We've been chasing the powder snow for three days now. A sunny day would be our wish for day four. But once again, things turn out differently than we had planned. Instead of gaining altitude in open terrain, it snows again, we turn around the Valais trees again and treat ourselves to a final powder bath.
It's snowing again as we crawl out of our sleeping bags and look outside. Claus even decides that it's good for him now. Two powder days are probably enough for him. After all, in his mid-forties he can tick off the boxes for "full-throttle treeskiing in deep powder snow" and "jumping out of a broken chairlift from a height of 5 meters". His respect as a crew dad is guaranteed. After checking the internet in the morning, Marc and I decide on another small treeskiing area, which should at least have some fresh snow in the current north-west traffic jam. Our estimate of 20-30 cm of new snow overnight was even exceeded slightly and so we shot down the freshly covered slopes with a good 40-50 cm. Tracks number three and four directly under the lift were for both of us - and it was already just before 11am. A time of day when you can only find a mogul slope in the busy areas of the northern Alps these days, because the freeride masses have already raged.
We can also take credit for tracks seven and eight. If you do the math, you'll see that only two other powder skiers have challenged us for the lines today. You really don't need to stress yourself out here. Because there was absolutely nothing going on in the area and if we did, we only crossed our own tracks, we took a more leisurely approach to what was now our fourth day in a row and warmed up more than once in the restaurant and gave our tired legs a few breaks.
Tired legs and a dip in the powder snow
But even the breaks didn't help at some point. Four days in a row of powder in the forest exhausted even fit skiers and we found ourselves getting caught in various bushes more and more often due to a lack of concentration or lying in the snow due to a skiing mistake and could only crawl out with difficulty. We therefore decide to explore the powder snow - another 20 cm of fresh snow was added during the day's skiing - to discover another pleasant side of Valais: the thermal baths! Anyone who knows anything about wellness knows that after a 35° hot bath, a quick and intensive cool-down stimulates the circulation and strengthens the senses. As the snow right next to the hot pool is a good half a meter high, we plunge into the powder snow with a courageous leap.
During the day, the fresh snow in the ski area is powdering around our ears, in the afternoon we lie in the deep snow and the hot thermal springs dressed only in bathing shorts. One thing is for sure: it's certainly not the last time we've been to Valais and we're already looking forward to our next dip in the powder snow. Unfortunately, our storm chasing has come to an end at this point and we have decided to forgo the current northern storm. Gather new strength and we'll be back for the next storm.
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