We had the trip of a lifetime! Chamonix absolutely blew our minds, and is hands down the most special/amazing place I have ever been in my life.
Video is a little long, but my favorite so far!!!!
Chamonix:
L'Aiguille du Midi:
In a lot of ways its a typical ski town, high end clothing stores and ski shops, tons of restaurants, souvenir (my first spelling was silveneer) shops, and bars. But it had a very unique charm to it.
It is a ski resort and there are tons of tourists, but a lot of them dont really ski Chamonix. A normal or US normal ski resort has a million different trails ranging from beginner to intermediate and a crap ton of lifts. Chamonix only really has a handful of real trails and a couple of quads and 3 amazing trams/gondolas. Leaving tons of space for "off piste" skiing. That's bascially what it is known for, and I really had no idea because I didnt do any research before hand. Craig kept saying to me that he isnt really ready to ski there but really wanted to go, and I was just thinking he was saying it because its a bit expensive and the mountains were huge.
What we both really loved about it, is that the people (majority) that are there are real skiers, like back country ive been in movies, I have the biggest balls ever skiers. The sound of helicopters is continuous throughout the day, and people get ready to ski by not only putting on their ski equipment but also a hiking harnesses because they are that badass that they scale rocks and ice to get the most insane terrain. There were alot of females too
Even though I have been skiing 25 years of my life, 16 of them were spent training in gates on a groomed trail with the occasional pow day off. So, I can ski but I am not going chute to chute and jumping off of cliffs, plus I dont have any health insurance so I cant get to crazy. I was on and off the trails all day long absolutely crying because I was having so much fun. Craig would follow behind too. The powder was like nothing I have ever skied before. Usually if your not first chair up in the morning, most of the powder is skied off by the time you get your ass up there. But Chamonix has so much mountain that it would be impossible not to be able to get freshies every run.
But one lift ride up we decided that the trail beneath us wasnt that steep or insane so we should give it a go. I forgot the rule that you never judge terrain from a lift or video camera. We were floating down the trail and then bam my heart dropped, we were funneled into a chute. I could litterally hear Craig's heart drop. There was no turning back because you just cant click off your skis and climb back up in 2 feet of powder so the only way was down. I felt like a huge ass for leading the way down, although he reassured be that it was his idea I still should have known. But he made it down in one piece step by step, and believe it or not that wasnt even the closest encounter that we had with death this trip.
I was like hey Craig at least you can ski anything back east now 
Speaking of how spoiled is Craig that the only places he has skied are Austria, Switzerland, France, and British Columbia, cant wait to introduce him to some ice when we get home!
We had the best day of skiing ever. It dumped the night before, and then the sun came out to play. It was nuts, I kept repeating myself to Craig that we were never going to have a day like this for the rest of our lives.
Oh and the views weren't bad either, are you starting to realize why this place is unbelievable.
Another plus of Chamonix is the food, ohhhhh man the food. UNREAL. Best sandwich I have ever had in my life, and we both had the best burger in our lives. It was so good we had them 3 days in a row.
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| deconstructed creme brulee thing |
and best part it wasnt over priced and was actually cheaper then buying groceries back home. The town was cute too and big which gave us a great selection for apres!
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| what a shit apres view |
Before we left I asked Craig's parents to send us a couple of their honeymoon pictures so we could possibly recreate one, and we managed to find the cave where Al took Bonnie's picture, cant wait to blow then up side by side!
Its terrifying, but the most heart pumping adreneline rush I have ever had was provided by the "Step into the void" and oh we stepped and with caution. It is kind of a blur and a little embarrassing (me freaking out in the video) because there is a line of people waiting to go in. They made us put on these slippers
We kind of had nine lives on this trip, our last life was used on the ride home. It had began to dump again so the roads were shit, and being the typical girl Craig cleaned off the car while I waited inside. We are driving down this pass, behind a plow truck going about 30 mph. On one side of us is a tiny guardrail with a cliff, the other side is rock. All of a sudden Craig hits the breaks and then all we can see is WHITE, the snow off the roof slid forward onto the windsheild and we lost all visibility.
I am screaming for him to stop but he cant because the cars behind us. So I open my window and I am more then half way out brushing the snow off with my hand, as we are winding down this narrow road. I have never been more sure in my life that we were going to die, or have one hell of a car crash but then we got a pull off and were able to brush all the snow off. Lesson of the trip, clean the roof snow off as well.
The whole week was just packed with adventure an new experiences. I couldnt have planned a better trip, kind of bummed I didnt plan it. We are so blessed and lucky to be able to have experienced Chamonix. From the skiing, apres, hospitality, adrenaline rushes, food, and even the near death experiences this place is unreal. I will always have a soft spot for Chamonix, and I cant wait to go back 10 years from now and heli ski (we promised each other).
Now Kat Rose get your ass here, I am ready for London and Amsterdam, t-minus 48 hours!!!
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