After ages of debate and rumor, Mt. Gelé finally opened up again, giving Verbier back its off-piste only mountain.
With just two Itinerary Routes from the top, plus bags of accessible terrain, and (if you’re not feeling too self-conscious) the long run down the front that takes you back into Verbier under the watchful eyes of, well, just about anyone who’s in skiing in resort.
The story is it’s been shut for so long owing to a combination of snow conditions, or mechanical problems depending upon who you talk to, and there are even theories about insurance problems.
But it’s open again and that’s all that counts.
So we rather selflessly had a trip up, and it looked a bit like this (OK, the first shot was published last week, but we were so busy skiing, we forgot to take a snap to remind you what the mountain itself actually looks like):
The view from the top. Alright, if you like that kind of thing…
Lac des Vaux suddenly looks very, very small, and a long way down:
Naturally, loads of people were kean to get up there – although some might not have been quite aware of what they were getting themselves into:
Er, Louis and I practice our very best mountaineer catalogue poses (sorry):
…and a bit of Louis in action…