St. Luc/Chandolin, CH: 03/10/17

Day 7
After my deep day in the woods at Vercorin on Tuesday, I shifted my sights toward the main event of this trip: the three highly-regarded ski areas in the Anniviers Valley (pronounced Ah NEE Vee Ay), two of which are lift connected. Unfortunately, the weather didn't play along as I'd hoped for Weds and Thurs at Zinal and Grimentz -- really overcast with tough visibility more than half of the time, occasional spitting rain on the lower mountain, combined with terrain that was 100% above treeline. While the skiing itself was nice and pleasant on wet powder, it was difficult to do anything but stay between the sticks lining the groomed trails. I'll post TRs about them eventually, but let's fast-forward to Friday when the skies finally cleared up for the first time since Sunday.

Heading down into the valley, it was nice to see something other than steel gray overhead:





Arriving in St. Luc:



Parking place with a view:



New high-speed quad:



Heading up to the main mountain:



As you've heard me say for most of the ski areas on this trip, the trail map doesn't show how big this place is -- between St. Luc and Chandolin, which are interconnected across a shared ridgeline, it's six miles across:



Time to ski:



There's only  snowmaking on the lower trails:



And sports fans, you're going to be riding Poma platters the rest of the day, so your thighs better be ready -- some of them are very steep and they definitely take their toll on your legs by around 2 pm. I can't imagine what the lift lines are like during peak periods. Even t-bars can load two people at once, but platters are one at a time.



A few warmup runs:



You can see the returning Poma line up above:





A quick stop at a buvette:



Conditions were absolutely spectacular with the sun warming up everything to the right consistency, but the untracked offpiste didn't turn to slop. I finally made it to the top of St. Luc to try the signature groomed run all the way down into the village: a rollercoaster ride that's 4,400 verts and almost five miles long:









Finally below treeline:



End of the run:



For years, I've been reading trip report after trip report from the Germans on Alpinforum raving about St. Luc and now I could see why. An absolute knockout ski area and it certainly helps going on a sunny early spring day. Definitely a place where you'd need local knowledge or a guide to maximise the offpiste, avoid terrain traps, and stay away from dicey situations.

I am sure you have cramps in your jaw from smiling...Just spectacular.

Incredible! It looks like there is a lifetimes worth of exploring around those ski areas for the touring skier.

Do you ever hire a guide on your trips?

I've done it several times and those days were very memorable