Last weekend of March, temperatures definitely spring-like in the valley, around 20 C. Headed up to Verbier with the boys for some spring skiing. Verbier is one of the higher ski areas, the highest point is Mont Fort at 3300 m, from which it is 1800 vertical descent to Verbier village.
Two boys on the piste at around 2500 m.
Mont Blanc seen from the west (Mégeve) in March 2014
“They passed aeons living alone in the mountains and forests;
only then did they unite with the Way and use mountains and rivers for words,
raise the wind and rain for a tongue, and explain the great void.”
Dogen Zenji (1200-1253), Shobogenzo
Les Grands Montets rises above the village of Argentiere near Chamonix in the French Alps. With exceptional vertical drops and tough terrain, about half the runs are black. I dropped the boys at school and in about an hour was in Argentiere. After another hour (mainly waiting in queues) and two telecabine rides I was on top of Grand Montets at 3300 m, with a spectacular view of Mont Blanc and clear blue skies. Chamonix is visible in the valley below.
Mont Blanc seen from Aiguille des Grands Montets
Further up the Vicdessos valley from the ice age paintings of Niaux ( https://mountainsrivers.com/2014/02/23/the-ice-age-paintings-of-the-grotte-de-niaux/) is one of the less well known Cathar castles, known as Montréal de Sos. It sits on a rocky outcrop, the Vic de Sos, from which the valley gets its name. Occupied since the Bronze age, this was the site of an Iron Age oppidum, a Carolingian fortress, and during the Cathar period one of the most powerful castles of the Foix region, Montréal-de-Sos. Under the castle remains is a cave with two exits – or an entrance and a different exit. Such caves were used for initiation rituals in Cathar times.
The Vic de Sos, 2011. On top is Montréal de Sos, entrances to the Grail Cave below.
Silent, white, skiing off-piste in the Val d’Anniviers, Swiss Alps
Easter skiing, Les Houches, France, 2013
The boys and I headed to Courmayeur, just over the Italian border to the south of Mont Blanc for a week skiing.
Cresta D’Arp, Italian Alps
The Cathar castle of Montsegur sits on top of a limestone peak (or pog in Occitan) at around 3000 feet. Here several hundred Cathars held out for 10 months against the besieging French army of over 6,000 men in 1243-44.
Montsegur
One of the southernmost Cathar castles, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Puilaurens sits on a 700 m high rocky outcrop.. Perhaps the best-preserved of Languedoc’s many cathar castles of the area, it offers breathtaking views of the surrounding valleys. Very atmospheric! Puilaurens was originally built by the Visigoths
Chateau de Puilaurens, 2002
"For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern" -- William Blake
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