The best and worse skiing of the season condensed into a week.

 

John Young enjoying one of our many quiet untracked runs of the week.

This week saw some of the best powder skiing I have experinced in years. But it was also interspersed with some truly grotty weather where it rained higher than any where it was feasible to ski. It was bewildering to experince such dramatic changes in the weather in literally a blink of an eye.

On our first day, as I picked John Young up from his hotel - it was sleeting, [the previous day Grands Montets had closed down while I was skiing there.] The day had "forboding" written all over it.

Yet we headed to Grands Montets - the lifts started to open , the sun came out and there was 50 cm of light fluffy un tracked  powder everywhere.

The quality of the skiing was exceptional and there was hardly anyone about.  What had threatned to be an inauspicious day turned out to be truely exceptional one.  The sort of day you could go through a whole life time of ski holidays and never enjoy.

The next day we headed to Le Tour.  This time not only was the snow sublime , but there was a cloudless sky.  The skiing was "other -worldly."  lunch was good too : At the Alpage de Balme.  In the afternoon we skied off the back of Le Tour, briefly using the skins in order to access yet more untracked powder down through the widely spaced trees of Les Jeurs.

Then ugh; the weather changed.  Although we could still see, the temperature shot up and it instantly ruined all the wonderful snow we had skied the day before.  We made the most of it while skiing on the piste around La Flegere and Le Brevent while watching incrediously at other groups trying to go touring and taking huge risks with large wet soggy cornices.

A big cornice?

Still we got some good sking.

Thursday the weather was challanging, especially if you were in a resort that didn't tip the 2500meters  mark.  John and I headed to Les Grands Montets, We then took the Bochard liftto 2780 meters   We exited the lift to be greeted with light fluffy snow.  We then decided to go even higher.  Due to the continuing no lift saga we stuck our skins on and headed up to the Col du Rachase. There were quite a few other paties with the same idea .  We made it to the col very quickly and decided to continue even higher-but we soon had further weather challanges.  The first was zero visibility and the next was the worrying fizzing sound of static around the hood of my jacket which all of a sudden develpoed into flashes of lightening followed by loud claps of thunder.

Zero Vis!

The descision to turn-tail wasn't difficult.  We "felt" our way back to the col and fiddled our way into the comb de la Rachasse.  The cliffs on our right gave us good definition, which allowed us to do real justice to the untracked powder, which in turn gave us a brilliant descent all the way to a late lunch at the Chalet Lognon.

Friday was a right off.  Awful weather which shut all the lifts .  Nothing else to add.

HOWEVER Saturday was another story. The forecast for Italy was considerably colder and it was snowing  hard.  We headed to Courmayeur.  We arrived to find the car park empty.  This was because the lift was closed.  But then it openend - seemingly just for John & I.   We had the whole resort to our selves, with 20 cm of fresh untouched snow everywhere.  Inevitably as the sun came out and the resort started to fully open there were more people- but we were quite "well skied" by then.  We refuelled on Pizza at the famous Maison Veille - before continuing with more powder skiing .  A great way to finish the week.

Courmayeur powder.

A full set of the weeks photos can be found here https://www.flickr.com/photos/114992191@N02/albums/72177720307229069. 

Stand out Mellow Day Ski Tour

Looking from Summit of the Bec Ronde.

 Charlie Mike  joined me for a second time this season.  This time they were joined by their friend Di .We had a couple of days ski touring. One at La Flegere where we found  some good spring snow above Lac Blanc plus we found ourselves skiing through some unique terrain with marvellous back drops:

Mt Blanc in the background.

Yet, then a second day which was exceptionally good- Charlie said it was one of the best ever.

It started by driving to Switzerland- to a village called Liddes which is on the main road to the St Bernard tunnel.  Liddes is the unlikely capital of the world Cow Fighting championships. A pecuilar and unfathaomable  passion of this part of the alps "Les Bataille des Reins."

Yet tragically this only takes place in the late summer.  Instead we were there because Liddes has its own "ski resort."  The lift system can be used to catapult you on your ski tour by depositing you on a ridge line which gives the most jaw-dropping views in every direction.  

Nevertheless when we arrived the depart wasn't somwhat inauspicious...

Where's the snow?

Yet a mellow ride on  an  old chair-lift followed by an equally old T -Bar  put us at the top of the resort.

Our goal was the Bec Ronde- about an hour and halfs mellow skin from the top lift.

Bec Ronde seen from the top drag lift.

Di arriving at the summit with the back drop of Lac Leman in the far background

Lunch was taken on the summit, with hardly a breath of wind.

After which we enjoyed some exceptional skiing back towards the lift system.

We stopped for a beer and soaked up the view , before surviving the chair lift back to the car park.

The Bec Ronde is a really fanatstic day tour.

Good Conditions in La Thuile

Lago d'Arpy.

 The call came through with the question:  " If we can carve out  two days to ski together where would be an unusual -yet great place to ski?"

The above paragraph needs context - The question was coming from someone who lives in Geneva who has skied a lot. 

"Lets try La Thuile" I suggested .

" Okay lets do it."  came the reply.

Mark Daniels & his friend Till Aull  picked me up in Chamonix and we drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel and arrived at the Chalet Hotel Eden in La Thuile.  

The weather was cloudy and mixed, it was straining to snow but this fizzled out.  The next morning the trees were dusted with snow. As we ascended in  the cable car we could see that there had been some fresh snow.

Yet bizzarely as we got higher there was no fresh snow .  Just inpenitrable fog. It was not looking good.  We skied about and manoeuvred ourseleves into what I hoped would be a good off-piste run.  It was horrible: The skiing was excatly like skiing on a corrugated tin roof that stretched for eternity, made more challenging by seeing absoultley nothing.

We needed a change of aspect and a change of altitude .  We headed for the lower north facing slopes where we found blissful snow.  A couple of laps through the trees was followed by a fabulous descent down to the Maison de La Neige hotel for  lunch.

After which we repeated the same descent - agian it was fabulous.  

A second night was spent at the hotel.  The next day was beautiful.  Instead of skiing in the resort we elecetd to go ski touring and headed to Arpy.  Our goal was to climb Punte Crocce - the classic ski tour of the area.

The ski tour leaves from the road head by a cross country ski area and winds its way up through a forest to the beautiful lake Arpy

From where the route climbs to the summit of Punte Crocce .

From the summit we skied back pretty much the same way, stopped at the bar where we had left the car, then travelled back to Chamonix .

Inspirational skiers.

 

Mt Collon and the Arolla valley.

I have known Peter Folkman for well over thirty years. In fact he was one of my first ever clients when I became a Guide.  We have enjoyed some incredible journeys together and he is the only client I have actually climbed Mt Blanc twice with.  Each time on skis.

This time he was back with his very good friend Robert Pattullo.  Our plan this time was to go on a road trip and return to some of the western alps esoteric ski areas.

We warmed up by skiing off the back of Le Tour and heading over the border and down  into Switzerland.  

As ever we were always on a set up of good off piste skis with a touring bindings.  This allowed Robert to experince his first ski tour.  Despite having enjoyed a life time of off-piste skiing , he had left it to his 80th year to take up this part of the sport.

Robert at the top of his 1st ski tour.

Looking towards the Valais up the Rhone Valley.

After we finished skiing we set off and drove around to Arolla- Now Arolla[ in my opinion] could well be a contender for the best ski resort in the world:

1    It is not easy to get to - therefore few people.

2    The village is at 2000meters- so has reliable snow. 

3    By a quirk it has the highest tree line in the alps - beautiful "Arolla Pine" trees  which not only add to the majesty but also provide wonderful tree skiing which on bad weather powder days mean you can see where your going.

4    Next it has a perfect ski area which fundamentally has two main Poma lifts [nothing so advanced as a chair lift] Yet critically the second Poma lift spits you out at 3000 meters, where there are manicured pistes where  if you see another person you say hello to them.  Yet for our purposes the drag puts you in a position to ski vast areas of off piste skiing. Plus its the starting point for day tours.

5    Added to which there is the most wonderful hotel from which to base your self.  The Kurhaus .  This is one is  in Swiss Historic Hotels group.  It is perfect. As you walk in you are greeted by a big log fire and afternoon tea . What's more the food is marvellous.

So everything was set up well the plan was going well - but as the saying goes; the first casuality of the war is the plan.  Peter turned up at breakfast with full blown lurgy - which in this day and age could be a variety of ailments...

Suddenly all the all the adavantages of Arolla being so remote, became its big problem.  The main one being the nearest doctor was several hundred meters lower down the valley.    Yet Switzerland is not Brexit-Britain [with all its promises of a reinvigated NHS.]  Instead we turned up at the surgery, where we were greeted by a delightful nurse who offered Robert & I a coffee while Peter was seen immediately.  

Twenty minutes later, complete with results of a comprehensive blood test   Peter was told that death wasn't yet iminent, and he had good old fashioned Flu. He was packed off with a bag full of medcines and told to go back to bed.  

Meanwhile Robert and I went to explore the vast ski area which Arolla has to offer.

Looking towards the Arolla metropolis. 

By the time we returned from skiing Peter's health had dramatically improved.  Yet the weather forecast was the contraire: we were looking at a situation where so much snow was predicted  that there was a reasonable chance we would get stuck in Arolla- snow bound.

So in the morning  we returned to Chamonix.

The next day there was too much snow and the resort was shut.  Fortunately there is the Mt Blanc tunnel which allowed us to visit  "another parallel universe" of blue skies and untracked powder- We ended up in La Thuile.

This was to be our stand out day

La Thuile at its very best.

.

Peter feeling better.

Yet we were not the only ones to be taking advantage of this wonderful resort - albeit eveyone else was skiing on the piste .  We did hit an enormous queue .

As good as any reason to ski with a Guide.

Which could have been a disaster - but being able to use the Mountain Professionals priority lane made me popular with Peter and Robert - but undoubtedly less so with hundreds of others.

On our final day Chamonix was still closed - so we returned through the Mt Blanc tunnel , this time to Courmayeur - although my intial smugness of escaping Chamonix's bad weather backfired because Courmayeur too was experiencing very high winds which limited what lifts were open.  We skied as much as we could but had to content ourselves with Cappuccino stops and eventually an excellent lunch.

Peter & Robert : Very determined characters.

A hotel in a perfect time capsule : Hotel Weisshorn

 The Weisshorn Hotel situated above and to the side of the ski village of St Luc in the Zinal valley. It  is magical for many reasons ; not least its position.  It is perched on a hill top which over looks the valley with views  towards Crans Montana.

Plus only essential changes have been made to the place since it was opened in 1882.  It still has all its original decor.

Catherine, Bella and I arrived via a beautiful off-piste run from the summit of the St Luc followed by an hours skin.  

As we were taking our skins off, one of the staff came out and immediately asked if they could get us anything to drink.  Soon afterwards we were sitting on the terrace drinking beer.  

Dinner was a set menu-which was excellent, with a good selection of Valasian wines.

The next morning we headed out after  breakfast.  The weather was beautiful and we had the whole mountain to ourselves.

Our goal was to climb the summit of the rather strangely named Omen Rossi 3031meters.

Summit Omen Rossi .

The views in every direction were magnificent - especially the view towards the mighty Weisshorn.

The ski back down was good too.

Screen shot of the descent from Fat Map.

We arrived back at the hotel and immediatly commenced rehydration therapy, followed by showers, followed by pre dinner drinks followed by another excellent dinner.

The  next morning it was snowing lightly and it was not condusive to ski touring. Instead we said our 

good-byes to the delightful staff, skied down the track, which joins the piste [which was in perfect condition] all the way to the bottom.

Bella & Catherine looking for the car park

We then jumped in the car and went to explore Grimentz ski area- where we were somewhat caught out by the dramatic drop in temperature and decided a good lunch was preferable to frostbite.

 

In the foot steps of history- Gd St Bernard Monastery.

The Grand St Bernard Monastry is an extrordinary  place to visit, especially in the winter when it is completely cut off, and the only way to get there is on foot or on skis.  

Part of the attraction is that you are tracing  the foot steps of history.  Not only are you following in the Elephant foot prints of Hannibal, Napolean's 40,000 strong army, countless pilgrims making their way to Rome, but also Charles Dickens.  It is his visit to the Monastery that inspired the passge in Little Doritt considered one of his finest works :

"Seen from these solitudes, and from the Pass of the Great Saint Bernard, which was one of them, the ascending Night came up the mountain like a rising water. When it at last rose to the walls of the convent of the Great Saint Bernard, it was as if that weather-beaten structure were another Ark, and floated on the shadowy waves.Darkness, outstripping some visitors on mules, had risen thus to the rough convent walls, when those travellers were yet climbing the mountain."

 Despite there not being any new snow for a month - the snow cover was good.  

Rachel, Simon, Charles and I drove around from Chamonix on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning and parked at the sadly defunct Super St Bernard Ski lift.  This was to be Rachel's first ever ski-tour and there is probably no better place to start.

We headed up the snow covered road stopping after an hour for a picnic.

Picnic in the sun .

Next we passed through the "Comb des Morts" [not very threatening at the time]

Combs des Morts

 and arrived at he Monastery.

We dumped some of our excess equipment and then headed out for some further ski touring practice.

The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring the Monastery and soaking up the history.

Breakfast was a 8.00 and we were away by 9.00am.  Our goal was to climb Mt Fourchon the classic ascent from the Monastery.

The summer road avalanche gallery.

Mt Fourchon is 2901meters .  It is a small summit which involes a short scramble to get to its top.  

arriving on the summit.

I have climbed this mountain countless times - but I have never had a better view from the summit as this.

Mt Blanc & Grandes Jorrasse

We were even able to have our lunch just below the summit.

The ski back was surprisingly good. The snow had softened up a little allowing for some well earned turns.

We reversed our route following the road used in the opening scene of the iconic "Italain Job"https://youtu.be/rKhszhzn20I

Then it was back through Customs 

Swiss Customs post.

where enjoyed a second night at the Monastery. 

On our final day we climbed upto the col du Barasson, where once again we were rewarded with impressive views right across northern Italy .

We were able to ski all the way back to the car to end a highly successful three day trip.

There is an I carved on the other side.

Hold your Nerve

 

Wow!

There had been lots of conversations between Dax, Mark, David and myself about the early season  evolution of the snow in Klosters.  It is true that the conditions had been [shall we say suboptimal ?] - Yet no way as dire as the ski press had painted the picture - especially the American press.  The guys were initially keen to relocate to Chamonix where there was ceratinly better snow cover. [ Yet this is another story.]

In short my advice had always been "hold your nerve" - the  forecast for eastern Switzerland was for considerable snow. Plus the area which was forecast to have the most snow was: - Klosters.  So as the hours counted down they choose Klosters...

As I drove past Zurich too meet them , it was raining, when I arrived in Klosters it was snowing hard.  Everything was setting up perfectly.  Even better, the next day was sunny and cold.  The skiing was excellent and this was a good oppurtunity to let David Mark and Dax find their bearings and warm up.  

The lift station had also renamed their Gotschna cable car:

King CharlesIII cable car.

It wasn't all good news, because later in the morning, coming off the top of the Gipfel  [the highest point in the Davos/Klosters lift system] Dax fell and banged into a hidden rock, bashing himself up and ripping the sleeve on his jacket.  

Nevertheless, after only  minute or two he was back on his skis and we contiunued to enjoy exceptional skiing while getting to see the vast potential the whole are has to offer.

The forecast was for lots of snow over night.  In fact dangerous amounts.  The Swiss avalanche service posting a red catergory 4 out of 5 for Klosters.

Dramatic difference in avalanche conditions in such a small area

Having skied many times in Klosters in simlar conditions I had built up a knowledge of where to ski safely in such conditions.  Therefore  we were able to ski deep untracked snow through the trees.  Yet after our first run of the day, Dax complained of a sore knee.  He decided to sit out our second run. When we met up he had concluded he should see if he could get some pain killers so that he could continue the next day.  A quick "google" suggested the hospital in Davos- so thats where he went.

It was later in the day we recieved a sledge hammer text from Dax saying he had his leg X-rayed and he had  split his knee cap!  Clearly his tumble of yesterday had been more serious. 

We were  incredulous - How could Dax have skied hard for a day and a half on a broken knee cap? We were very up-set for Dax because his ski trip was over. 

So on our third day we were inevitably reduced to three.  We headed over to the Cassana pass.  From here we put the skins on and climbed for about 20 minutes to the summit of the Gaudergrat.  In terms of a climb to ski ratio, its about as good as it gets, as the descent was both long and wonderful and through ever changing scenary.

A Sunday- High season and we had the place to ourselves.

We finished the day with the iconic Drostobel descent from the top of the Gotschnagrat cable car station.

The terrain,and snow conditions were extraordinary.  What's more it was a Sunday the run is close to the lift but  it was virtually  untracked.  

At the end of an outstanding day we had effectively only skied two runs. 

Ever keen to show-case as much of the area as possible, the next day we took the train through to Davos and then the bus to the Pischahorn ski area.  Our plan was to ski the descent known as the "Giraffe."[Don't know why its called this.]. Despite it being a mostly sunny day there was some thick cloud which glued itself to the ridge making it difficult to locate the entry point of the descent.  

finding our way through thick mist.

so here we go- hope its the right way!

But once we found it , then it was not long before we punched through the mist and enjoyed a memory- searing ski.

Atmospheric skiing of the summit of Hureli

Powder all the way to the bus stop.

Eventually all the way to the bus stop,  as if it had been planned all a long, the bus immediately  turned up to whisk us back to Davos, where we rode  the funicular to the top of the Weissflujoch before we  skied back to Klosters, once again via  the Drostbol descent which was even better than the previous day.

On our final day. The weather was completly  perfect.  It was cold and clear and the snow was dreamy.  We headed up the Madrisa lift system and started with a run down the back in light fluffy powder.  Our plan was to make the descent from the top  down the back into the village of St Antonien.  The glitch was that the  drag lift was closed- no one seemed to know why, but the people I quizzed suggested it was due to lack of skiers and the need to economise. Yet undaunted we skinned up to the top in about an hour and half.  It was worth it .  Over the years I have skied this route many times - but this time the  descent was exceptionel.

About to launch into the descent.

We skied down into the deserted sumer village - always on wonderful snow, followed by a section on a snow covered road , followed by more powdery meadows before arriving for a beer in the village centre cafe.  Mark summed up the descent by saying it was one of  the best runs he had ever done in his life. 

Further he said that if for some reason this was the last ski run he ever made  it would be as good any way to sign off as any- hopefully not - but some accolade!

Klosters village seen from the KingCharles III cable car.