Skiing Courmayeur

CJ took a very exciting trip couple og weekends ago, all the way to Italy to go skiing with the important people from his company. Everyone from the President of the entire Commercial Products group down, was here for some important meetings all week and then they spent the weekend skiing.

This was CJ's first time skiing in Italy so I guess it deserves some describing. Plus the location is really cool. According to a ski info website I frequently use, Courmayeur, Italy's oldest ski resort, is flanked by two mountains: Chécrouit and Val Veny. The shape of the valley is such that you can see the Mont Blanc mountain chain, which as all of you by now know is the highest mountain in Europe (almost 16,000 feet).  In the summer it's possible to trek the specular “Tour du Mont Blanc”, or “TMB”, trail. It's one of the most scenic trails in the Alps, and winds through France, Italy and Switzerland. At least 10 days are necessary to cover the entire trail, which is almost 200 km long. 

What is really cool is how you get there from where we live in Switzerland. You drive to Chamonix, France which we had visited last summer (see here) and then you take the 7 mile long Mont Blanc Tunnel, which leads right underneath and through the tallest mountain in Europe. Here is a little map that shows how you approach the mountain via a bunch of zig zags and then you go perfectly straight right through the middle of the mountain...

And these pictures show you the temperature difference between the outside of the tunnel and inside...
Temps before entering...

right after entering....

and in the middle of the tunnel. Crazy!

Converting from Celsius to Fahrenheit that's: 0 F in the first one (CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE HOW COLD THAT IS????), 39 F in the second and 51 F in the last one. 51 degree temp difference!!!

CJ got to Courmayeur first thing Saturday morning, spent the entire day on the slopes, had a fancy dinner with his co-workers on Sat night, and came home to me on Sunday morning.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Fun trip!