About Powder Monkey
September 1st, 2008 - Posted by: Powder Monkey
Behind the avatar Powder Monkey hides Deborah Bernard, Monkey to her friends.
The nickname is reference to the fact that when I snowboard, I adopt that stance where your knuckles are almost dragging on the snow. Although these days I ski more than I board, because I break easily – 2 wrists, 1 collar bone and a compressed spine – and because I live in Chamonix where the slopes are better suited to 2 planks.
Left: The Monkey snowboarding in Chamonix. Right: The Monkey skiing in Verbier
Chamonix is all about freeride. But, everyone is doing it, so you have to work pretty hard to find untouched powder. A board isn’t the best tool for traversing and you can forget about gaining height without unstrapping and bootpacking up. Sometimes I resent the struggle to make your mark in the snow here, especially when I ski other resorts where the off piste stays pristine for days after a dump – in Cham it is chopped up in hours – but I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
I’ve done seasons in Alp D’Huez, Serre Chevalier and Val Thorens and, thanks to my employers at Snowjet, I get to travel around and to sample the snow in many other resorts, but what makes Chamonix unique is that it is a real town and not a purpose-built ski resort.
Unlike any other French or Swiss resort, Cham attracts more tourists during the peak summer months than in the height of winter. In July and August the town is packed with mountaineers, climbers, mountain bikers, sightseers, families, campers and stag parties. And there are 10,000 permanent residents so even during the inter-season Chamonix is no ghost town.
I came for the snow but the rest is a complete bonus. I’m learning to rock climb to fill that void between winters and have dabbled with mountaineering, reaching my first 4000m summit; in the summer of 2008. I can see Mont Blanc’s 4810m summit from my window and one day I’ll make it up there. But if I’m going to spend a day trudging up the snow I’m going to come down on skis. Not such a crazy ambition apparently. I’ll keep you posted…
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