172: The Haute Route, Off-Piste in Verbier & Les 3 Vallées Enduro

We discuss the famous Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, plus we look in detail at Verbier in Switzerland. Iain was joined by ski journalists Katie Bamber and Tristan Kennedy. Intersport Ski Hire Discount Code Save money on your ski hire by using the code ‘SKIPODCAST’ at intersportrent.com, or simply take this link for your discount to be automatically applied at the checkout. SHOW NOTES Katie was last on the show in Episode 168 talking about #VanLife (0:30) Read Katie’s piece about Jackson Hole, Wyoming here (1:00) Tristan was calling in from the Hotel Suisse in Champery, Switzerland (2:15) Please vote for The Ski Podcast in the ‘Best Wilderness’ category in the Sports Podcast Awards (4:30) The Ski Podcast is sponsored by Les 3 Vallées - the largest ski area in the world Winter Legacy event in Courchevel is organised by Alexis Pinterault (5:15) In Episode 98 Emily Sarsfield spoke about the AJ Bell Challenge (5:30) Olivier Desaulty and Tom Herbst from Les 3 Vallées joined us to discuss the ‘Enduro’ (6:00) The Les 3 Vallées Enduro takes place on Sunday 02 April Alex Irwin from 150 Days of Winter reported from Courchevel (14:45) Betony Garner was in Courmayeur in Italy (15:45) Simon Burgess was skiing in Yad Moss in England on 11 March (16:45) Find out more about Yad Moss in Episode 88 of The Ski Podcast Sian Grigg from Pyrenean Odysseys reported on the current situation there Iain travelled to Verbier by train (18:30) Intersport Ski Hire gave Iain some Rossignol BlackOps Sender skis (19:30) Read Al Morgan’s review of the BlackOps (19:45) There were several major avalanches the day Iain arrived in Verbier (20:00) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tcENVVgHJrY Robin Shah has reported for the podcast from Verbier on several occasions (21:30) Iain and Robin skied the Three Fingers Couloir from Attelas (28:30) Listen to our in-depth interview with Warren Smith in this special episode (29:00) Can all ski resorts be categorised as either ‘fur’ resorts or ‘Goretex’ resorts? (33:30) The final of the Freeride World Tour takes place in Verbier on 25 March (34:30) Iain ate at two excellent restaurants: Le Rouge and La Nonna (35:00) Dr. Michel Payot made the first ski crossing from Chamonix to Zermatt in 1903 (38:00) The Patrouille des Glaciers race goes from Verbier to Zermatt (39:00) Katie's trip on the Haute Route was organised by Adventure Base Tristan travelled a new variant of the Haute Route (46:00) Tristan recommends earplugs if staying in a refuge! (50:00) There was double gold in the World Cup Snowboard Cross for Charlotte Bankes (56:00) Mikaela Shiffrin has set a new World Cup skiing record with her 87th win (56:30) Feedback (56:45) I enjoy all feedback about the show, I like to know what you think, ideas for features so please contact on social @theskipodcast or by email [email protected] Liam Major has been working his way through every podcast: "I've finally caught up with the podcast after starting from the first episode. The pods seem to get better and better as I've progressed through them, once again thanks for this brilliant podcast I've truly learnt a lot and will continue to listen." Christian: "Keep up the excellent podding!" Plus the best place if you want to review us is Apple Podcasts. Thanks for these two recent reviews: Paul from Inside Morzine: "Love this podcast: it's the shining light that gets me through the week. Informative, educational & extremely interesting. Keep up the brilliant work." DuncanSW: "Iain is a great host. Fantastic range of skiing topics & really useful  information on all sorts of things. Highly recommended"   57% of our listeners in the UK with the next biggest countries are the USA, Australia, France and Canada. Please do let us know if you're listening from further afield.    Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And if you enjoy the pod, you can always BMAC at Buymeacoffee.com/theskipodcast   You can follow iain @skipedia and the podcast @theskipodcast.  Thanks to Les 3 Vallées for sponsoring the show