Sector: Pied Moutet (Vallée Blanche)
These two good blues begin together beside the piste map & information post just below the upper terminal of the
Vallée Blanche chairlift (19).
They are also accessible from the other two chairlifts arriving on this ridge, via the uppermost cross-mountain traverse route (signed as ‘Liaison Vallée Blanche’).
The
Vallée Blanche 1 is this sector's principal piste, and is protected with snowmaking equipment from top to bottom; the
Cimes is simply an easier variation.
Their shared start area is wide and straightforward, but has a respectably steep slope angle; furthest out to the skier's left, under the line of the chairlift, the route is actually graded red.
About 75 m (82 yd) from the top, the
Cimes peels off in a wide cruising arc to the skier's right. The prime
Vallée Blanche piste veers to the skier's left, parallel to the chairlift, and goes directly down the fall line in a wide shallow chute, delivering this sector's highest-end blue run.
All of the inter-piste terrain is open and inviting, offering the opportunity to play off wind-lips and natural kickers on the ungroomed margins, making it one of this area's prime playgrounds on powder days.
Both pistes eventually swing to the skier's left and converge as a motorway-wide gentle schuss towards the
Bergerie Kanata bar/restaurant and the upper terminal of the cross-town 2-way
La Côte chairlift (2a). Keep highest to the skier's left above the restaurant level and maintain momentum to splice with the
Côte piste, which provides the only on-piste link to the core ski area on the other side of town; or, continue descending to the skier's right of the restaurant on the steeper lower section of the
Vallée Blanche piste, which takes you to the roadside base of the
Vallée Blanche chairlift (19).
The lightly wooded slopes off to the skier's right of this lower section can add a freeride flourish to the finish, otherwise the broad piste cruises down for a good link to the base of the chairlift and the roadside. Check your speed approaching this busy confluence area.
