Les Dent du Valerettes

Drove round to Monthey in the Valais and met up with Richard Lewis for an ascent of the Dent du Valerettes. Stunning views toward lake Geneva and on the other side the Dent du Midi. A great summit with snow considerably better than anything recently.

Now its too hot!

Mike Flynn joined me for 3 days - the brief was to ski interesting off piste. "Interesting" it was. Good snow it wasn't. This was because the temperature shot up and everything turned to mush. Then it would freeze over night and the snow turned to ice. This was cyclic the result being snow that was like concrete.
Still it is what it is. Fortunately Mike was as good a skier as Guide is going to get to ski with. Mike was fazed by nothing. On our first day we skied off piste at Le Tour and this was good especially on the north facing slopes, yet our last descent was very heavy and soggy as we skied down to the car.
The next day I decided to ski the Pas de Chevere - Chamonix's second most famous off piste run. This was decidedly icy at the top. By the time we got to the Mer des Glace it was super hot and an avalanche took out the train track on the Montenvers.
On our third day we did the famous ski tour the col, col Crochue Berard. Beautiful weather but poor snow.

It has been very cold

Three or four seasons ago when it was raining at 3000 meters in January I promised I would never complain about being cold again. We craved cold. Then in the last two weeks when the temperature rarely crept above -15 degrees c and for a lot of the time dived below -20 I began to change my mind.

Diesel fueld Cars were constantly breaking down because the fuel was waxing in the tanks and the normally fast flowing rivers froze over. Yet it was fantastic as the snow has stayed fresh and powdery. Recently the temperature has crept up and in the sun its very warm.

I have done lots of different things with lots of different people . Recently the standout descent was down the Possettes Gullies behind Le Tour to Le Buet. I did this with Catherine and Richard Lewis.

Earlier I visited a new "resort" The Rochers de Naye high above Montreux. It has one train and two drag lifts and when we found it it had the most perfect off piste skiing imaginable. 40 cm of super cold windless powder and no one about. Just incredable.

Longest Haute Route ever

Ski & Board's photo editor John Norris wrote a piece about completing the Haute Route with me a few years ago

Snow was good Now it is dream like

Last week Chris Boulton brought out his annual ski group. They are creatures of habit: Same hotel [the Couronne] same bar [the Office] same hire shop [Stamos] pretty much the same team although it seems to get bigger and bigger. Plus the same Guide [me]

My job is to make sure they don't ski the same places and in the attempt to keep it fresh I even ended up skiing somewhere I hadn't skied before namely down the north facing slopes below the Montenvers Railway. The snow was so high and the slopes in places so deep that if you were not careful you could land on top of the pantograph cable which powers the train.

I think the standout day was when we went ski touring high above Martigny and climbed the Mt Arpille. We even took Walter the Mountain Dog with us too.

A week of two halves

Just finished a fantastic week of off piste skiing with Russell Bragg
It was Russell's first real commitment to off piste skiing and he took to it like a Duck to Water. On our first day we headed up to Le Tour where despite it being unpleasantly cold we got to grips with avalanche transceivers, probes skins ski touring skis in essence all the stuff that's good to know before heading off into the wilderness.

On the Tuesday we completed our first ski tour together by heading over the col Crochue col Berard behind La Flegere.

Wednesday we ventured into the Valley Blanche and skinned over to Italy for a Cappuccino before skiing all the way back to Chamonix but not with out stopping at Mottets Buvet for a beer.

Thursday we thrashed our legs skiing at Grands Montets. Then the weather changed and we got snow. Lots of snow. So much snow that Chamonix closed. This didn't stop us because we just had two exceptional days skiing powder in Combloux. Russell said it was the best skiing he had ever had in his life. I added so far...

Some of the best off piste skiing - Ever

Just finished a stint of 10 days contentious skiing where it snowed most days. Chamonix was shut several times but we just jumped in the Land Rover and skied in Combloux where we enjoyed sensational powder skiing.
On one of the clear days we were lucky enough to find ourselves at La Flegere where I had the best conditions i have ever had there.

Best Day off the Season [So Far!]

More snow has already fallen so far this season than in the whole of the last ski season which is good. What is even better is that there is more forecast.

Today we headed off the back of Le Brevent towards Mont Joux. We had the pleasure to be lead by the legendary Guide Yves Dietry. Famous amongst other things for developing steep skiing in the Chamonix Valley. Notable descents being the first ski descent of the North Face of the Aguille du Midi in 1977.
Click on the link to see the full tour.

Sallanches book signing

Marc Le Guide teamed up with Quechua tomorrow. There will be a book signing in their Sallanches shop between 3.00pm and 5 pm .

Chamonix book signing

November is the new May

I have done a lot of different things in the mountains recently. Last week Catherine Lewis and I spent the day on the Mer de Glace getting some preparation in ready for climbing next summer.

I had a brilliant days rock climbing high above Cluses with Christophe [the translator of Marc Le Guide] We climbed at les Vuardes on route La Costa 6a+.
On Sunday we went out with 2/3rds of the Dangerous Sisters skiing in Cervina [Flo was race training in Tignes]
The skiing was very good.

Next Geoff Barrett came out prior to his trip to Aconcagua next week! Geoff and I spent two days getting to grips with the fundamentals of alpine travel. We had two days on the Mer de Glace all to ourselves.

Marc Le Guide

Finally the French edition of Mark the Mountain Guide is out. This time in soft back.

At present copies can be ordered from me [signed & dedicated] € 8.00 +p&p.

What month is the best time to climb in the Alps? Answer now.

The impressive thing about the weather this Autumn is that we have had one or two days of bad weather, heavy rain , snow and then the high pressure has kicked in and the days have been utterly perfect- cold clear and windless even at 3600 meters.
I have just spent four days with Reuben Berg making the most of the exceptional weather and conditions.
We spent the first day cragging in the Chamonix Valley.
Our second we headed to Montreux in the trusty 33 year old MG Midget. We took the train to the Rochers de Naye alighting at the Gare de Jamman. This is just under the Dent de Jamman - our objective for the day.
We tromped through deep snow to the foot of our rock climb. Fortunately our route was steep and faced south so it was blasted by the sun and clear of snow.
On our third day we headed up the Aguille du Midi [which was wonderfully quiet]and climbed the Cosmique arete. The conditions and the esthetics just do not get better than this.
Today the Le Brevent lift reopened for the school half term and so we rode it to the summit. We were greeted by warming sun and snow under foot yet the rock was warm and clear of snow. I was left with the feeling : If there is a better setting in which to rock climb I would love to know what it looks like.

An extrordianry indian summer

Weather has been amazing and managed to steal a couple of days rock climbing with Francis Bridgman. The first above Argentiere on the Chesery crags.
Our second day was in the Val Ferret dodging the cows coming down from their summer pasture.

Mt Blanc 4810 meters twice in a week

Conditions and the weather have been so good last week that I ended up climbing Mt Blanc twice. The first time with Mark Daniels on Tuesday, then yesterday with Alison Smith.

Mark caught the train from Geneva where he lives I met him at the railway station and we then we rode the Aguille du Midi cable car and strolled over to the Cosmiques Hut where Mark enjoyed an unconventional acclimatisation process: A giant Omelete and a few beers followed by an afternoon snooze.

The next morning we set of at 6.00am [You can start leisurely at this time of year because the sun doesn't effect the snow conditions]
We reached the top at 11.30am and sat on top for half an hour because there wasn't a breath of wind. The only people we saw all ascent were 5 Parapenters heading to to the top of Mt Blanc in order to fly off.

Next Alison arrived [also from Geneva] on Friday and we again spent the night in the Cosmiques Hut. This was not the first time Alison and I had climbed Mt Blanc together: The last time was 21years ago! Conditions were still pretty much perfect although there was considerably more wind which didn't cause us any problems but meant that the by now many Parapenters couldn't fly from the summit.

This week were the best conditions I have ever known for Mt Blanc. What was really good was that it was so quiet. Why the place is mobbed in July and August when conditions are often uncertain I do not know.

An Undiscovered Gem

This stunning photo was taken by Peter Little of what turned out to be an outstanding climb: The arête des Bouquetins pic Jallouvre above col de la Colombiere. Mind you the snow in the photo all fell the previous day and scuppered our attempt to rock climb in the Val Ferret Italy.
Fortunately We only had one day of bad weather and the rest of the week was anticyclonic and we choose to spend 4 days rock-climbing above La Flegere.

From a Land Down Under

Michal & Mihaela came all the way from Australia on their European tour [unfortunately without the VW Combi] and stopped off for a weeks climbing in Chamonix.

They were pretty much new to it all, so we followed a tried and tested routine by starting on the Mer de Glace followed, the next day by a Traverse of the Aguille du Crochue [and a swim in lac Blanc]

On the Wednesday we headed into the valley Blanche, took the bubbles over to Italy and then tracked back through some monster crevasses and over to the Cosmiques Hut where we spent a very pleasant evening and enjoyed a few flagons of red wine.
On Thursday we set off up Mt Blanc du Tacul but decided to turn round because Mihaela wasn't feeling 100%

We finished the week with an ascent of the Cosmiques Arete - all which took place in perfect weather

Stunning Autumn weather for alpine rock climbing

Peter Folkman came out for five days alpine rock climbing. The forecast was indifferent but unusually it was revised in our favour and the weather just got better and better.
We started with a warm up climb at Brevent then the next day moved over to La Flegere and climbed Nez Rouge just behind the Index.
On our third day we decided to revisit the famous arête de Cosmiques as this had been Peter's first alpine climb with me some 15 years earlier. This was the spring board which allowed him to climb many alpine peaks including the Eiger, the Matterhorn and many others eventually leading to full membership of the Alpine Club.
With the acclimatisation of the previous day we were then able to Traverse the Entreves - a magnificent rock ridge which looks down on Courmayuer.
On our final day we opted for an easier option and returned to la Flegere and finished by climbing the elegant Eperon Sublime? Named after the famous route in the Verdon Gorge.

The Dolomites

Charles Sherwood and I had a very good week. We started with a complete traverse of the Violet Towers in the Val di Fassa.
We then moved over to the Mamrmalada where we climbed the very long Tommasson route on the south face- first climbed by Beatrice Tommason in 1901. We sumitted to find a conveniently placed mountain hut complete with guardian who cooked us bacon & eggs for dinner.
We continued further east and based ourselves in Cortina for a couple of nights where we climbed some easier routes on the Cinque Torri before moving into position for our attempt on the North Face of the Cima Grande - one of the most sought after north faces in the world. We wanted to climb the Comici Route
Despite an overnight thunderstorm which left the top of the climb sopping wet we reached the top and just about made it down before dark. A big day.