I'd rather be skiing...: Christmas in the Alps!

Well, this year we were truly fortunate to get to spend Christmas with Maria's family in Verbier... After an epic journey via Brisbane, Hong Kong (twice!), Tel Aviv & Geneva, we finally made it. We stayed in a lovely chalet right by la rouge lift and we started off with a great snow base for this time of year with plenty of sunshine. We grew accustomed to waking up to this view!

As Christmas approached, so did a storm system so we were treated to buckets of fresh snow over a few days and managed to score lots of fresh pow, not too many action shots from that as we were too busy & cold to stage & snap the shots so you'll just have to believe me!
Here's some shots from the top of Mont Fort - 3330m, about a 400m tram ride up from the Col Du Gentianes.

... And just past halfway down from the Col Du Gentianes to La Chaux is my favorite spot for lunch, la Cabine du Mont Fort! Not a bad spot, squeezed in between Bec de Rosses & Mont Gele, looking down to La Chaux below. The tram line in the pics is the 'jumbo' from La Chaux to the col - about 850m vert.

The Mont Fort tram dock!

Over the other side of the near ridge is Verbier (village)

and then it was Christmas (eve) - woke up to a gloomy pow day in the village, that was clear & deep at the top! Once things up there were tracked out we headed back below where it was still snowing - so we had freshies all the way to the door! We then gorged ourselves on the Jul Bord!

Christmas day dawned with more fresh snow!

After Christmas, the temps plummeted and we spent a couple of days skiing from hut to hut downing vin chaude to stay warm!

We also rolled around to Chamonix to check out a few things, here's a couple of shots from around town...

yes, I'll have one wheel thanks!

Back in Verb, we decided to explore the 4 Valleys a bit and made it around to Veysonnaz for lunch, pics below. Unfortunately, due to epic crowds we spent more time in lift lines than anywhere else and got stuck in Siviez, making for a looong trip home! I've gotta say, the lift system for getting around on that side of the resort truly sucks! But the lunch spot didn't!

As the New Year approached, I went fireworks shopping to bring out the pyro in me! The fireworks were going off all over the Verbier Valley from about 5pm with an amazing amount of $$$ going up in smoke!