Everything started when the guys at Norrona contacted us to organise some events from the
Norrona store in Chamonix. We started with a couple of biking sessions and kept going for the
winter season with ski adventures. After a freeride session in january around the freeride
completion mountain of the Aiguille Pourrie. We organized a two days touring venue on the
borders of the Swiss and France 20 minutes away from Chamonix down town.
We welcomed our guests with coffee and proper french bakeries in the Norrona store in Chamonix
on a sunny saturday morning. After a brand and people presentation with started to focus on the
riding part of the weekend with the support of Fatmap. Loriaz refuge was booked for us, we
decided the proper way to reach it according to the poor and challenging snow layer.
Almost ready to drive to our mountain, we purchased missing items (thin climbing gloves, second
layer for the evening at the hut…) and then left the shop staff and the whole Chamonix busy life to
sink into the wild.
Fatmap were right about their snow layer forecast and we started our climb by a 30 minutes walk
through a steep forest. We finally clipped-on our skis at 1600m above sea level for a 2 hours skin-
up to the hut. Arrived there, we had lunch, found our bedroom and decided to take it easy for the
afternoon with a little climb further to discuss about avalanche awareness and to exercice
ourselves with our tranceivers…
We skied down to the hut for dinner in a re-icing spring snow which was super hard to handle but
happy with the typical mountain food awaiting!
Best part of those evening around an old wooden table talking about the world. This time subjects
were mountain products, clothing, sustainability, climate change, future… We didn’t go to bed too
late to enjoy the upcoming ski day!
After an « okay » night which isn’t often the case in mountain huts, we went for breakfast. We
prepared our skis/skins, shoes, water, snacks, some of the guys taped their blisters and we
headed to the upper mountain area expecting for better snow conditions. We skipped the most
ambitious option of the Terrasse run due to the team shape and a pretty cold wind keeping the
snow icy. We targeted a more gentle bowl near the Swiss borderline of the Perrons. After 2 and a
half hour of climb helped by skis crampons, we understood it was the right time to enjoy the
downhill on a just softening spring snow. RIGHT DECISION and perfect timing, nice to see
everyone’s face with a big smile enjoying those dust on crust earned turns.
We stopped again at the hut on the way down for a refreshment and to catch our sleeping bags
and extra load left there for the final ascent. Later we glided down to the valley and went back to
the Norrona Store. What a surprise when Laurie from Norrona brought to the store fresh beers and
piles of cheese and ham! Delightfull moment telling and sharing our passed 2 days with the
people around there!
According to everyone, we are really looking forward to more adventure in the right line of Norrona
DNA…
and that sounds good, we planned a bike event on may 7th with a departure in front of the store!
