The Excess Boys Return

Each year, some might say, it becomes more difficult to shoe-horn the Excess-Team into the back of the 17 year old Land Rover Defender. At a rough estimate their combined weight now adds up to well over a metric ton. [Not including all the skiing paraphernalia.] The whole circus is rather like watching a badly choreographed group of deep sea divers trying to break the world record for how many of them they could cram into a car. Anyway,I scooped them up from La Couronne Hotel in Argentiere. I decided that with an indifferent weather forecast that we should head through to Courmayeur where we could ski on snow that didn't resemble concrete like it did on Les Grands Montet . In the morning we skied the Youla Couloir which was a million times better than this photo suggests.

In the afternoon we found some exceptionally good skiing through through the trees. The Excess Boys were not excessive on their last night in the resort. This might have had something to do with the fact that the iconic Savoy Bar in Argentiere has closed down and no other establishment would seemingly allow them to dance on the tables. The up shot of this was that they were fresher than in previous years [last year being a particularly good example of not being "fresh".] So on the Sunday we headed up La Flegere and were skiing empty groomed pistes by 9.00am. We traversed over to the summit of the Brevent. The weather was beautiful. From the summit of the Brevent we worked our way along the ridge line skiing off piste through some impressive rock architecture.

Later we skinned up over the Col Cornu and around to the Lac Noir where we had a picnic. After lunch we skied back down to the Col de la Gliere. The first bit was steep and then it opened out into the Combe de la Gliere , eventually joining the combe Lachenal and then the piste.

If you want good snow stay low.

The general view in the alps is the the snow cover has been very poor so far this year. The big problem , which seems to be more and more common is that when it snows it is accompanied by unwelcome wind which blows all the snow somewhere else. This leaves all the high resorts either devoid of snow or its like skiing in a concrete skate board park. Yet if it remains cold the best snow is in the low resorts. The only way to find good snow is to be flexible. Being pinned to just one ressort with the inability to move to where the snow is good, can often lead to disappointment and frustration. So Reuben and Fiona Berg joined me for 4 days of "low skiing." On Tuesday 24th We drove to St Gervais and skied through some magical glades.

Great skiing combined with lunch at the unique Ravoire provides for a good day. Wednesday 25th. Even better skiing in Combloux with the wonderful descent down to Geittaz.

Thursday 26th . We skied in Les Contamines. Beautiful weather although the snow at the top was wind blown yet as we skied down the mountain from the Col de Buche towards Hauteluce the snow became very good. We enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Buche Croisse Auberge. Friday 27th I skied my first day of the year in the Chamonix Valley which for a Chamonix Mountain Guide is not a good advertisment for the local conditions. Fiona and Reuben celebrated yet another wedding anniversary and we skied off the back of Le Tour. We skied down to a collection of cow sheds which in a normal season would be completely buried. Here we stuck the skins on and gently made our way to the Carrage - a fine view point up the Rhone valley. I couldnt believe my luck because as we skied down we came across an immaculate pitch of un tracked easy turning snow that just went on and on.

Just goes to show what you can find if your prepared to have a look around.

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]