The mission

Our mission today was to take the bus to la palud, ski the marbree then go back to chamonix thru the vallee noire. sounds easy. It made more sense to take the bus than drive one car, then another to pick it up. good for the environment, especially knowing the pollution disaster chamonix is. I feel guilty sometime to drive there so often just to go ski knowing there is a bus. BUT, don’t feel guilty: the first bus is at 8.30 AM (you get there at 9.30) , a little too late for any powder day and pretty sketchy to ski anything gigantic south facing. Also, it is not free anymore for pass holders and it is not cheap: 14 euros one way. It doesn’t even stop at la palud anymore which DOESNT make any SENS: it passes by it and there is a huge parking lot. It means you have to wait for the ski bus in courmayeur to take you back up the same way.LUDICROUS. Bottom line: drive your own car, don’t fuckin carpool, make sure it runs with cold diesel or coil maybe.
It was also too hot to ski marbree, it didn’t feel right. We later heard the toula glacier avalanched and buried 5 people. They were rescued and safe, we made the right choice. the vallee noire was perfect, silky. kindda flat light which made it scenic and mystic but not photogenic!

the bus ride