Yes, after the photos from the other day it kept snowing and today we made it up to Ruinettes and La Chaux to have a look. And it is very snowy. Very very snowy.

Now, who knows if it will all melt or if it will keep coming, but the main thing is it’s started and long may it continue.

After all we haven’t had an epic winter in Verbier for, oh, months…

 

Yes. It’s happened.

Yesterday afternoon and last night the wet miserable weather got just a fraction colder and it started snowing. “Like crazy”, according to Kling – who know’s a thing or two about these things.

So as the clouds have slowly parted this morning we’ve snapped some of the views and it is, as we often tell you, epic up there.

Now, we know that it might all melt and leave sad little faces all over Verbier. But the point isn’t that it will stay. The point is it’s started.

And that, people, is most epic news indeed.

 

After the sheer joy of seeing the pylons flown into place by a massive helicopter, the rest of the development of the Bruson lift was bound to be moderately anticlimactic.

But we can now confirm the roof is on, the cable has been installed and we will soon need to ask somebody who knows about these things exactly what remains to be done. Because in my book if you’ve got a load of pylons with a cable hanging off it, you just attache a few lifts and we’re off. This could also be why I’m not involved in the build.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Bruson lift – or familiar with Bruson – the lift is going to join the Verbier lift network via Le Chable – the village in the valley – giving us high speed access from Verbier across to the small satellite resort of Bruson.

Bruson has been the locals’ favourite secret for years, but due to the slow access (it used to take a lift a bus and then a very, very slow chair to get across) it’s always been very quiet, even in high season. So whilst the new link will mean Bruson doesn’t stay a secret any more, it does mean we’ll have a very quick access to some fantastic terrain – something which will be good news for skiers and ski instructors alike. You can see what we’re talking about here, when Guy, Rich and Sophie went for a bit of adventure skiing over there in 2012.

So keep an eye out and I’m pretty sure that as soon as they open the lift, we’ll be up there to check it out…

PS Thanks very much to Laura for the pics.

Yes, things have been ticking away nicely on the Bruson lift, but when we were woken up by a heavy-lift helicopter sometime before 8am, we knew that today was going to be a day that saw a lift go up and meant the sound of helicopters would be pretty constant.

Annoying but the sound of progress – and we’ll never complain about Verbier taking a leap forward.

The great news is that this lift is being installed two months earlier than the Mayentzet lift was (September 24th, if memory serves) and that was running by Christmas. So this is really encouraging and we should be able to have a go as soon as Bruson is operational – perhaps a little before.

Of course, cynics would say that a lift to Bruson that’s twice the capacity of the bubble that it meets (between Chable and Verbier) is going to cause problems… But for now we think it’s amazing and look forward to our first trip up in it.

 

 

OK, the plan was to go to Siviez and see the new bubble lift being built. But, well, it was cold up there at the top of the Jumbo, and Dahu was closer and warm, and it sells really nice food.

So we quit.

And we went back to Dahu for lunch and we’ll go over to the new lift in Siviez soon.

But our expert in Nendaz, Ms Vantreen, informs us it’s a bubble and will replace the knackered old two-man chair and drag lift and will whisk you up to the top of Plan du Fous. Good news indeed.

And we’ll go and have a look soon. Very soon. Promise.

Meanwhile the trip up to Gentiennes was very cool and La Chaux looks like something out of The Sound Of Music. Please don’t ask how I know…

 

 

 

With all the excitement surrounding the summer skiing antics in Verbier, we’ve not really been too hot on keeping you up to date on the Bruson lift.Partly because other things have been going on, and partly because whilst things are happening down in Chable and up at Bruson mid station, the metalwork hasn’t started getting assembled yet.

You’re a fickle bunch and we know that until we have a video of a heavy lift helicopter flying in the pylons, you won’t beleive there’s any progress…

But there is a huge amount going on. And thanks to Laura here’s a glimpse…