On a bright December morning high up on the Grande Motte glacier, our group of snowshoers stops to admire the scenery. Below us, the Tignes ski area unfolds below the peaks of the Vanoise massif, home to some of the tallest mountains in the French Alps. From our vantage point at 3,460 meters, we can see clear across the wide treeless valley to snow-blanketed pinnacles with names like Aiguille de la Grande Sassière, Rochers de la Petite Balme, Pointe du Lavachet.
Yann Greva, our trim, yellow-jacketed guide, says, “There to the north, that is Mont Blanc. And those mountains there, that is Italy. Just beyond that, Switzerland. It’s like being on top of the world here.” And with that, we unclip our snowshoes and clamber down a rope into a narrow crevasse, its,” Yann tells me. “Beautiful, no?”
