The Haute Route revisited.

 

The Matterhorn seen from the Col Vallpelline.

Eighteen years ago was when Stephen Yeates, John Donner and Mike Woolford completed the Haute Route with me.  Needless to say a lot has happened between then and now.

Mike was never coming back, having retired from hut to hut touring.  That left John and Stephen.  Then on the morning we were due to leave John tested positive for Covid.  Only Stephen was left.

The other complication was that the weather had been very hot and cloudy.  This meant that there was no overnight freeze and the avalanche risk had shot up. No matter which way you looked at it, I could not justify setting off.  I had to make the big call and break the bad news.  I then had to work out how we might re jig our plans.

It just so happened that my daughter Andrea was home for a few days and so I asked her is she wanted to join us.  Andrea is a Chamonix ski instructor and has been mountaineering since she was a baby, the added  safety back up of having her along could not be underestimated.

Andrea excitedly packed her stuff.

The forecast for the next few days was good and there was now a hard freeze every morning making eveything much safer.  Due to multiple challenges, [avalanche risk, covid and not least lack of  reservations in the huts,] we elected to join the Haute Route in the beautiful village of Arolla.

Firstly we used the drag lift to "catapult" us on our way, then we skinned up to the Pas Chèvre before descending the ladders.  We then skinned across the glacier and climbed upto the Dix Hut.  It has a good mellow vibe these days, the guardian is very layed back and the food, beer and wine are very good.

The next morning we left at about 7.30hrs.  Firstly we had to endure some pretty horrible skiing on boiler plate hard steep snow inorder to get us back down onto the glacier.  The weather was beautiful, yet there was a bitter wind blowing and I lost the feeling in my fingers.  

We climbed gradually up into the sun shine and stopped for something to eat and drink.  The next challnage is the Col du Serpentine. Sometimes it is possible to skin all the way to the top of it, but this year it needed to be "boot packed."

The track was in good condition and we quickly negociated the col before making the gentle rise to the summit of the Pigne d'Arolla.

Stephen approaching the summit of the Pigne d'Arolla.

It was then a ski down towards the Cabane Vignettes

It never fails to impress the first time you see the Cabane: You need to look  at the photo below  closely to see the Cabane.

The final ski into the Cabane is tricky, but having good skiers with me made it relitvely straight forward.

Again, a new Guardian at the Cabane.  She had only been there a week.  Mind you the Rosti was as good as ever.  Andrea claimed it was the best meal of her life!

The following morning we a woke at 5.30, Breakfast was at 6.00 and we were away soon after.  It was windy and cold .  We needed crampons on to leave the Cabane.

Stephen&Andrea set of from the Vignettes with the Pigne d'Arolla  in the background.

Only after 5 minutes of skiing there is an intimidating traverse where as a Guide, you absolutely need good skiers with you.  This then leads down onto a flat section which leads up to the Col Eveque in about 2hours. Again it was very cold.  We battled our way across the glacier fighting a strong cold wind, which was  tiring.

We arrived at the top of the col Eveque and stepped into Italy and some welcome sun shine.  We skied down for about 15 minutes[back into Switzerland] on some half decent snow, before stopping again to put our skins on for the approach to the penultimate col , the col Mt Brule.

Again this col needed to be negociated on foot carrying the skis and wearing crampons.  It was straight forward with a line of steps up it.

A 5 minute ski was again followed by the long climb to the summit of the Col Vallpeline.

Andrea&Stephen heading towards col Vallpelline

The final climb had been trashed by the wind revealing lots of bare ice

Andrea coming up to the col.

Then finally you get to see the view

Stephen&Andrea with the Applestrudelhorn in background

All that remained was to ski the huge Stockle glacier , then ski under the north face of the Matterhorn before eventually picking up the piste at Staffel and then skiing into Zermatt. Always  big final day. Yet is still one of the most rewarding.

Sahara Snow.

The magnificent oak door of the Hospice.

Sometimes refered to as the Gd St Bernard Monastery, but more commonly refered to as the Hospice de Gd St Bernard , either way it is on of the most incredible places you could hope to visit on a pair of skis.  I have been lucky enough to stay many, many times, in all sorts of weather, but this was the first time I had to go in a Sarah sand-storm. It left the snow looking brown and not a little apocalyptic.

On this trip I was joined by Diana, Charlie, Cordelia and Mike. Only Charlie had been before and he was keen for his friends to experience this wonderful place too.

We left Chamonix and drove aound to the road head at what use to be the Super Saint- Bernard lift , which is now sadly defunct.  We arrived to an unpleasant scene of sand and snow blowing around and buffeting the car.  I immediatly turned around and drove into the deep dark foyer of the Gd St Bernard tunnel where we were able to gear up in the dry before eventually braving the wind and heading off up the track to the Hospice, in less than glorious weather .

1st emergency shelter on the way up to the Hospice

At the first shelter I decided this was a good place for lunch.  We were all happy to get out of the wind for a while .

Any port in a storm: The comparitive luxury of the emergency shelter.

We then continued to the next shelter where we again availed our selves of its "ammenities."

Everyone was more than happy when we got our first sight of the Hospice and even happier when we could shut the massive oak door behind us leaving the weather behind and enjoy the majestic silence.

We were welcomed with the traditional Hospice tea, before I retired for an afternoon's snooze and the rest of the team went to explore the chapel and the museum.  Dinner was very convivial, although the Dole left me with a rather "thick head."

The weather forecast was more or less correct- the next day was clear and there was little wind , but it was way too warm. It had snowed over night, but not light fluffy stuff. No , instead,  it was like cement, not white but a brown sludge.  We were away first and it only took a couple of meters to realise I'd not been  smart being in pole position. Mind you at the speed I was breaking trail it did not take long for other teams to catch us up and then they naively over took me and immediatly started to suffer.  I saw no reason to try and catch them up...

Our goal for the day was the summit of Mt Fourchon. We made slow but steady progress and eventually   left our skis just below the summit before scrambling to the top.

Charlie approaching the summit.

The view was better than the photo suggests

 The ski down was not the best:  Sand on top of snow, it was soggy and leg sapping.  Still the team were all very good skiers [Thankfully.]   I attempted to lift their moral by pointing out at least we werent on Snow-shoes like many of the other parties. 

We then plodded back the way we came , arrived back at the Hospice ,peeled our skins off and then skied back to the road head.

A school outing

 

Sunset from Les Diablerets Refuge.

Certainly when I went to school I do not remeber going on an outing quite like this.  I was one of four Mountain Guides, four school teachers from Aiglon College who accompagnied 15 adolescents on a two night, three day ski touring expedition. 

We all conveyned at the school, where we distributed and checked  the equipment - transceivers, shovels, probes etc.  We then walked the short walk to the ski lift in Villars where everyone picked up their skis from the local hire shop. We split into two groups .  Terry was the lead Guide and I brought up the rear. We then skied through the lift system to Diablerts. 

Mt Blanc seen from the top of Villars lift system.

 After which we took the shuttle bus to the Col des Pillions and rode the enormous cable car to the middle station before dropping down to Les Cabane des Diablerts where we dumped  all our overnight kit before skiing around on the glacier.  We finished by doing a short ski tour of about 20minutes just to check all the equipment was working properly.   It was beautifully remote.

Lead Guide Terry making the skining track.

We arrived back at the Cabanne and settled in for the evening and enjoyed a spectacular sunset.

Cabanes Les Diablerets reflecting the evening sunset.

The next day was to be the big day and the main goal for the expedition.  Namely to climb the mountain of Les Diablerets , the highest mountain in the Canton of Vaud.  The weather was perfect, if anything a little too perfect because it was very hot and some of the kids struggled with the heat. 

Stopping to put skins on before climbing to the summit  on right of photo.

 Nevertheless everyone, eventually, reached the summit.

view from the summit.

We then all skied back into the lift system where everyone inhaled  a huge 2nd lunch before some of us went to explore the spectacular bridge recently built between 2 summits.

It was then back to the Cabanne for our second night.  In the morning the weather was not so good.  It was very windy and the resort was shut. We therefore had to escape by skiing down to the road head and catching a bus back to Les Diablerets, where the weather was much kinder.  After lunch Terry lead the group on a long off piste run through some beautiful terrain , where we eventually arrived back at the piste which ends about a quarter of a mile from the school.  [Only in my dreams do I remember my school being at the bottom of a ski piste. There again my school was in Stockport.]

Show casing some of the best off piste skiing in the area.

 Dax, David and Mark flew in to Geneva from Denver Colrado to ski with me for six days.  It was my job to "show case" the best the Mont Blanc range had to offer. Yet up until their arrival the conditions had been decidely mediocre  and I was beginning to feel the pressure of having to deliver.  Yet just in time it snowed, not as much as the forecast suggested,  but enough to make sure that everything was intially shut due to the avalanche risk.

world class skiing from summit of Mt Joly.

So we started  at St Gervais.  The weather cleared and the snow was near as good as it gets.  During the day the top lift on Mont Joly opened and we got some exceptional skiing down the front face towards Megeve.

On our second day we went to Combloux and where Dax provided us with a Buster Keaton momment by firstly falling off the Poma lift  at the top. As he was getting to his feet the Poma behind him hit him on the head leaving P for Poma embossed on his forehead. It could have been a holiday ending experience but  after downing several Ibuprofen Dax was up and fighting.  We climbed the Petit Croisse Baulet and enjoyed wonderful views across to Mt Blanc.

Mt Blanc looking splendid from the summit of Petit Croisse Baulet 

We then hit untracked deep snow all the way down to Le Plan.  From here we rode the lift and skied the trees on the Geittaz side.  The snow was so good that I got  too excited and followed the endless powder run too far down and slightly too far to the left.  Fortunately the boys did'nt mind too much.  Having skins helped us get back on track quickly and we skied back through some gorgeous terrain, although at one stage I was concerned we might miss the last lift back into the Combloux lift system!

On our third day we headed through the Mt Blanc tunnel to Courmayeur.  The first thing that struck me was how few people there were.  It was weirdly quiet.  Also there was markedly less fresh snow than on the French side.  The lack of people did mean there wasn't much a queue for the top cable cars.  Infact we were the only people for the last cable car.

Youla cable car

It took a bit of effort to get into position , side stepping some rock and mud but once we reached the col the descent of the bowl below was some of the very best skiing I have ever enjoyed in Courmayeur.

Dax negotiating the non-snow bit .  The top lift is in the background. 

The traverse to the col 

The bowls before the Youla Couloirs

It was then along to the La Chaumiere restaurent for an excellent late lunch. 

Chaumiere restaurent.

For our fourth day the team actually got to ski in the Chamonix Valley.  We headed up to the Argentiere glacier via the Col des Rachasses.  It had snowed 10 cm  overnight with no wind.  The skiing would have been perfect except that the cloud had socked in and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.  Skiing the glacier was not an option in these conditions and so we reluctantly turned around and skied down the Comb des Rachasses.  This was hardly a sob story because we had knee deep untracked light fluffy snow and the rock wall on our righthand side gave us enough perspective and therefore visibility to enjoy it all.  We conveniently arrived at the Chalet Logan for an excellent late lunch.

On our fifth  day we skied the Vallée Blanche.  I had made reservations on the 9.00hrs Aiguille du Midi cable car.  We arrived to find the area in front of the station swarming with waiting skiers.  The lift was shut due to strong winds.  After a few minutes they announced the cable car would be closed for the day.  The wind was blowing 110 kph at the summit.  We needed a plan B.  My plan B was to drive through the Mt Blanc tunnel and enter the Vallee Blanche fron the Sky-Way lift.  We arrived to find a nominal queue, we were whisked up to the top where we even had time for a compulsory cappocunio before sauntering out and onto the glacier. No stress and totally civilised. 

It was quite windy to start with , but within about 200meters we were out of the wind and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Geant Ice Fall

Me.

We skied down to the cable cars below  Montenvers train and walked up the ever increasing steps( global warming) to the bubble before taking the train back to Chamonix. We of course had to go and collect my car , but the boys made the most of it by staying and  eating dinner in Courmayeur.

The long climb from the glacier to the cable car.

On our final day together we headed back to Grands Monterts to do what we had failed to do two days beforehand, namely ski down the glacier Rognans to the Argentiere glacier.  this time we had blue skies and the boys were not disappointed by the views.

Argentiere glacier with Mt Dolent in the far background

Dax,Mark,David

Not Perfect , but not bad.

The Applestrudelhorn.

 For the people who primarily come skiing to slide from morning coffee to lunch to Apés ski and then slide back to their hotel and nothing more, then the weather and conditions have been perfect.  Cold and crisp with the temperature never getting above zero [which means the pistes never really  become icy. ] All this along with blue skies for weeks on end has meant lots of contented holiday makers.  

For the people who take their skiing seriously, where the quality of the snow is more important than the colour of the sky , then it has altogether been more challanging.  Over the last two weeks I have travelled far and wide in search of the best conditions.  I even went to Zermatt for the day leaving Chamonix before dawn and returning by moon light

When I was not guiding I was treated to a ski lesson from Andrea my daughter who is a member of the Chamonix ski school.  Say what you like about nepotism but  I would highly recommend her to transform and take your skiing to another level.

I had three very entertaining days with a family who travelled all the way from New York to ski with me. Ayal Kayan his wife Riva and his five grown up  children came to sample the best Chamonix had to offer.  We had a day skiing off piste at Le Tour, Then the "must day" of the Vallee Blanche, which was fantastic.

Dent du Géant

Geant Ice Fall

 It was made even  more interesting when I missed the key exit to the Montenvers cable car [2 years absence and further retreat in the glacier is my excuse], leaving us comitted to skiing all the way to Chamonix.  This proved to be a great mistake because, not only did we get to enjoy a drink at the buvette Mottes , but also allowed us to ski all the way to Chamonix [ the track was in great condition] and everyone got the full and rare oppurtunity to ski all the way to the bar.  On our final day we skied off-piste at Les Grande Montets, which because it had remained cold the snow was good.

Next my good friend Charles Sherwood turned up for what we think is close to our 30th anniversary of contioniuoisly climbing and skiing together .  We started with a day skiing off-piste at Combloux.  The snow wasn't for the faint hearted.  Otherwise known as challenging. Others might just call it crap.

Yet a change of venue and the next day was magnificent.  We went ski touring above Les Contamines  and did the tour of Lac de Girotte which provided good skiing.

Mt Blanc

Looking towards Lac de Roseland

Perfect ski touring scene

We found some good turns

On our final day we headed into the Aiguille Rouge and were lucky enough to have jaw dropping conditions in which to climb upto the Breche Berard where we enjoyed wonderful skiing the entire distance of the Berard vallee .

Chaines des Fiz

Charles on the final bit upto the Breche Berard.

Climbing upto Breche Berard

And then the ski down the valley

The Berard Vallee

Next I had the pleasure of Freddie and Katie Pack, who were delightful company and will go home with a good story to tell, which is only semi ski related. The brief they gave me was that they were keen to get back into ski touring after a bit of a hiatus [ can't think what that might be due to ]   

I suggested we head off and climb the Petit Croisse Baulet high above Sallanches. 

Mt Blanc from the summit of Petit Croisse Baulet

We duly did this, but the weather was threatening to turn and the light was getting flat so instead of continuing on and upto the Grande Croisse Baulet we elected to privlege the skiing and descended down to Giettaz on immaculate snow. After which this gave way to some grass skiing before once again picking up some further good snow once we hit the shade.

We arrived in the tiny resort of Le Plan . We duly took the chair to the top of the resort, where I suggetsed we try one of the world class tree descents Giettaz has to offer.  Well the terrain is always incredible, but on this day the snow didn't quite match [ It was still better than anything in the MT Blanc massif at the time]. Nevertheless the physicality of the descent resulted in Freddie's brand new I phone being ejected out of his pocket without his knowledge.   When we eventaully stopped to gather our breath, the phone was sickening not where it was supposed to be.  That was because it was in the middle of a forest all on its own.

So what to do?  Katie went on the "Find My" App which established that the phone was some where in the forest.  This wonderhul technology is all well and good, but without skins to climb back up the hill , then nothing is going to be found.  Fortunately we all had skins and we were able to follow our tracks back up hill, eventually Freddie got a ping on his I watch which said his phone was in a 25 meter radius.  He was then able to get his phone to ring.  We heard it somewhere above us, but it was still frustratingly invisible.

Then we saw a faint black in the snow and there it was.

Almost found

On Monday 7th it snowed.  So much so the lifts were slow to open because of the high avalanche risk.  I was joined by Tom Roscoe and his snow board.  We started the day with a very good cappuccino outside Les Grand Montets while we waited for news.  No news was forthcoming and so we relocated to Le Tour, where we had some fantastic skiing [ Well I did ] Tom seemingly had a good time on his board too!

The Aiguille Verte seen from Le Tour.

A couple of weather records - one welcome one not.

 

La Flegere -mid November

Most of the Autumn was beautifully clear day after day. This lead you to think the weather could never change, let alone snow.  Then around the very end of November it did snow, not a lot but just an encouraging amount.  This was followed by a little more and then on the 10th December it really started to dump.  So much so that it was the most snow recorded in a single December day since 1966.

When it stopped snowing the sun came out and it was magical.

Milo swims through 80cm of over night snow on the Chamonix golf course.

It remained  wonderfully crisp and cold  until just before Chritmas and although the snow high up was wrecked by the wind in the lower resorts we had wonderful skiing through the meadows and trees.

That was about as good as it gets, because just as everything was shaping up perfectly we were then thrown a "curve ball' in the guise of a ban on all UK nationals coming to France.  So all my potential clients could no longer get here.

Magical conditions with Reuben & Fiona.

Still it is what it is.  Unlike last year the ski lifts were open and this allowed me to go skiing on Christmas day with some of the best skiers I have ever skied with : My three daughters.

Then the weather changed again.  Torrential rain for about three solid days.  It was horrible and all the off piste skiing was wrecked .  It even rained up to 3000 meters and made it the warmest New Year in the Alps -ever.

Yet the forecast is for another change, it looks like the temperatures will fall  again and there is plenty of snow forecast, I just hope people can actually get here.