On 8 April 2006, Paula and I plucked up the courage to ski the Vallée Blanche and we didn't regret it. The Vallée Blanche is described as the most famous lift-accessed ski descent in the world. The 20km high-mountain itinerary, off-piste, "ski run" from the 3,800m (12,500 ft) Aiguille du Midi, was nothing short of breathtaking. Skiing on glaciers amongst 3,000m+ granite peaks, crevasses and seracs was absolutely awesome. We were truly *in* the mountains rather than *on* the mountain.

We set off at around 8.00 am with a ride up on the Aiguille du Midi cable car, the second part of which is the longest single span cable car ride in the world, with a maximum declivity of 100%! If we hadn't have been so apprehensive about the impending walk down the ridge, we might have taken more notice of the amazing views on the way up. At the top, in the ice tunnel, we put on our harnesses and avalanche transceivers and, to our relief, our guide bound our skies and poles together so that he could carry them all.

Roped together we began the walk down the ridge. This was the part that we had dreaded. We grabbed on to the fixed ropes and side stepped down the make shift "steps" that had been cut into the ridge. It wasn't quite as bad as we had expected; we were in quite a ditch, and, despite the almost vertical drop on either side, we never really felt in any danger, although at times it was pretty slippy underfoot! I think we might have felt differently, if we had had to carry our own skis! I guess it took around 20-30 mins to reach the bottom and though it was tiring in the thin air, we made it without any problem. After that it was a matter of clipping into our skis and getting going.

There had been quite a wind blowing on the ridge, but once we skied down a bit, the weather was perfect; not a cloud in the deep blue sky. Our initial route took us in the direction of the Mont Blanc Panoramic cable car, which, in the summer only, takes people an on amazing journey from the Aiguille du Midi to Helbronner Point in Italy over the Glacier du Geant. I remembered thinking in the past how fabulous it would be to go on that cable car and look down on the glacier - this was way better though - we were actually *on* the glacier.

On the tracked snow, the skiing was relatively easy. On a couple of occasions our guide took us off the tracked route onto the "fresh" stuff; whilst it looked like powder, the top surface had been baked into a hard crust by the strong sun and we found it quite difficult. There was also one slightly disconcerting moment when our guide pointed out a narrow snow bridge over which we had to ski. We could see the crevasses either side; apparently all we had to do was hold our speed and follow his line - fortunately we did! In general, the skiing was a combination of moguls, long traverses, cruisy turns, some power ploughing (!) and, after lunch, the long shush home. It wasn't really just about the skiing though.

This was about the whole experience; it was like being in a different world - raw and wild. All around us massive granite peaks, huge seracs and deep crevasses. We thought that skiing next to the Argentiere glacier from the top of Grands Montets was amazing; this was something else.

Our guide found us an open spot on the glacier for our picnic lunch right under the Seracs de Geant. By this time, we were pretty tired and were glad to unclip our skies and sit down. When we did, we discovered that the baked top crust of snow wasn't really that hard at all and sunk a couple of feet into the snow! Still, it was so hot that we were quite glad to feel the cold snow against our aching limbs. The giant ice falls were truly stunning, precariously perched above us. We could have stayed there for ever.

After lunch, there was a short tricky section, then the long flat ride home on the Mer de Glace. The ride along the Mer de Glace was amazing - I felt so free. Unfortunately there wasn't enough snow to ski all the way back down to Chamonix, so we climbed up the steps (the most tiring part of the day) and took the short gondola ride to the Montenvers station for the 20 minute train journey back down to Chamonix.

As is customary, we enjoyed several beers on a bar terrace in the valley in the glorious sunshine. At 3pm it was 19 degrees Celcius and we were very warm and very tired.

Ever since we started skiing in Chamonix, we had dreamt about skiing the Vallee Blanche - we were not disappointed. We had an unforgettable and truly amazing day.