Nisei Ski Club

~ Monsieur Armand Gutierrez ~

Curtis Otaguro and Armand Gutierrez, intrepid ski warriors from the Nisei Ski Club, made their assault on the fabled ski slopes of Chamonix. For six days straight these warriors explored all that Chamonix had to offer, including the daunting Vallée Blanche, which has its start from the Aiguille du Midi. This is their story.

Skiing Adventures

This trip started with a long, grueling flight from SFO to Zurich to Geneva, and then a bus ride to Chamonix.  Did I say grueling? Let’s see, we had to endure free wine, beer, headsets, blankets, pillows, and decent food on our first leg to Zurich. Let’s see if United, American, or any other domestic airline top that.

First stop was Brevant-Flegere. This is actually two resorts next to each other and accessible by a small cable car. Why Brevant-Flegere? That was where the first bus we caught was going. Chamonix has a free public bus system that takes you to all the ski resorts, and our bus stop was right across the street from our hotel (Hotel Alpina). Brevant is accessed via a gondola, which provides access to a variety of runs serviced by ski lifts. We soon discovered that Brevant was not a very big area and we found our way to a small cable car that led us to Flegere. Flegere was bigger, with more lifts, and a variety of terrain. At the end of the day we took the cable car down and refreshed ourselves at the local outdoor restaurant for the traditional end-of-day quaffing of ales.

Grand Montets was our next stop on the next day. Again, another cable car to the mid-station where we were presented with spectacular views of the mountains and a slew of lifts and gondolas for us to access the variety of terrain. After lunch we boarded another cable car that goes to the top where there is a long run next to the Argentiere glacier. Again, spectacular views of Mont Blanc, the Aiguille du Midi, and the Chamonix valley down below.

Le Tour is a smaller resort that offered beginner and intermediate runs serviced mainly by pomas and a couple of chair lifts. On the advice of fellow Far West skiers we headed toward the backside, which faces a small valley with the town of Vallorcine at the bottom. Little did we know that we just ran into a hidden gem. Here we discovered a quaint hotel with a restaurant and outdoor deck. Under sunny skies, we dined for lunch and, of course, the traditional beer. Our young waitress knew less English than we knew French, but we managed to communicate our desires for beer and soup. This was definitely a place that Americans did not frequent, which is my kind of place when visiting Europe. We also discovered a train that would take us back to Chamonix instead of taking the local bus from Le Tour. At the train station another gem presented itself in the form of a small café where we sampled a real French crepe.

Mid-week found us taking the bus to Verbier, Switzerland. Believe me, this place is the mother-of-all ski resorts. It easily has to be larger than Vail. Think of the four resorts at Aspen combined into one resort! Every time we took a gondola or lift to the top of the mountain there were three or four more gondolas/lifts on the other side going up to other mountains. Again, under sunny skies we dined outside with all the other skiers that were settled into giant bean bags and lounge chairs. It was here in Verbier where we also saw a gaggle of paragliders enjoying the view high above us, and we also came across a very large and friendly St. Bernard with his little cask hanging from his neck.

The past four days of skiing was followed by skiing the Valleée Blanche, which is accessible by a cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi.

There are three aspects to skiing the Vallée Blanche:

a) the hike down the ridge to where you start skiing,

b) actually skiing the Vallée Blanche, and

c) the exhausting hike up 400 steps to catch a train back to Chamonix. The hike down the ridge is not for people that are afraid of heights.

We had a guide that led our group of six, and we all wore harnesses that allowed us to be tethered by rope to our guide as we descended down the ridge. After the hike, which took about twenty minutes, the guide removed our tether and we put on our skies and skied down the glacier. Most of the run is pretty much intermediate, with a few moguls and steep areas that could be considered black runs. Under blue skies and a hot sun we were working up a sweat in no time. Lunch was at a small hut that provided hot dishes and cold beverages. After lunch we skied down the remainder of the glacier, which was pretty much flat, but gave us interesting views of the glacier and the surrounding peaks. The final leg of this excursion was climbing the 400 steps up to a small gondola that would take us to the Mer de Glace train station. At the end of this adventure we settled down in the café at the train station and celebrated with a round of beer, much to the delight of our guide. He was an excellent guide – stopping at times for us to take pictures, telling us some history of the glacier, and pointing out the crevasses to avoid. Although we met at the Aiguille du Midi cable car station at 8:45am we actually only skied for about two hours, as we had reached the Mer de Glace train station by 1:00pm.

Our last day of skiing was a return to Grand Montets. Curtis and I chose Grand Montets because it is the largest of the resorts (Brevant, Flegere, and Le Tour) and offered a variety of terrain (groomed runs, off-piste, moguls, and skiing next to the Argentiere glacier).

Dining and Shopping

What would a ski trip be without dining and shopping? Boring. Although the hotel provided dinner each night, we chose to go out and dine at various restaurants in the neighborhood. Fortunately, the Hotel Alpina is centrally located and the shops and restaurants are well within walking distance.

Far West Ski Association Events

The FWSA sponsored a nightly get-together at the hotel bar/lounge each evening right after skiing. Here is where most of the clan gathered to relate their ski experiences for the day and get to know each other. This was also a good time to organize dinner plans with other people.

One thing that Curtis and I noticed was that the trip leader for this trip did not measure up to the standards of our trip leaders. At times there was a lack of communication, and there was room for improvement.