Arolla

So the plan was to finish the Haute Route having been forced down to Arolla two years ago. Peter Whelan,Nigel Costain and John Howarth all met in the village and then headed up to the Bertol Hut. But as we trudged up hill the weather deterioated and we arrived six hours later somewhat shattered. It snowed all night and in the morning we couldn't see a thing. Eventually we decided that going to Zermatt was a bad idea due to reports from various Zermatt Guides that the avalanche risk was too high. So as the weather improved a bit we decided to escape back to Arolla. Our consolation prize was 1500 meters of light waist deep powder all the way to the village.
Back in the village things got really good we checked into the Hotel Mt Collon and the next day we went Heli skiing from the Pigne d'Arolla. We finished our time in Arolla by using the lift system to catapult us up towards some exceptional snow.