Last of the good snow

Reuben and Fiona joined me for 4 days skiing. We didn't see a cloud and it was hot. We spent a day at Grands Montets, then in Courmayeur followed by Verbier and we finished by skiing laps on the top of Grands Montets.

Apres Ski Acupunture

Just finished a very varied week of ski touring and off piste skiing that did not always go exactly to plan.At one stage we even aquired an extra group member when an unwanted Russian decided to join the group for a descent of the Argentiere glacier. Nevertheless we did get to ski some spectacular descents.
Our group was made up of a group of friends who from Ireland and we were never short of exllent banter. Paul, Carrol Barry Pat Steve.

We skied at Le Tour on the 1st day finding our feet. The next day we skinned up the Argentiere glacier but had to turn around due to poor visibility. The next day we skied at Les Grands Montets. Then following the theme of the season we headed to where the snow has been exceptionally good and went to La Thuile where he hit very good snow conditions and spen the day putting fresh tracks in 30 cm of light fluffy snow. Mind you it soon warmed up an the afternoon was as bad as the morning was good.

I was keen to show everyone the wonderful Crochue/ Berard ski tour above La Flegere the next day. Although the scenery was as spectacular as ever plus the snow looked perfect- it was covered by a very thin ice crust which made the skiing challanging at best and a kind of nightmare at worst.

So I made the decision to return to where I knew the snow would be good, the huts would be good the food would be good and we would get world class ski descents: This season it is Alagna/Gressoney.

We spent the night in the quite wonderful Vigevano Rifugio and I experienced unique Apres Ski Acupuncture treatment for ski pole elbow. This was good - but what was better was the fact it was snowing hard and it was windless and the forecast was blue skis te next day - setting up a perfect scenario.

Sure enough it was good. We skied amongst others the iconic La Balma. Not unsurprisingly and rather satisfyingly the boys told me it was there best ever days skiing. It was then back for some more apres ski acupunture provided by the the doctor and raconteur Carroll Odolan.

On final day we headed for the Colle della Salza and on the descent found the best snow of the week tucked under the north facing cliffs.

Ps My Ski Pole Elbow has been fixed.

More Cappuccino

Bill Mills and Greg Knott joined me for what seems to be an annual adventure. We had no fixed plan other than to spend sometime in the high mountains. The conditions were so good in Italy that I suggested that was the place to go. Fine until we arrived at the Mt Blanc Tunnel and hit an unholy que.
Plan B was quickly hatched and we headed to Flegere where we moved over to Le Brevent and climbed up to the Col Cornu. From there we headed over to the Aiguille de Gliere before skiing back down to Flegere on good spring snow.
The next day we managed to get through the tunnel and headed for Champoluc. we dumped the Land Rover and headed through the lift system over to Gressoney. The weather wasn't great with snow flurries and our attempts to ski off piste were thwarted so we just cruised over to Alagna.
The next day was very good. We climbed Vincent Pyramid 4200meters. It was cold , it was clear we saw no one and it was fantastic.
We spent another night in the wonderful Rifugio Vigevano and were looked after by the equally magnificent Juiliana.
The next morning we left the Rifugio - skied down to the Orestes Hutte [where we stopped for a cappuccino] before skinning up to the Colle della Salza. From here we had a very long and spectacular ski down to Staffal.
We the rode the lifts so we could ski down to Champoluc - but not before we stopped at Auberge Frantze www.frantze.it for some fresh pasta with porcini mushrooms.
Then we stopped on the way home to pick up 5 kilos of Nutella.

Super Tuscan & Cappacino ski Tour

This was a great week with some excellent skiing and some truly memorable huts and equally stunning red wine. Peter Whelan and his good friend Nigel Costain joined me for 5 days.
We started with a good warm up tour by going over the Col Cornu from Brevent and linking up by skiing down the Comb des Glireres in very good snow.
The next day we headed for La Thuile where the snow was exceptionally good as was the lunch at La maison de la Niege.
On Wednesday our trip really got going when we drove to Champalouc and headed through the vast lift system taking some off piste routes and finally arriving at the rifugio Gigliminia where we had our 1st super Tuscan followed by a tour of Alberto's wine cellar.
On Thursday we climbed on skins to the Mantova Hut before skiing down the very long run down the Eagle gulley to Gressony where we had a cappuccino and a panni, before taking the lift back up to the rifugio for another "big red"
On our final day we skied down to Alagna where we had to stop for the inevitable cappuccino before working our way across the valleys back to Champalouc. But not before we came across ( by accident) an incredible mountain auberge.

New snow set the week up well

Reuben and Fiona Berg joined me for 6 varied days of skiing. Luckly the day before we met it snowed all day. When we met the sun came out and stayed out all week.
We started at Le Brevent. On Tuesday we went to La Thuile. On Wednesday went went straight back to La Thuile again because it had been so good.
On Thursday we changed the rhythm of the week and climbed the Col des Otannes above Le Tour we had exceptional snow on the descent to Trient. On Friday we skied the Argentiere Glacier from the top of Les Grands Montets.
We finished the week at Le Tour still with good snow and plenty of sun shine.

A week of good lunch spots

We have had to travel through the Mt Blanc tunnel at the beginning of the week to get the best conditions. We visited La Thuile and then Courmayeur where the snow was good. Later in the week we got a goods day skiing on Grands Montets although the visibility was often poor. Tim Simmonds and I didn't mind because it snowed which ultimately is what was needed.
We finished our week back in La Thuile for a days very sociable when Laura and Marco drove up from Geneva to join Maighread and Tim and we all got towed to lunch.

Punta Croce 2478m

So who says there is no descent snow in the Alps at present? Take a look at these photos taken by EA Weymuller on our trip yesterday. It takes some planning to get 3 mums to drop 8 kids at school then go to Italy [through the Mt Blanc Tunnel] , climb a mountain , ski wonderful snow and be back to pick the children up at 4.00pm

The skiing is not for the faint hearted at present

I spent 5 days skiing with Mike Flynnn. It was his first venture into the off piste skiing and touring around Chamonix. It has now not snowed for over a month and during that time we have hardly seen a cloud. Still if you know where to go and you have a very good skier like Mike then there are plenty of very good descents.

On Saturday we had a "get to know each other" day at Grands Montets where the snow is hard but grippy and importantly no ice. We skied down onto the Glacier d'Argentiere 3 times.

On Sunday we climbed up and over the col des Otannes and then down to Trient village. The descent was superb and not a bad turn on the whole descent.

On Monday we went into the Valley Blanche. It was quiet because it is not suitable to ski unless you are very comfortable skiing above and around the huge crevasses which have opened up. We skinned up to the Italian side and then descended skiers right of the Geant Ice fall which was good but very serious because of the big crevasses below us.

On Tuesday we skied off the top of the Courmayeur lift system down into the Val Veny via two perfect gullies.

Our last day was on the Crochue- Berrard ski tour above La Flegere. It was very important to time the key traverse section so as to not arrive while it was icy and after it had had plenty of sun. We passed by at about 11.20am.
The descent of the Berard Valley was a little disappointing in terms of the quality of the snow. It was the worst snow of the week.

Italy is the place for Snow at present

It is quite incredible we have day after day of blue skis [- perfect if you want to be in Chamonix and not ski ]

Yet take a trip through the Mt Blanc tunnel and you find its been snowing all day and the conditions are fantastic in La Thuile. I went to Italy with John Cackett and his son Finn and it was brilliant.

Boultons incredible organisational skills

Chris Boulton has been organising the last weekend january skiing trips for largely the same group of pals for well over 10 years. How he does it is beyond me. Normally I get involved for two days. My job is to take them off piste skiing somewhere different. Normally we add a bit of skiing touring in too.
On the Friday we headed through the Mt Blanc tunnel and skied off piste from the Courmayeur lift system on some very reasonable snow.
On Saturday we went to Le Tour and were greeted by the miserable sight of seeing a category 1 avalanche risk posted. Something I have never seen in 25 years. A "1" risk means there is no risk and therefore no new snow.
Despite this we trekked over the back using our ski touring skis and found some excellent light untracked snow through the trees.
In the afternoon we skied down the gulley from the col de Balme down to Trient village where we picked up the shuttle bus back to Vallorcine.
The descent down the gully was crap but still better than skiing round doing laps on the piste.

This is why we do this

John Norris sent me this photo this evening with the tittle "The hut of dreams" John and I had stayed in this hut the Bouqutins above Arolla some years ago.

Col des Otanes

Cold and misty this morning but as the day progressed it cleared a litlle. Tom & Mia and I headed up to Le Tour and climbed on skins up to the Col Des Otanes. We then skied down to the village of Trient [in quite acceptable snow] where we picked up the shuttle bus to take us back to Vallorcine.

Mt Blanc Tunnel has its use

Not everybody thinks the MT Blanc tunnel is a good idea. Especially when it comes to trucks passing through at 6000 / day. Yet it does allow you to pass from a world of very poor snow conditions to a world of really good snow conditions in about half an hour.
This is what I did on Saturday and then on Sunday and again yesterday. I went through to ski with Charlie Henry and Peter.
We started at Courmayeur skiing from the top of the resort down into the Val Veny. There was lots of snow but it had been blown too much by the wind, still it is exhilarating terrain and the backdrop of Mt Blanc can't be beaten.

On Sunday we choose a simple ski tour above La Thuile the Punta Croce 2478m The ascent was stunning and would have been perfect apart from the fact that 40 members of the Turin Alpine Club decided to join us.
We managed to lose them on the summit their leader thought it best to take his group back down the south faceing avalanche prone route by which they ascended. We choose the cold snow of the north face where we found the elusive deep untracked snow through the trees.

On Monday I was a little apprehensive that we wouldn't find skiing of the same quality straight from the lift system - but we did at La Thuile where we had some very good tree skiing

Powder Stash

Despite it not having snowed since the 15th December there are still some fields of powder snow to be found. This was a good day to start the new year.

Balloon Igloos

So its the first day of the Christmas Holidays and we decided to build a quick Igloo. This is what we did.

Bought giant Balloon which when fully inflated was 180cm in diameter. We used a compressor to blow the thing up.

We then took it out into the garden where we covered it in snow [ using a snow blower]

Then left the snow to set for about an hour

Then deflated the balloon leaving a cave that resembled the inside of a giant ping pong ball.

La Chamoniarde, Société de Prévention et de Secours en Montagne

To day I joined the Mountain Rescue for a big avalanche practice search at the top of Brevent.

Each year just before the season there is always a huge avalanche practice organised by La Chamoniarde a voluntary operation made up Ski Instructors, Mountain Guides, Pisteurs, Doctors,Firemen and the Police.
The purpose is to have enough trained people to deal with a catastrophic avalanche that might take out houses or major communication links.

In the morning there was a demostration of the equipment such as the use of avalanche transceivers, how to deal with helicopters, how to help the dogs.

In the afternoon a simulated avalanche was created at the top of Le Brevent. We were divided into teams of 15 people . There were 20 teams. We all lined up shoulder to shoulder and practiced a Probe search until we eventually found the 4 "victims" which were buried.

As a treat [as the ski station hasn't opened for the season] we all got to ski untracked snow from the top of Brevent to Plan Praz.

Big Kids Mountain Ski Mountain Safety

I was approached by concerned parents who have children who are very good skiers, often much better than their parents. It is not long before these children want to charge off piste. They do not understand the dangers of doing this.

I was asked by parents if I would prepare a talk pointing out the risks.
So yesterday I spent the day at La Cote International School which is about 30 km out side Geneva.
My starting point was to accept that the children would want to ski off- piste and it is not my aim to stop them- but at least they should understand what they were getting into.

At the very least they will not have the excuse “Oh I didn’t know.”

Mountaineering and skiing accidents are on the increase and there is evidence that early exposure to safe practice will play a critical role in addressing this issue

I delivered a presentation to all the children in the school. I did this several times adjusting the talk for the different age groups

Piste signs and what they mean.

Avalanche warning signs . The flags and what they mean.

Difference between a Pisteur and a “lifty.” [A Pisteur is a highly trained professional. A lifty is what you become if you don’t work very hard at school.]

Reading the snow. How to tell what is safe and what is not. By the end of the talks most children understood how to identify avalanche prone slopes and where avalanches are most likely to start.

Essential equipment for skiing off piste. I brought a lot of my equipment to show the children.

What to do if it all goes wrong. How to conduct an avalanche search. In the afternoon we went out side and practiced hiding avalanche transceivers in the snow.

Pre Season Skiing is looking very good

Like in the UK it has been snowing like mad here in Chamonix and all the lifts are going to be open from this weekend. The only problem is that I am due to deliver a series of lectures to kids about off piste skiing safety down in Geneva. The kids can't get to school because of the snow!

Mark the Mountain Guide school talks

I was back in the UK last week touring some schools in Hertfordshire talking to the children about how I wrote the books, about mountains and avalanches.

On Monday I was in Islington and then in the evening I was a guest of the Mayor of Chelsea & Kensington. I was there to discuss how I could potentially help support the Mayors chosen Charity Help for Heroes. I offered to present a lecture about how Don Planner and I climbed Mt Blanc. Don was a soldier and the first ever blind person to stand on the summit of Mt Blanc.

Majorca Rock climbing

Half term was spent on Majorca. Naturally we took our rock climbing gear with us. Even Jane who hasn't climbed for a while.
Our friends Jeff and Faerthen flew in from the US to join us.

The last time I was there was 20 years ago. I was told that there had been a lot of "development" since then. Well I didn't see any. I was not impressed. The Majorcan climbing was not climber friendly. Access was made tedious - for example at La Gubia climbers were directed up a dried up river bed full of huge rocks when just to the right there was a perfectly good "private path"

The main belays were shabby too with single bolts. This is just unacceptable.