Skiing is one of our most favorite wintertime activities and each year Jeff and I enjoy an adults only ski trip with friends, usually out West. So far we’ve covered a lot of ground in Colorado and Utah, and in 2023 we ventured even further out to Whistler BC, Canada. This year was a whole new ball game after receiving an invitation to join a 40th birthday party trip to Chamonix-Mount-Blanc, France and it was ‘tres bon!’
Our flight plans from Detroit (through Amsterdam) into Switzerland allowed for a fun overnight exploring the city of Geneva. The city is known for being the headquarters to the United Nations and for wrist-watch making. The Rhone River runs straight through the city’s center and connects to Lake Geneva (aka Lac Leman) and it’s massive. Our night in Geneva was the perfect warm up to our ski days that followed.
The rest of our week was spent in Chamonix, France - a one hour car ride outside of Geneva. Along with our ‘ride-or-dies’ the Van Vels, we packed up in the biggest car that the rental company had to offer (which was not at all big) and zoomed our way to some of the coolest skiing we’ve ever experienced.
The city of Chamonix is home to 7 different ski resorts. Throughout the week we covered 3 of those resorts which all provided 3 very different experiences. The first day was our intro to alpine skiing. We learned quickly how different skiing in the Alps is compared to the backcountry-downhill skiing we are used to out West here in the states. It’s expansive and lacks the tree lined groomers we’re accustomed to. Day two and three we were blessed by Mother Nature with fresh powder and had some of the most picturesque views yet. It was magical.
The birthday boy, David Kortman, and his wife Rachel gathered a fantastically-fun group of people to celebrate his big 40th. We rented a gigantic chateau and together we made a pretty stellar team… Holly made us cozy fires in the fireplace and Rachel handled the morning croissants. Steve fancied himself the DJ with an ever present stream of party beats (while Freddy brought the litteral ‘jam’)… unless of course Josh and Dave were belting out show tunes from Les Miserables. Emily popped the bubbles and I helped her drink them. Jeff was our fearless way finder on the hill, per usual. Nick made sure we never ran out of bottle of red wine and at one point during the week Kelsey did my laundry for me. We really got into a groove there for a minute.
In addition to the skiing, we also had some incredible French meals. One of the nights we hired a chef to prepare a four course meal for the group at our house - it was amazing! Our lunches on the hill consisted of individual hot pots of cheese with the fixings and beer towers, of course.
On our last day in Chamonix we spent an entire afternoon (nearly 4 hours) dining at Hameau Albert, a Michelin star rated restaurant within walking distance to our airbnb. The experience was stellar from start to finish. One of the more memorable moments was when Dave ordered one of every single piece of cheese from the cart - he ate it all - even after the 4 courses that preceded the cheese course.
A good time was had by all and we are grateful for the fun time away exploring new parts of the world. Happy birthday, Dave!
