CERN

As Morzine is not far from Geneva, it would have been a pity to miss the opportunity to pay a visit to CERN, and its world-famous Large Hadron Collider.   So we did.
The CERN site, which is near Geneva Airport, is a rather sad looking collection of '60s style buildings and some very dodgy landscaping.  Clearly all the $billions that have been spent on the institution are well hidden underground.  Nevertheless, the two hour tour was interesting and well put together, and did a good job of explaining how CERN came into being and some of its historical achievements, as well as a look at some of the latest experiments associated with the LHC, such as ATLAS (see pic below).

So: been there, done that, and I did get the tee shirt!

Lac Leman

Today a trip to Thonon on the shores of Lac Leman.  Although the town itself is nothing special, the marina area is certainly charming enough.  After an excellent fish lunch by the quay, we took a short boat tour around the local area, though not a lot to see apart from a few chateaux and a naturist beach.

Last Ski of the Season

Today was the final day of the ski season in Morzine, although we chose to ski in Avoriaz, which still has two weeks to go.  The snow was still in surprisingly good condition considering the ambient temperature of 12deg+ and the sunny weather, helped by the fact that there are not too many skiers to churn things up at this late stage in the season.  Some good skiing still to be had in the Chatel sector, followed by a sunny lunch in Plaine Dranse.

PS  This turned out to be our final ski of the season too, as work commitments prevented me from returning to the slopes  this week.

Lac du Montriond

More non-skiing activities as the season in Morzine draws to a close.  Today a walk around the Lac du Montriond, which is only 10 minutes drive from our apartment.  Impressive scenery with the still frozen lake slotted in a gorge between two steep mountainsides.

Mont Blanc

With the ski season in Morzine drawing to a close and the last of our guest departed, a chance to explore some of the other scenic offerings to be had in the Alps.  Today we drove to Chamonix and took the cable car up to Aiguille du Midi for a stunning close up view of Mont Blanc and the rest of the Alps. One day, perhaps, I will get around to skiing the Vallee Blanch glacier that begins at this peak and winds its way back into Chamonix.  Until then, a chance to watch the intrepid skiers setting off on their journey down this route. Unfortunately the cable car over the Vallee Blanche was closed for the winter, as was the lift to the top viewing gallery, so we missed that part of the Mont Blanc experience. Nevertheless, an excellent day's outing in some amazing scenery.

Fresh Snow in Morzine

Even at this late stage in the season, we have had more snowfalls to top up the pistes.  So lucky Claire and Rudvica, who joined us on Saturday for a great week's skiing on fresh snow.  Today (Easter Sunday) we went over to Les Gets for some relaxing introductory runs.

Les Contamines

Today we continued with our exploration of some of the ski areas outside the Portes du Soleil, thanks to our 'discovery' pass.  On this occasion we elected to visit Les Contamines, which is in the same general area as Megeve, and only 80 minutes away via the autoroute.

Good snow conditions up top and sunny in the morning, although the sky clouded over somewhat in the afternoon. 

In general, a great location for an unchallenging day's skiing.

Mont Chery - Final Call

Today Alison and I joined Jessica for a ski/ride over to Mont Chery.  The snow conditions there turned out to be as good as we had hoped with a few cm of fresh snow from the previous night on on top of a good base.  So we all had a great morning on the various pistes that Chery has to offer, before enjoying an excellent lunch at our favourite slopeside restaurant, the Grande Ourse.  
Sadly that will be our last visit to Mont Chery and the Grande Ourse for this season as the ski area closes for the season on 6 April.