear and hobble/walked in our boots a mere five minutes to the Brévent gondola (Emma truly picked the perfect place for us to stay!). The Brévent and Flégère peaks and pistes are accessible via one gondola and we were perfectly positioned to take full advantage of these sking areas. It was the perfect place to start and luckily we got to ski one and a half days here.

After some warmup runs, Elena split off from our group to meet up with Tilli and some of her friends. The rest of us headed to some lifts further up the peak and quickly regretted that decision…a cloud had moved in and the visibility at the top was next to none. Val and I stuck very close together on our way down the slope and eventually we rejoined the other three who had taken a more difficult path.

Emma, Thomas and I did some extra runs before lunch and saw someone paraglide off the side of the mountain with their skis on! It was such an incredible thing to witness and we were all in awe of the guts it takes to do something like that. We met back up with Walker and Val for a quick lunch at a cute mountainside lodge and enjoyed a mix of picnic sandwiches and hot soup. Some warming food and a quick rest was much needed and got us ready to keep skiing for a good two hours more :)

Our entire group, Elena, Tilli, and friends included, did one last run for the day that required taking another gondola across to the top of Brévent. The entire run down was labeled a Black and the grade of the slope lived up to that level. It was definitely some of the most challenging terrain of the day for me and I was ready to call it quits when we finished. All in all, a wonderful first day of skiing!

We celebrated our first full day all together with a dinner of homemade pesto pasta, chicken, and caprese salad. The Sabbadini family had recommended getting drinks at a local hotel so we headed over there post dinner to split a few bottles of french wine. Tilli and her friends joined us and it was so much fun sitting and chatting with everyone around the little fire pits. We shut the place down and continued our get-together back at the Airbnb before all collapsing into bed. The perfect end to a great day.

Day two was a rinse and repeat of our first day with a slight change of scenery. We got geared up and caught an early bus to the nearby peak of Grand Montets Argentière. This mountain is larger than Brévent and this proved to be very noticeable in the length of our runs throughout the day. Overall, I think day two provided the best conditions and it was so much fun bombing down the slopes with the group!

We hit some great moguls and off-piste (not on the marked trail) runs that had everyone feeling their legs afterwards. The previous day, I had been getting some tips from Emma and Thomas on my skiing form but their pointers on pole placement had just not landed. However, after doing a run of moguls, I finally got it! There’s video evidence of my moment of realization, but that will sadly not be included in the blog.

After an epic almost 30 minute run on a mixture of black and blue trails, we stopped for a lunch break at an adorable lodge. We refuelled and got some much needed agua before heading back out and wrapping up the day with the trail that finishes at the parking lot. At Brévent you’re not able to ski all the way down since there isn’t enough snow but it's a possibility at Grand Montets! (I wouldn't recommend this trail however...it was very crowded and slushy).

Elena and Walker were the only two who were able to squeeze on the bus back to Chamonix so Emma, Thomas and I decided to Uber. We were pretty excited that this decision meant that we didn’t have to hike up the hill in our ski boots. However, we ended up arriving later than Elena and Walker due to a minor fender bender and a distasteful (but thankfully quick) interaction with the driver. Everyone was fine but the back of the Prius had definitely seen better days…

I personally was feeling absolutely exhausted this day and after some grocery shopping and a quick nap, we ate another home cooked meal. This time Elena and the boys made us a spread of mashed potatoes, broccoli, rotisserie chicken/veggie burgers, and salad. I contributed some homemade croutons with our day old baguette but the other chefs really took over this night. It was delicious and absolutely necessary after a full day on the mountain!

We woke up Tuesday morning to clouds covering the mountains and a light rain falling in town which meant snow higher up. Per our routine, Walker made eggs and the five of us (Val decided to stay back) made our way to the Brévent gondola. We were definitely the most rundown this morning and had decided before we began that a half-day was the best bet for all of us.

Elena and I had not been able to rent goggles with our gear which was not ideal but the first two days had been manageable because they had been clear. Elena was able to use Val's goggles for our snowy third day but I was still goggle-less. With the snow falling, the lack of eye protection was quite a problem for me and definitely detracted from the enjoyability of the day.

We skied a half day and arrived home dripping wet and cold. Despite the conditions, I still had a great time shredding down the slopes this morning, but was also ready to call the next day a rest day! 

For our free afternoon, we took the Montenvers train to Mer de Glace valley which is home to the largest glacier in France! From the station we hopped on a cable car with fantastic views of the snow capped peaks and the Mer de Glace glacier below. We walked through the ice cave in the glacier that takes the staff four months to carve out each year. It was such a well done tourist attraction and I learned a lot about glaciers all around the world which was so cool.

Back in town, the boys and I returned our ski rentals and then met Emma and Val for some pre-dinner drinks. Throughout our trip, we never did the apres thing exactly right...usually people go straight to the bars with their ski gear and boots still on. However, with our Airbnb so close to everything, we always decided it was worth changing into normal shoes to avoid some seriously sore feet.

Elena joined us for a delicious but chilly (we had to sit outside) dinner at Stories which was Tilli’s rec for tacos! We had such a laughter-filled meal and all the meat eaters swapped around their tacos since there was a deal if you ordered just one variety. I didn’t partake in these trades but happily ate my veggie version.

On Wednesday Elena and Emma, the bravest (aka most ski obsessed?) of our group woke up early and took advantage of all the fresh powder that had fallen the day before. While they were having the best ski day ever, Thomas and I did a bit of studying and then met Walker and Val for some pastries and a stroll. Tilli had told us about the best pâtisserie called Richard and I will be dreaming about the croissants from there for months to come.

I think the three consecutive ski days had caught up to us because all four of us took a impromptu nap in the living room immediately upon returning home from our excursion in town. There’s just something about a warm and cozy chalet that puts you right to sleep. We closed out our relaxing afternoon with numerous rounds of hearts and some glasses of wine to celebrate the return of our skier girls!

As this was our last night all together in Chamonix, we decided to check out an apres place where there is live music and dancing. Our group met up with Tilli and her friends at Chambre Neuf for some drinks and hit the dance floor right away. We ended up commandeering a table and all dancing on top while the DJ continually ignored Walkers song requests.

When we were all sweaty and hungry, we left to eat dinner at Poco Loco which already had the Sabbadini stamp of approval. This place serves the biggest burgers and the six of us were so excited to try them. Our burgers were promptly demolished and we decided to finish our night with one more drink at a local vinyl bar called La Pèle.

At midnight we celebrated Emma’s 24th birthday (!!!) with lots of hugs and well wishes (plus a special rendition of Feliz Cumpleaños in the street). The two of us realized that this was the first birthday of hers that we had been able to celebrate together since high school and it really made the trip all the more special <3

Our last day in Chamonix started off with some pastries, birthday candles and more singing for our birthday girl. Following our usual breakfast routine, we had our last round of Walkers scrambled eggs and cleaned up around the house.

Before putting Emma, Val, Walker and Thomas on their bus to Geneva, we stopped at a coffee shop and got a hot drink to warm up. We said our goodbyes at the bus station and saw them off for the next leg of their Europe trip: Paris!

Elena and I did some window shopping and strolling before meeting up with Tilli one last time for another meal at Poco Loco. It was just as delicious as the night before and kept us full long after we got to our hostel in Geneva. 

This whole week was the perfect definition of a winter getaway and I am so grateful that we were all able to make it happen! A HUGE thank you to Emma for being our resident travel organizer and trip planner (it would never have happened without her!) and for everyone for making it such a fun week. Here’s to unforgettable memories with the best of friends <3