View from track to Combatseline of the mountains behind Siviez up to Verbier

Way up via the woods above Siviez

After a great day enjoying the powder off Greppon we decided to skin up to Combatseline from Siviez and then decide what to do depending of how fit we felt. Pleasantly surprised at how nice a skin it was. Good steady gradient so we could get into a rhythm and lovely views across to the other side of the valley and over to the Diabloret Range.

Half way up we stopped for a welcome hot chocolate (courtesy of a new flask), very nice and then found a lovely sheltered spot in the sun by a refuge just below Combatseline where we had our sarnies. Great to be only a few yards off the piste but totally screened from view, with our own views! We had not decided if we would continue on up or head down so visited the cafe for some tea and sat in the sun soaking up rays.

Time to get the skins of and enjoy the ski down

It was such a beautiful day that we agreed it would be a waste to head back down and much better to put in a skinning track up the off-piste area above the lift station that we could reuse later in the week. Quite hard going as we were cutting our own track in fresh snow but the ski down made all the effort worthwhile. Promised ourselves to come back later in the week, which we did.

Very happy with my skiing on my Black Diamonds which I had lost a bit of confidence with off piste. They were a delight in these conditions and I really enjoyed skiing on them.