Chapter 16
With the light breeze and sun shining, the top of the Roche de Mio was a wonderful place to be. Just behind the cable car station was ‘Brown Trouser Ridge.’ So nicknamed for obvious reasons, the narrowness of this castellated spur was barely enough for a pair of skis or board to perch, let alone allow the more daring to work their way along so that they could enjoy the magical couloir descents. These descents led into huge basins of untouched snow where, alone from the hoards for just a few minutes, one could inhale the majesty and real beauty of the mountains.
In the opposite direction lay the full megalith of the Mont Blanc massif, which would always appear just out of reach. In the distance, above the darkness of the cable car station, the eye would naturally trace the path of the white pistes coming down from the domed top of the Glacier de Bellecote. The runs came down from the left and the right, with the more gentle gradients directly in front and some impressive black run drop-offs to the left of this mountain.
Emma’s brothers were not interested in the view; they had already wrenched their skis out of the external gondola fittings. During the ascent, the skis had seemed to wobble precariously with the moans and groans of the gondola, especially when it passed beneath one of the numerous supporting pylons. This would normally signify a change of direction or gradient and it was clear from the sounds that the gondolas made as they transected these parts of their journey that each of the bubbles were unwilling members of this breathing and living beast, but a beast that enabled so many people to experience the highest mountains in this area of the Alps.
They piled into the next lift car station, sited one hundred metres further on, and again, the three young adults were whooshed onwards and higher, taking them deeper into this fairytale winter wonderland.
The gondolas themselves had limited air circulation and whilst the multitudes of clothing layers were essential once outdoors, being in the gondola meant that within a couple of minutes the occupants were hot, uncomfortable, and the car soon became partially steamed up. Every little bump would pass through them, their heads and entire limbs juddering to the sound of the groaning machine whirring away above them. The cable that was above their heads moved with them, being pulled along and turned round at either of the lifts ends by giant red metallic wheels. A huge generator powered the weight of the lift and this sat in the valley far below.
The gondola swung across the deep valley between the Roche de Mio and the Glacier de Bellecote with the people way down below looking like ants moving along the couple of gentle gradient blue runs. The ants seemed to make slow progress with the speckled colours of their outfits sparkling against the sweep of beautiful white snow. The gondolas all swung into the first lift car station in the valley before then gently rising all the way into the highest lift car station. This top lift car station was positioned at the base of the glacier, perched on a rocky outcrop overlooking valleys on all sides.
The few skiers that had been prepared to take this top lift gondola were starting the process of knocking their boots to remove any excess snow, clipping their boots into their skis and then tightening their boot bindings. As the air was still cool, many were also jumping up and down on the spot or stretching and banging their gloved hands together to improve their circulation.
As soon as all of their kit was in place, they skated across to the chairlift to take them to the beginning of the glacier run down. However, as the group were not going to be skiing back down the glacier, they would take the rickety old two person chair traversing the glacier slope that lay above the main chair, which the lads and Emma were currently hopping onto. What an ordeal, the brothers were thinking, how many chairs and other lifts did they have to catch to experience some quality powder? Neither of her brothers had taken this route before, but Emma knew better. She was well aware that they were all in for a treat and coaxed them on with an excited grin.