Schools in Geneva have a one-week mid-term break in February, and the ski slopes are normally crowded. I took my boys for a week skiing in the French Alps at Les Gets, which is a little over 60 kilometres from Geneva, in the direction of Chamonix. The slopes were even more crowded as usual, as it was also the British mid-term break, and Les Gets is a popular destination.

Looking towards Mont Blanc from Mont Chéry.

The village of Les Gets, visible in the valley below my younger son in the photo above, is relatively low at 1,170m above sea level, and the highest points accessible on ski are at around 2000 m. The photo above was taken near the summit of Mont Chéry at around 1,800 m. In the distance to the south-east Mont Blanc (4,810 m) is visible on the horizon. I stood on its summit in 2010 (Mont Blanc), 3000 metres higher than where I and my son are now standing. Below is another photo taken using the zoom lens.

Closer view of Mont Blanc

On another day, we ascended to the highest point of the Les Gets pistes, the ridge of Chamossière at around 2000m, with spectacular views of the Alps in all directions.

The view from Chamossière ridge.

The Arbis run from the top of Chamossière is a red piste, and almost certainly the hardest red piste in the resort. February this year was the second warmest since records began in the 1860s, and it was around +8 C under a hot sun in cloudless skies (for the entire week).  As a result, the snow was fairly firm, and icy on the steeper pistes because of the melting and refreezing overnight. Overall, snow conditions were quite reasonable, but this piste was icier than most. Because of the warmth, none of us wore parkas the whole week, and I didn’t put a pair of glove on all week either.

Descending the Arbis run from Chamossière. My younger son in the middle of photo.

When I put my skis on after climbing up to the ridgetop to see the view, I did not realize that my heels did not properly lock in because of snow built up on the bottom of the heel. When I did a hard turn on the icy slope, both skis came off and they and I slid quite fast down the piste. One ski was left behind me, and I slid faster to catch the other and then tried to arrest my fall. Someone else brought the other ski down to me, and I managed to get the skis on and continue. When I fell, I cut my hand in several places and it was bleeding quite freely. One of the disadvantages of skiing without gloves. I did not realize I had wiped the blood across my face, until I caught up with the boys, who reacted with shock to my appearance.

My older son is a snowboarder, I and my other son were on skis.

A viewing platform at the top of the Ranfoilly chairlift

We stayed in a chalet in the snow at 1500m quite close to the Folliet chairlift. We could walk or drive the short distance to the Folliet lift, and either ski down to the main telecabine or take the Folliet lift up to the top of the ridge. The boys figured out an offpiste route to ski around the edge of the forest to within about 50 metres of our chalet. So it was almost ski in and ski out. The final photo is a view from the front balcony of our chalet in the evening after a great day on the slopes.

View from our chalet