A Ski Traverse of the Oberland.

 

Extrordinary photo skiing of the Trugberghttps://catherinelewisphotography.co.uk/home/

Despite living in Switzerland and being a keen climber and skier Catherine Lewis had not yet been to the mountains in the Oberland.  Last years trip was thwarted by the weather and we ended up going to Italy instead. Hopefully it would be second time lucky - Again she was joined by her friend Kate Ferguson.

We had a plan and followed it.  Catherine and Kate drove from Geneva and we met just outside Martigny with the aim of having a warm up ski tour at my new favourate ski resort: Liddes.  I had been there exactly  a week beforehand and had enjoyed perfect conditions.  I couldn't think of a reason not to return.  

Yet when we arrived it was shut.  Shut for the season despite the conditions still being  immaculate.

I was taken off guard and had a mild panic attack- yet fortunately   conjured up a plan B.  We drove to what use to be the Super Gd St Bernard ski area, but it sadly closed in 2010.  [There is a brilliant short video about the place which is defiantly worth wathchingGhost Resorts]

We enjoyed a good ascent to the "col sud de Menouve" on the Swiss /Italian border.

Catherine & Kate getting excited about crossing the border.

What's more the ski back down was really really good.

The old pylons & our ski tracks.

 Then we drove to Visp and abandoned the car at the railway station.  Afterwhich we took the train to Grindlewald and checked into the Hotel Wolter which is a minutes walk from the train station.

[It was part of the plan because we didn't have any foot wear other than our ski boots.]

Now, we knew the weather forecast for the next day, Wednesday, was going to be indifferent so we had already fine-tuned our plans to take this into account.  We made our way upto the Jungfraujoch via coffee in the exquisite Bellevue Hotel at Kliene Schydegg before stopping for an indifffernt lunch at "The Top of Europe" railway station.  Two Hundred Swiss Francs for a one way ticket - The most expensive railway in the world which always reminds me of the quote:

"Switzerland: A place that works the senses so thoroughly that you barely notice the efficiency with which it simultaneosly working your wallet."

Especially for the poor people who had made the trip in the zero visibility...

Into the bad weather.

Catherine leaving  through the exit door

 We made our way slowly to the Monchjoch Hutte along the semi ploughed track and as we did the weather slowly started to clear and we caught the odd glimpse of our destination.

The Monchjoch Hutte.

The next morning it was a different story:  The weather was stellar.  

view from Monchjoch Hutte.

We left the Hutte at about 8.00hrs and skied down the Ewigschneefäld glacier, where  we then made a gradual climb up to the col just below the Trugberg.  

Arriving at the col below the Trugberg

This set us up with a truely world class ski all the way down to the Jungfrau glacier then onto the Aletsch glacier.

descent from the Trugberg line of descent in red.

We stopped for a picnic inorder to fortify ourselves before the stair case climb to the Konkordia Hutte.

This year there are 400 steps to negociate.  No doubt next year there will be more added.

The 400 steps

Mind you, you can stop half way up the steps to write and send a post card.

Nevertheless once you arrive the Konkordia Hutte is in an  undeniably extrordinary position.

View from terrace at sun set looking toward the Hollandia Hutte and direction Blatten

The next morning the weather was still perfect.  We had breakfast at 6.00hrs and were away just before 7.00hrs. Our plan was to ski down the rest of the the Aletsch glacier and arrive in Fiescheralp.  But before we could do that- there was the matter of negotiating the 400 steps...

Me & Kate at the top of the metal stairs.

At the bottom of them, we collected our skis and headed off down the glacier.  Despite the hutte being very busy the previous night we soon found ourselves all alone in this mind boggling wilderness- still the longest glacier in Europe.

The Aletsch glacier.

Near the foot of the glacier we made a left turn and transitioned from skiing to skinning and headed up a beautiful valley towards the tunnel which takes you into the ski resort of Fiesch.

The skin from the glacier to the tunnel  takes about 40 minutes.

Light at the end of the tunnel -1 km away.

The tunnel is about one kilometer long, complete with a creepy shrine halfway along it.  Once at the far end you find your self in a completely different valley system - a short ski followed by a short walk puts you into the Fiesch lift system.  We followed a long traverse, [which because it faces due south we were happy to complete in the morning ] puts you onto the piste and eventually athe the foot of chair lift which we blagged a free ride back up to Feischeralp.  From here we took a gondola down to the town of Feisch.

Infact the gondala dumps you in the railway stattion!  Half an hours wait for the train, then back to Visp where we picked up the car.  A very satifactory trip.

If ski touring can be better than this - Then show me what it looks like...

Mighty Grand Combin seen from Tour Bavon.

 

It snowed the day before John Young and I were due to meet for our six days ski touring together.  But there after the weather forecast for the next 4 days was perfect.

So on our first day together it was nescessary to let the newly fallen snow settle down and for the avalanche risk to go down before we headed off on any steep terrain.  We therefore opted to head to Combloux and climb the Petit Croisse Baulet.

John on the summit with Mt Blanc peaking through the cloud

Once on the summit we had to decide which way to ski down inorder to find the best snow and most interesting descent.  We choose to head in the direction of Geittaz.  This proved to be a good choice as we found great untracked snow and we had the place to ourselves.  Yet there was a price to pay because the snow did run out leaving us with a 20 minute walk through some very gooey mud.

It was good while it lasted

20 miunutes walk

Followed by a tricky river crossing which I should have in hindsight walked across sans ski and only just made it without a comedy moment.

This could end badly

John having watched, on much bemused, elected to walk ...

The drop into the stream is further than it looks!

On the Tuesday we headed to Liddes.  This is about an hours drive from Chamonix in the village just before the Gd St Bernard tunnel.  The ski tour was absoultly sensational .  We had fresh snow and once we left the "lift System" [Liddes has one chair and two drags], we saw no one - yet had perfect blue skies.

We arrived on the summit of the Tour Bavon where we had a picnic before skiing down the vast comb before rejoining the track which eventually lead us back to the car.

 

The day wouldn't have been complete without stopping at the Fondue Vending machine which is conviently situated on the main road in Liddes. [Best Fondue cheeses I have ever eaten]

 On the Wednesday we skied off the back of Le Brevent, despite it being a 100% busier than the two previous days we still found some untracked cold snow which was excellent. 

 This was a sort of reverse ski tour, because we did most of the skiing first and then skinned back upto Lac Cornu then upto the Col de la Gliere, before skiing down the Combe de la Gliere into the Flegere lift system.  

traversing Lac Cornu

On the Thursday we headed for Les Contamines, where, because we had had 3 days of solid sunshine, combined with cold clear nights - we hoped to find some good spring snow.  We were not dissapointed and were rewarded with some huge long descents on perfect spring snow.

Me on spring snow with Mt Blanc in the background.

By Friday the weather was begining to turn- with the dreaded Foehn threatening to appear.  We decided to stay local and ski off the back of Le Tour.  This proved to be very good, with the added bonus that we had the place to ourselves.

John skiing off the summit of the Tete de Balme with the Foehn weather obscuring Mt Blanc.

Saturday the forecast was for poor weather , so again we decided to stay local and find some tree skiing which was relatively high.  We headed to Les Grands Montets.  Not for the first time this month the weatther forecast was completely wrong -in our favour.  The skiing off -piste was poor so we contented our selves by skiing on piste and then heading for lunch at the always excellent Cremerie d'Argentire - probably my favourite place to eat while skiing at Les Grands Montets.

The many many people heading off on the Haute Route

Hotel Weisshorn- Wonderful.

Simon Sherwood makes his way up under the Touma.

By a set of coincidnces I returned to the Weisshorn Hotel twice in a week.   The second time was with the "Sherwood clan" whom consisted of Charles - [my long time "partner in crime"] plus his brother Simon and  Rachel and their daughter Saskia- who was compelety new to ski touring.

This trip had been in the diary for a long time, and as the date got nearer the weather forecast got worse. I started to have one of those "oh dear" what are we going to do thoughts because the forecast for the first day was good, then , thereafter it was poor...

We drove around to St Luc, then wrestled with the car parking app because this is the only way to pay. But there is only sketchy mobile coverage making it difficult and highly annoying.  Fourtunatly Rachel was far more adept at this than me.

The snow was good, but the visibility kept coming and going which made off piste skiing a challange.  Plus the ski tour to the hotel meant breaking trail through some deep untracked snow.  I was tired when we arrived and the two beers were most welcome : One for the thirst and one for the pleasure...

In the morning I was "shocked" to wake up to blue skies and perfect conditions.  This was the absolute opposite of what was forecast.  After a breakfast of boiled eggs. [ soft runny  eggs require 8 minutes at 2335 meters ] we headed out and ascended all the way to the Col de La Forcletta.

The ski back down was wonderful. The snow was great the views all around were spectacular and the beer on the terrace after of return was sublime.

The view from the dinning room at dinner - is hard to beat anywhere in the world.

On the Sunday morning the weather was very cloudy.  Infact  you couldn't see yor hand in front of your face type weather.  It was impossible to tell if you were going up hill or down hill.  It was at times difficult to tell if you were actaully moving or not.  Still the team were keen to venture out and find out what skiing blind was actually like.  Well being out in front navigating was  hard work.  After about two hours the novelty had worn off and we gingerly made our way back to the piste and skied back into St Luc from where we drove back to Chamonix.  Three varied intersting days.

Back to St Luc again.

Hotel Weisshorn.

 The brief was :  We want to explore the skiing and go somewhere that is completly different that we would never think of going on our own. 

So I put my thinking hat on and came up with a plan and suggestion.  

So on this basis Reuben Fiona and I headed to St Luc in the Val d'annvers.  This is a two hour drive from Chamonix.  We parked the car in St Luc.  Our plan was to spend the first night in the iconic Weisshorn Hotel.  

The logistics of doing this are not self evident - but ultimatly achievable.  Firstly we needed to dump our overnight bags at the Funicular, then go skiing for the day.  We did this and also stopped for a very good lunch at the Cabanne Bella Tolla.  

We then skied on and off -piste ultmately arriving at the Chalet Blanc which is the "road side pick" up for the Piste Tractor which would transport us to the hotel Weisshorn at 16.00hrs. 

Waiting for the Hotel "Shuttle Bus"

 We kept our side of the bargain but the Tractor was very un-swiss and arrived 20 minutes late.  This caused me some undue stress because I had no idea if it was coming or not.  Anyway all was good in the end. We enjoyed a wonderful night with wholesome food, good wine and all was good.

The next day we left after a leisurely breakfast. Our bags were shuttled back to the Funicular .  The three of us skied back down into St Luc and collected our bags.  We then skied within the resort for the day, plus enjoying lunch again in the excellent Bella Tolla Cabanne.

Then after skiing we checked into the truely wonderful Bella Tola Hotel. https://www.bellatola.ch/fr/ Part of the Swiss historic hotel group. It is even older than the Weisshorn Hotel built in 1853 versus 1882 for the Weisshorn hotel.  [This is remebering that Whymper hadn't even climbed the Matterorn until 1865.]  It is exquisite.  Plus the dinner was exceptional.

The next morning we drove for about 20 minutes before skiing in Zinal for the day.  The weather wasn't perfect - with lots of clouds swirling around, but still we had a good ski, before stopping for a late lunch in town afterwhich we drove back to Chamonix.

Fiona & Reuben with the Matterhorn behind them

Klosters in March: Sensational!

Fred Me Mark Dax having made it to the Austrian Border

 It had not snowed for at least two weeks in the eastern part of Switzerland this meant there was an avalanche risk of one. It would be easy to conclude that the snow was not going to be good for Off piste skiing. This conclusion was entirely wrong because the weather had remained cold, and on the north facing slopes, the snow was magnificent.

On our first day we skied the classic "Direttissima" off the top of Weissfluh. Sure enough even after 2 snowless weeks we found untracked cold snow.

We were all equiped with skins, so we then climbed out of the bowl and then skied the beautiful Untersaas meadows all the way down to Conterser-Schwendi where we got fried alive by the blistering sun while eating lunch.

On the Tuesday we skied to Austria 

We left from the to of the Madrisa lift system and then skinned up to the col in about an hour.

Afterwhich we skied down the long valley before picking up the pistes which lead us to the lift station of Gargellan.  Then the most surprinsing thing happened- because we had bought Klosters ski passes, we got a free journey back up and through the Austrian system.  

The resort was completely rammed , but we still felt it was nescessary to have a drink and a bite to eat before tackling our second skin of the day.  

A 50 minute skin put us at the next col and re entry into Switzerland.

The ski down was spectacular - we found lots of good snow, but we also took a fairly radical ine in places passing above some big cliffs.

It was then a ski down into St Antonien - but not before passing through a farm yard which had giant revolving brush rather like a car wash.  This was a cow massaging contraption which they clearly adored.

The farm with the cow massaging brush

It was then just a question of waiting for the Poste bus to take us down the valley to the train station and then the train back to Klosters.

St Antonien

On the Wednesday we skied the classic descent of the Gmeinboda.  This starts with a 10 minute walk with the skis carried on the rucksack.

Skis on the back packs

Followed by another classic descent:

The descent is in the background.

Sadly on the Thursday Fred was ill and he couldnt join us for the next adventure.  The ski descent known as the Giraffe.  This goes from the top of the Pischahorn. It starts by following a track along the crest of the mountain.  We skinned along this.  it is about 3km long.  At the end their is a convient bench which we used for our picnic lunch.

Bench with a view of Davos

The descent had a mixture of everything: Good snow /bad snow/ bush wacking/ mud/ river crossings/ walking/dead animals/ entanglement with electric fences- but ultimately full of stories.

Where next?

On the Friday, our last day we headed to Madrisa again- this time to ski the front face which had transformed into spring snow.  We then skied all the way down the Schlappin valley, but not before stopping for a delicious late lunch at "Ericas." 

We didnt see a cloud all week!