Plenty of Up Hill but it was worth it

The early April weather is proving to be April shower like. It is unstable but has produced some great snow conditions. Tom Lyster Natham Ball and Phil Taylor and I managed to take full advantage. On our first day we skinned up to the col du Belvedere in poor weather. Despite this we still had very good snow for the descent. Next we climbed up behind Le Tour and skied down to Trient. We saw no one. On Our third day we climbed up to the col du Floria in clear weather. From my point of view I skied the best pitch of snow all season with perfect turn after perfect turn.
Finally we attempted to climb the Bel Oiseau above Finhault. After 3 hours and 1200 meters of climbing we decided to stop at the col and not go to the summit because it was just too hot and we were concerned about the avalanche risk. In stead we decided to make sure we would have some good skiing, which we did.

Good Snow no people

Easter is traditionally when your average skier cans the season and the resort quietens down. Normally the best snow of the season arrives and we have the best off piste skiing. Even Les Grands Montets is good because you can actually get up the cable car without getting in a fight. Robin and Elizabeth Tarling and I had four very good days. We skied off piste at Le Tour. We went to Les Contamines and skinned up to the col du Fenetre. We then skied at Les Grands montets in poor weather but great snow. On Our final day we skied Grands Montets in good weather and good snow.

View from the bathroom window

So this was the picture this morning.

New webcam at the Seaton house.

Webcam

So there is now a web cam pointing at the Aiguille du Midi from our Chalet

Big Spring Snow

A couple of days ago we had grass growing in the garden. Now it is minus ten and we have big snow.

Big Change.Winter is back.

Winter is back. The snow has been good high up and on Good Friday Andrew Montgomery and I did the Crochue Berard traverse. The ski down to Le Buet was perfect. Then it snowed. It started at 6.30 am and did not stop until the next day. 60cm in the garden. On Saturday everything was closed in Chamonix so we went to St Gervais where we had a very good day's skiing through the trees.
On Sunday we tried something different where we drove the Land Rover up a track [with chains on all wheels.] We then started skining up to the Chalet de Mayers high above Sallanches.

Falling in streams and lots of Mud

You know you have had a good days skiing when you have fallen in a river and have mud all over your kit. Fiona and Reuben and I skied all over the place. On our first day we skied at Grands Montets. The second day at Les Houches in poor visibility. Third at La Thuile with really good snow and blue skies. The fourth in Combloux [Brilliant snow mixed with mud and streams] Fifth day ski touring above Sallanches. The sixth we skied at Le Tour and found some very good snow.

Helicopter drop on the Petit Combin

Mike Woolford Stephen Yeates and John Donner and I were dropped on top of the Petit Combin in windy conditions. THe first few hundred meters were on wind crusted snow. But then it got good. Then it got really good with fabulous snow and no one around apart from a Golden Eagle that followed us .
The snow below 2000 meters was as bad as the snow high up was good. We ended up at the bottom quite knackered.

How not to drive a piste basher

Today Mike Woolford, Stephen Yeates and John Donner ski toured up to the Gd St Bernard Monastery. In the middle of nowhere we came across a Piste Basher that had fallen in a pond and was stuck. it still had the keys in it. We could not get it out.

Heli shopping

After our success on the Haute Route we needed to get back to our start point - Arolla. We decided to fly back to the top of the Pigne d'arolla and then ski down the north Couloir back to the village. As our helicopters arrived at the heli pad a bizarre site met us as some weird women got out of the helicopter. They were not here to ski but to shop.

Four years for the Haute Route

Peter Whelan Nigel Costain and I set off on the Haute Route four years ago. We met John Howarth along the way. Like so many times we got bombed out by bad weather in Arolla. We met up each year but the weather thwarted us each time.
This time we again met in Arolla and were joined by John Norris , the well known Chamonix photographer and Rachel Campbell who wanted to know what all the fuss was about.
We headed up to the Bouqutins bivy laden down with food bottles of Claret and Champagne. Needles to say we had a very pleasant time. in the morning starting around 6.00am we headed off. We arrived at the final col - the col du Vallpeline at 11.30am and then skied down 2000 vertical meters into Zermatt for a big celebration.

Dangerous Sisters Hit Zermatt

Andrea and Florenece were invited by Maighread Simmons to fly to Zermatt for a days skiing. We flew across the Haute Route and landed at the top of the resort at 9.00am. We had lunch at the Riffelalp Hotel and in the afternoon we flew back to Chamonix. We left Zermatt at 3.40pm and Andrea was at her recorder lesson at 4.30pm

Winter Mountaineering Skills

Bob Mccormik came out for the weekend inorder to gain some mountaineering skills before he headed off to attempt Mt Elbrus in the summer. We spent the first day learning how to use Ice axe and crampons on the Mer de Glace. Strangely it was far warmer than in the summer and we had the place to ourselves. On Sunday we headed up the Aiguille du Midi and climbed Pt Lachanael. Again we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed perfect weather.

Gibo Club comes to Europe

The Gibo Heliski team joined me to Heliski in Switzerland. The team was lead by [the President] Peter Folkman. With him were David Freud Peter Ward and Ian Ansell. Air Glacier provided us with a helicopter. The first day it snowed so we could not fly. Instead we skied in Combloux in deep powder. On Tuesday we skied from the Trient Plateau into Champex. After a delicious lunch we flew to the top of the Pigne d'arolla and skied into Arolla. That night it snowed so we skied from the lift system. On Thursday we were dropped on the Petit Combin and we skied down to the glacier skinned up the other side and arrived in Mauvosin. We spent the night at the Hotel des Alps in Orsieres. On Friday we had two flights from the Rosablnache. The first descent down to Mauvoisin was mixted with a rather icy gully. The second down to Siviez was a perfect way to finish the week

Strange Where the Clients come from

Seven years ago I fished Wouter out of a crevasse on Les Grands Montets and gave his father my card. Last week they phoned up and asked me to take them ski touring. We did the Col Du Crochue /Berard valley in varied snow but beautiful weather.

Busy Weekend

So I was persuaded by Chris Kevin Adam Pete and Steve to make a rare trip into the Valley Blanche. Surprisingly it was not busy. We had good weather and good snow. We decided to ski all the way back to Chamonix. This was spiced up by the need to use the rope to lower everyone off the end off the glacier. Next day we skied off the back of Le Tour. With a short 15 minute skin we found trackless snow.
On Saturday night Andrea and Florence presented the Bibs to the World Cup skiers at Kandahar.

The Four Heads

So today we planned to climb Point Percee but the road was closed. so we went for a plan B. We went back to the same area as yesterday and climbed the Quatre Tetes. Again quite a lot of up - over 1400 meters but it was worth it because we skied the north face which had plenty of cold fluffy snow- ideal for making lots of turns.

The Gulley above the Supermarket

we had a very good day to day. Chris Dovell and Simon Warren and I climbed up the Couloir de Doran and then skied some very nice snow back to the car

Six resorts in six days

John Cackett and two of his sons Finn and Leo skied six different resorts in six days.
On Tuesday we skied in Combloux and had an excellent lunch at the Auberge du Christomet.
Wednesday it snowed and snowed as we skied super light powder in Courmayeur
Thursday we had blue skies in Verbier.
On friday we skied in St Gervais and had lunch in a real life mngolian Yurt
Saturday we skied in La Thuile where the snow was perfect and so was the lunch at the Offshore.
Sunday we went to the top secret resort of Champex where we skied untracked snow through the trees and finished with another very good lunch at the Lac du Champex.

Flying Grannies go Supercharged.

The Flying Grannies convened in Klosters and were all on very good form. We had excellent conditions and the tree skiing was too good to be true. However if anything the snow was rather deep and so it was decided that they should hire "Nordica Superchargers." Now we had "supercharged grannies" and there was now no stopping them. Huge off piste descents were made from the top of the Gipfel all the way down to the valley time and again. Certainly one of the best flying Granny trips of the last fifteen years and there have been many to choose from.
They are possibly the most experienced off piste ski group in the world with over 350 years of skiing between them.