Alpine Skiing Road Trip January 2017

January 13th The plan was simple, to set off on a road trip skiing in a resort for a couple of days reviewing what conditions were like and moving on. John Cackett arrived from England and we set off for Zermatt. It was snowing heavily [at last] and the drive to Zermatt was not straight forward. We used the booking app on our I phones to search for a hotel and just winged it. Most hotels in the Alps always claim to be full , but in fact they are not. Especially in January. We checked into the Monte Rosa Hotel famous as the hotel where Whymper based himself prior to his ascent of the Matterhorn on July 14th 1865. . January 14th The weather was cold and blustery and the visibility was indifferent. January 15th . Very cold but now with blue skies and impressive views all around

After we finished skiing in Zermatt we decided to head for Andermatt. We drove down to Visp , turned right [East] and headed up the Rhone valley towards the Furka pass. Here we put the car on the train and went through the Furka Tunnel and were "spat out" at in Realp. Fifteen minutes later we were in Andermatt staying at the rather unique River House Hotel which had been recently gutted and then very sympathetically renovated. January 16th The weather was very cold and snowy so we decided to ski in the area of Sedrun. To get to Sedrun involves getting on a unique train with a rather fantastic bar. It was a very new concept and unwittingly we were its first ever customers. Everything was fine while we were in the station , we enjoyed some decent swiss coffee. It was still fine as the train left the station , but it was not so fine when the train engaged its cog system and rapidly climbed up the hill. It was at this point that the entire contents of the bar slid down the train and crashed on the floor! We alighted the train at the Oberalp pass. The weather was pretty atmospheric. We stumbled around in zero visibility and then rather bizarrely came across a light house !

Next we skied around a bunch of wind turbines , which should have been a clue to the fact that it was going to be windy. It was windy , the perfect place to create wind slab avalanches: It was a day of seeing lots of unusual features , before finally getting on the train back to Andermatt. January 17th. Blue skies and very cold weather. We headed to the heart of the Andermatt skiing the Gemsstock cable car. In recent years this has become the "new La Grave" It is known for serious skiers with fat skis , and attitude. Yet it was quiet, and we had the place to ourselves. After Andermatt we were unsure where to go. Our original plan was to keep heading east hoping to go to Klosters , then St Moritz , the the Sella Ronda and possibly Cortina. Yet all these places still lacked the essential ingredient. Instead we headed north the the Bernese Oberland, namely Grindlewald. We parked the car in Grund and jumped on the train to Kleine Scheidegg where we were to stayed at the Bellvue Hotel. Again this is a unique hotel , part of the Swiss Historical Hotels group. Nothing has changed since the 1930's , but it is immaculately kept and the food is as good as you will get anywhere. Here is a photo of the entrance lobby: January 18th Straight out onto the pistes with the backdrop of the most famous North Face in the world . The Eiger Nord Wand. January 19th We took the morning off from skiing to visit the Jungfraujoch on the worlds most expensive train journey. The view from the top was good.

January 20th We skied over to Murren took the lift to the Piz Gloria Schilthorn , famous for the film On Her Majesty's service. John had a very indifferent 007 Burger.

rno After that we skied the 'Inferno' Down Hill course which was being prepared for the iconic race the next day. January 21st. This was our last day of skiing and we skied on the sunny side of Grindelwald in the ski area of First, stopping briefly in the town center to look at the amazing snow sculptures of the world snow sculpting championships.

January 22nd. After another excellent breakfast John and I caught the 8.30 train back to Grindelwald Grund. It was -15c We defrosted the car and drove to Geneva airport where I said good bye to John. Not a bad adventure, especially for a man who two years ago announced he might not ski again...

Italy still has the best snow but finally that might be changing.

David Ford joined me for three days for a mixture of off piste skiing and ski touring. This was to be David's introduction to the activity. Monday 9th January. Still no snow in the Haute Savoie this season' so we drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel to start our skiing in in Courmayeur. We started by getting use to the different type of skis and boots plus all the other equipment needed for off piste skiing and touring. We had beautiful weather but the snow was hard and unforgiving. Tuesday 10th January. Snow! It actually started snowing in Chamonix. Still conditions were far from perfect so we headed through the tunnel this time for Punte Crocce. We saw no one all day which was pretty special and the summit was very atmospheric.

Wednesday 11th. Again it snowed in Chamonix and it was starting to look like a ski resort. But it was an allusion. There was still no real snow base for skiing off piste and the new snow was coupled with very strong winds , so once again we headed through the tunnel , this time to La Thuile. we were not disappointed. We found some very good light untracked snow which gave wonderful skiing all day long. Yet the full off piste skiing experience would not have been complete without landing in a river...

High Pressure No Snow just weeks of blue skies

On or around the 11th November it snowed a lot. About a meter fell over night. [This was light relief because everyone needed badly cheering up after the election of Trump.] The view was that there was now enough snow to kick start an early season. But no. The foehn wind arrived and blew incessantly for about three days and nights and stripped all the snow away. So much so that I seriously thought about cutting the grass again. Then the sun came out and stayed out for two months. Not a cloud. The weather was perfect. Yet with the high pressure came the worst pollution in a very long time. Come Christmas most of the ski areas remained closed. On Christmas Day the Seaton family wanted to go for a ski together but instead we went for a short walk from Le Buet to the Buvet which was open for lunch. There was no snow. The top of Grands Montets was initially open then it closed. Yet the Mt Blanc tunnel is a mixed blessing , on the one hand it is a conduit for polluting trucks but on the other hand it allowed me to ski in Italy where conditions were just fine. Just before New Year Stephen Yeates and his nephew Chris plus Steve Trantrum joined me for an ascent of Punte Crocce which over looks La Thuile. The only issue was that it wasn't just us who decided to ski in Italy and the queue for the tunnel was horrendous. Our strategy was to go early on New Years Day and head through the tunnel and down to the resort of Pila. This proved to be an excellent plan until Steve managed to fall and bury a ski,which we never found. This was some achievement considering it hadn't snowed for two months. We managed to get Steve back to the piste and then to the bottom of a chair where the Lift Man called for a skidoo pick up.

Final week of the Alpine climbing season

It did not start well. The stellar weather we had enjoyed for about a month had come to a big full stop. The forecast was poor for the entire alps. This coincided exactly with the arrival of David Brooksbank.

I met David with the inevitable trepidation of someone bringing bad news and disappointment. This was because David's primary objective of climbing the Weisshorn was already dead in the water. The only way we were going to do any climbing at least in the short term was to leave the Alps and drive south. Fortunately David had a very positive disposition and up for my suggestions. So this is what we did:

Saturday 17th September. At 8.00am I picked up David from his hotel and we headed off. It was cold grey and chucking it down. We drove past Annecy and it was still raining . We passed Grenoble and it was raining harder. We picked up the RN 87 and as we drove over the Col de Croix the rain had stopped. Instead it had turned to sleet. It was a question of holding the nerve and believing in the forecast, which stated it would be good in Orpierre...
As we descended the other side slowly it began to clear and by the time we reached our destination of Orpierre the sun was shining and we had a long afternoon climbing on the crags above the village. This was very much a refresher for David who hadn't been rock climbing for around 40 years!

We stayed at what has become my regular port of call - the very good, but slightly quirky Hotel Le Ceans. It's another establishment where no matter how hard you try you will not get the Madame to utter one word in her native language but insists on speaking my native language. Putting this aside ,there is a reason for going there because the hotel sells the best beer I have drunk in France -Beer Alphand, a brewery started by the famous French downhill skier Luc Alphand [the Hoteliers cousin.]

Sunday 18th. The sun was out , but the result of this was that the cliffs were mobbed with people. Orpierre can be one of those places that no matter how badly you think you are climbing it is a certainty that there is some one far worse than you. Unfortunately for David and I some of these people were on our chosen climb. Yet non of the acrobatics seemed to phase David one bit and it was as if he had never been away from climbing.





After we had finished climbing we "relooked" at the forecast . It was still bad for the Alps but very reasonable for the Vercours , so that is where we went. The plan was to attempt the Mont Aiguille. The only problem was it started to rain.

We arrived at the Au Gai Soleil Hotel at the foot of Mont Aiguille. We enjoyed a very competent dinner and excellent wine.
David and I looked like the only climbers staying in the hotel, because we WERE the only climbers. We went to bed and it was still raining.

Monday 18th. We left the car at 7.45am. It had stopped raining but it was distinctly soggy as we walked up through the rather dark broad leaf forest. We were at the foot of the route for 9.00am and summited at 11.30am just as the weather cleared to give views of the Ecrins mountain range plastered in snow.

We then had the small matter of the descent. The descent goes no where near the line of ascent. While the ascent is relatively straight forward the descent is not. Firstly it follows a series of chimneys which are comparatively simple to down climb , then a more open gully where there is potential to kick lots of rocks down because it is dangerously loose. It was while descending this part of the gully that we met the only other life forms we saw all day - namely a bunch of Ibex.




After our wildlife encounters we were confronted with the key part of the descent - the two committing rappels. The second of which disappears into a chasm where the exit is far from obvious. In addition the potential for getting the rope caught is very high.






Once we had sorted this out the climb was done and dusted. All that remained was to retrace our steps back through the dark forest where we were back at the car at around 1.00pm. A quick look at the weather forecast suggested that we should try our luck by returning to Chamonix which we duly did.

Tuesday 19th. The Cosmiques Arete . This is one of Chamonix's "must do" climbs. But if you must do it , don't do it in high summer otherwise it becomes an exercise in queuing. This is to say that it is so busy that the climb becomes untenable.
Instead David and I found it in perfect condition. We had a beautiful clear windless day . While we did not have the climb to ourselves all the teams moved along simultaneously. Consequently we enjoyed a very good alpine day.

Wednesday 20th An indifferent day was forecast . Not terrible but not inducive to going into the high mountains. We decided to go rock climbing at Les Chesery high above the village of Argentiere. We climbed the voie Bleu which was good but we were completely humiliated when a Ibex wondered up the 1st 5c pitch.



David was convinced he and his friend had some how traveled all the way up from Mont Aiguille because they looked surprisingly similar.

Thursday 21st. There had been some snow overnight yet as the weather forecast predicted the day dawned bright. We left the top of the Helbronner lift and headed to the start of the Traverse of the Entreves. It was cold and clear and there was a real feeling of Autumn. Clearly I am up in this area a lot , but there are certain days when it looks and feels magical. This was one such day. There was a track in made by a couple of people way ahead of us. So we enjoyed the solitude with all the benefits of someone else breaking trail and clearing snow off the key holds.


This was the last climb that David and I did together and wrapped up the 6 days we spent together. Despite the appalling weather forecast at the begining of the week we did not get rained on once.

Once again it shows that you need flexibility to enjoy the climbing in the alps and always a plan B. [Or C plus the rest of the alphabet]

East Ridge of Monte Viso 3841m

SO-1750 vertical meters descent from the Aigle Hut later we arrived in La Grave. La Grave is about as far away form where we left the car 4 days ago as it is possible to get in the Alps. This problem was solved with by a very pleasant taxi man at a very reasonable 80 euros for a two hour taxi ride. Especially in the context of the Chamonix cartel of taxi drivers who charge 50 euros to go from Chamonix to Argentiere. 8 km !]

So back at the car Charles and I talked about what we should do next. The plan had been to spend a couple of mellow days rock climbing around Alfoid before attempting the East Ridge of Monte Viso. Yet when we checked the weather forecast the perfect weather was forecast to only last a couple more days. Further in mid September bad weather usually means snow , which sometimes doesn't clear and that can mark the end of the alpine climbing.

So if we were going to attempt the climb it had to be the next day. This meant retracing the road back to La Grave , then going over to Briancon climbing out over into Italy passing through the ski resort of Sestriere and down and down to just outside Turin before driving into the foot hills of Monte Viso. Yet there is a good incentive because at the end of this marathon drive there is the most perfect hotel - the Hotel Colletta. Run by a delightful family who have been there for several generations . It has very good food and a very good wine list.

Semi refreshed,the next day we drove up to the town of Crissolo and from there drove up to the road head at 1800 meters.
This is a very popular destination in its own right because is the source of Italy's longest rivers the Po. The actual source is somewhat underwhelming and if you weren't told by a sign you'd think you were walking past any bit of boggy ground.


The path to the Rifugio Qunitino Sella is and was very beautiful. At least until it started lashing it down. One of the issues with Monte Viso is that because it is so massive and so isolated it generates its own weather. By weather I mean poor weather. More often than not the time around mid day is shrouded in mist.[Last year I failed to climb the East Ridge because it was engulfed in an impenetrable fog.]

Although walking up in the rain was unpleasant , it did eventually stop just before we got to the Hut.



The hut was busy , because it is on a very popular trek and it is a destination in its own right. Plus the normal route on Monte Viso is hugely popular late in the season when all the snow has gone because then it isn't necessary to use an axe nor crampons.

Fortunately the East Ridge was not busy. Charles and I set off at about 5.00hrs in the dark. After about 20 minutes we were climbing up eternal shale while attempting to find the start of the route. I was making a bad job of this when the only other party we were to see on the route, a French Guide with prior knowledge, past us and identified the start. This is a good reason why being first out of the blocks is not always a good idea when you haven't actually done the route before!

Nevertheless once we were established on the climb everything was simple. Albeit long: 1500meters of ascent. We paused to watch the sun rise over the Italian plain

A little further up I was left to ponder why someone had abandoned their bike on the climb?;

About half an hour from the summit our route turns left and joins the normal-route and then onto the summit where there is a giant cross because this is Italy and they like their crosses.


There were many people on the summit and the scene was seemingly fairly stereotypical of a Sunday in Italy : Chaotic. Charles and I managed to slalom around most of the groups reasonably efficiently , then we had a clear route all the way to the hut and managed to make it from the summit to the hut in under 4 hours.
We repacked our bags at the Hut and then psyched ourselves up for the walk back to the car. We were particularly keen to do this because another meal and beds at the Hotel Colletta was a great incentive to get back down.