Skiing in Avoriaz, French Alps, 2011

Well, after almost 2 weeks back,it seems like the trip never happened….This is life. Need to live the moment. But, it really did happen. So,here are some stats : We skied an average of 20,000 vertical feet per day: 6 days= 120,000 vertical feet. To put in into the right context ,Canadian Mountain Helliskiing offered 20,000 feet per day.(Thank you, i phone and thank you “Run Keeper” app. for documenting.) We had a total of 40 miles per day ,including the chairlifts. Assuming that the chairlifts were 25% of the mileage, we skied 30 miles per day.In 6 days=180 miles. The size of Port De Soleil is about 400 square miles (1036 square km).This equals to 256,000 acres. For comparison, Copper Mountain ski resort is 2,500 acres.This is the largest international ski area in the world The region offers 650 km of marked pistes and about 201 lifts in total, spread over 14 valleys and 12 resorts and 2 countries. *The “Mur Suisse” or “Swiss Wall”, is a particularly steep and difficult piste in the Portes du Soleil ski area, on the border between France and Switzerland. Effectively, one starts the run standing on the Swiss-French border, plunging down the Swiss side of the mountain towards Les Crosets. It starts in a narrow pass on the mountain top with an inclination of 55 per cent!

The slope is classified in the Swiss/French difficulty rating as orange, which means that it is rated as too difficult to fit in the standard classification of blue (easy), red (intermediate) and black (difficult). It has a length of 1 kilometer and a vertical drop of 331 meters, starting at 2,151 meters above sea level.

The ski resort of Morzine began life as far back as 1090. Avoriaz is France’s first and only car-free resort. People get around on foot, skis or by horse drawn sleighs. We had 13 guys from Atlanta, 1 from Tennessee, 4 from Massachussets and 5 from California, and 7 from Israel. If you were not on the trip,you will want to be next time. King David said how good and pleasent is for brothers to dwell together.I paraphrase : How good and pleasent is for brothers to ski together. And if you are thirsty for more…. stay tuned ….details soon to follow…. It’s never too early to plan. Finally:BAM!!!!!

PS

Memorable quote seen at mountain restaurant on the Swiss side “Those in a hurry have already left”

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