Pierra Menta - Day 3

It's good to be done with today as the last day, tomorrow, is typically the shortest. Today's menu involved long climbs, a few boot packs and enormous crowds. Although the dodgy weather prevented us from doing the super aesthetic ridge on the Grand Mont, we did a mini version of it nearby. Some easy rock scrambling with a fixed rope for a hand line in places. The final booter felt almost Alaskan with the French version of tundra underfoot for the final 100 vertical meters. Good variety.

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Pierra Menta - Day 2

What a difference a day makes. Things didn't go perfectly but it was so much more satisfying that it's easy to overlook some of the glitches today. Nate essentially felt close to normal, not perfect, but his speed and endurance were what we were hoping for. We spent the day picking off dozens of competitors. I love doing that, of course. Feeds the rat within, I guess. But more importantly, we raced well, transitioned mostly like pros and skied all the descents cleanly, save for my little knee tweaking tumble 5 minutes from the finish. More details later.

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Pierra Menta - Day 1

The first day of the Pierra Menta turned out to be more interesting than either Nate or I wanted. A smoldering virus ruined Nate's day and I, of course, had to watch the carnage unfold while my own aspirations of some sort of decent performance vanished.

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Back to Italia - Chamonix day 8

Yep. That's the Matterhorn.I had another early morning rendezvous with my French friends and headed back to Italy for a traverse of Becca d'Epicoune. It's a popular peak on the other side of the valley from my first Italian objective last week. We were able to drive and then skin past some dairy farms on a nice road until we were in the alpine and headed straight for the peak.

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Plum Factory Tour - Chamonix Day 6

The 7+ hour beat down tours with my new friends provide me a nice excuse for a rest day and a chance to do other things. I brought unmounted Hagan X-Race skis with me for the Pierra Menta with the intentions of having them mounted during a visit to Plum. That finally happened.

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