Good Snow . Very Good Skiers.

 Jake and his son Kit joined me for three days of ski mountaineering.  The weather and conditions were fabulous.  This was Kit's first introduction to touring although he and his father were very good skiers.

Despite their ability, neither of them had skied in Chamonix before, which from my point of view was good because it gave me a "blank canvas" to show case some of the great day tours on offer.

On the first day we headed to Le Tour where we went through the fundamentals of avalanche safety protocol and then headed  over to the point Carraye, which offers spectacular views up the Rhone valley.  Returning to the resort we had a mixture of good skiing but also some challanging skiing.

On our second day we headed first to La Flegere from where we skied over to Brevent and from the summit of Le Brevent we headed to the col du Brevent and dropped off the back side.  Here we hit some first rate skiing.

At the 2000 meter mark we stopped and put our skins on before climbing back up to lac Cornu.  Here we stopped for some lunch.  Afterwhich we continued to climb to the Col de la Gliere.  We then skied down the combe de la Gliere and joined the piste.  What was even more fantastic was despite it being Easter we saw no one all day.

solitude.

Our final day we again headed for La Flegere this time for the famous Col Crochue/Col Berard ski tour. It is a marvellous journey, BUT it is always busy or at least the first climb is.  Generally after the first col eveyone fans out.  This is what happened to us and once again we found our selves on our own.

Jake making his way up to the col Crochue.

Jake & Kit with Col Crochue in the background.

The challange we faced was  that it was getting very hot.  This meant that the snow was deteriorating and there was an increased risk of wet-slide avalanches, so we had to keep moving and get through all the difficulties efficiently. The tour conviently finshes at the Hotel du Buet which has a bar.  An ideal place to wait for the train which whisked us back to La Flegere.

Skiing Contrasts between the US & Europe.

 It continues to be sunny cold and great snow, with the added adavantage of their being no one around.

Grands Montets looking perfect.

Skiing with Shanon and Antonia’s extended families was a study in contrasts—different abilities, different goals, but a shared enthusiasm for skiing somewhere else other than the US... Between them, there were a lot of children, which meant balancing progression, safety, and enjoyment across a wide range of skill levels.

I spent  my time with Colin, [Shanon’s son] and Antonia ,the ones keen to explore Chamonix's off-piste terrain with me. Together we covered the fundamentals of avalanche awareness: terrain selection, snowpack basics, route planning, and decision-making. The focus was on avoiding risk rather than reacting to it—understanding where not to go is more important than knowing how to get out of trouble.

We also discussed the cultural differences between skiing in France and the United States. In France, off-piste skiing is more integrated into the overall ski culture, but it comes with a clear expectation: if you leave the marked runs, you are responsible for your own safety. Mountain guiding is a regulated profession, with standardized training and certification, which creates a consistent baseline of expertise.

In contrast, mountain guiding in the U.S. is not uniformly regulated. While there are excellent guides, the lack of consistent oversight means the level of training and experience can vary more widely. It puts more responsibility on clients to vet who they ski with and to understand the risks involved.

For the rest of the group—those who preferred to stay on piste and focus on improving their skiing—I arranged sessions with my friend , ESF instructor Hugo Goisnard. This proved to be the right call. Hugo managed to raise the group’s technical level quickly while keeping the sessions engaging and safe. Confidence improved across the board, and just as importantly, everyone had fun doing it.

In the end, the trip worked because it matched the right approach to the right people: structured progression on piste for most, and focused safety education in off-piste terrain for those ready to take that step.

Hut to Hut Ski Touring abandoned. But still it could be worse...

Spring breifly falterered handing conditions back to winter quite decisively.  This is just as Charles arrived already to go ski mountaineering for a week. 

To start with the weather was good:

We kicked of with the beautiful tour off the back of the Col du Brevent.  As we made our way through the trip the weather was deteriorating.  In the end we comfortably made it back- but then everything changed. 

Winter returned big time 

 So dramatic was the change  in weather , with a huge drop in temperature and lots of fresh snow that we had to change our plan and content our selves with skiing untracked powder in the trees of St Gervais

 On learning of our new found plan and hearing how good the skiing conditions were Tabatha, Charles daughter, dropped everything, including the baby  and headed out to join us.

Skiing in parts of Megeve which I didnt know existed

Mind you the next day, we were somewhat wrong footed.  Expecting fabulous conditions at Combloux we eagerly arrived at the station to find that it had closed for the season- despite the best conditions of the year...

I hastily came up with a paln B. We headed to Rochbrune where we skied through powder making our way to the top of the teleski de Rochfort.  At the pre Rosset we dropped off the back of the resort, before putting our skins on and heading to the col La Croix de Pierre. It was our intention to then ski down to Haute Luce and then work our way back through Les Contamines lift system.  Yet at the col conditions were not great.  Low visibility and an increasing avalanche risk.  Instead we headed to the resort of Pras sur Arley.  This was not simple - the snow was difficult to ski, we had strong winds and a river to contend with.  

minor kit malfunction

Tabatha attempting to get out of the stream

Yet we made it into the resort and even managed to find a great place to eat, yet the menu was not comphrensive due to the fact that the resort was closing in a couple of hours...

Despite the fantastic snow we were finding the resorts closing in front of us.  One resort that was still open and in incredible condition was La Thuile in Italy so we went there and enjoyed marvellous untracked powder skiing- in beautiful weather.

On our final day the weather was not clear, but it was still cold and the snow was still so we returned to St Gervais where conditions remained jaw dropingly  good. 

No one around

Looking down the Epaule towards Le Fayet

Fabulous mid season conditions.

There has been a lot of snow in the Alps. It has thoughtfully consolidated itself into an excellent base, which, combined with largely stable weather and the occasional replenishing snowfall, has produced conditions that are—on balance—rather good. John Young, arrived at exactly the right time.

Monday

We headed to Combloux. It was quiet, the sky was blue, and fresh snow clung photogenically to the trees. In short: perfect. We skied off the back of the resort down to Le Plan. The snow began as impeccable, before evolving—thanks to a change in aspect—into a charming sun crust that encouraged some interpretive skiing. We sensibly skied around to north-facing slopes and were rewarded with a proper run through untracked powder in the trees. Returning to the lift system, we stopped for lunch at Bon Journal, which was efficient in the way one hopes lunch always will be.

Tuesday

Under more beautiful weather, we went to La Flégère, where ski mountaineers were out in force. We exited the gondola, turned left, and immediately achieved the rare luxury of solitude for the rest of the day. From the top of Le Brévent, we traversed the ridge and, just before the Col du Brévent, dropped onto north-facing slopes. While not entirely untracked, there was more than enough space to enjoy ourselves without social interaction.

We eventually encountered a group who had tracked the snow—an ENSA assessment team digging a snow pit for their final exams, presumably enjoying themselves in their own way. We then applied skins and headed up to Lac Cornu for a brief lunch before continuing over into the Combe des Glières and back into the Flégère lift system.

hitting the sweet spot

digging an avalanche pit

Father & Son Intro to Ski Mountaineering

 Cal and his son James joined me for a couple of days in order for them to prepare for a multiday ski tour later in the season.  

This was to be James introduction to ski touring  On our first day we headed to Le Tour.  Things didnt get off to a good start because the key lift broke down in front of us.  Mind you we were more fortunate than the people who needed to be rescued from the swinging chairs...

We had a good session on the use of avalanche transceivers and rescuse protocol.  After which we went on a mini tour heading up to the Carraye and the impressive views up the Rhone valley .

The next day it snowed heavily.  We postponed a day, which was good because when we reconvened the weather and the fresh snow were excellent.  We headed for Combloux and climbed the Petite Croix Baulet.  It was a Sunday and it was busy on the summit.  Yet everyone else seemed to ski back the way they had come.  We didnt do that, instead we skied down towards Giettaz.

descent to Giettaz

Touring in the Val d'Anniviers

 

Solitude

So Catherine Lewis and I visited the Hotel Weisshorn again.  This time Catherine brought her husband  Richard along too.  We arrived at the hotel having warmed up by skiing around the resort of St Luc.  After a good lunch at the Cabane Bella Tola we skied some horrible snow, before donning our skins and climbing up to the Weisshorn Hotel.  

There was only one problem.  I had become quite ill.  I couldn't eat dinner and at breakfast the next morning I was far from okay.  We decided that Catherine and Richard should ski back into the resort of St Luc and ski around on the piste.  I would go back to bed and spend the day there.

This seemed to work because when we reconvened for dinner I had recovered my appetite and the next day normal service could be resumed.  

We had a marvellous day.  After a good breakfast of boiled eggs [10 minutes soft boiled at 2337m] we headed out in the direction of the Pointe de Tourtemagne.  There was no one about.  Plus it had snowed overnight. Not much but just enough to spruce the snow up.

The descent of the west face was spectacular and steep.  Yet the snow was good and safe and we enjoyed many perfect turns all the way back to the car- some 1500meters of vertical drop.

Pointe de Toutemagne showing the west face descent route.

First Visit to a high mountain refuge of the season

 

Greg & Bill having a picnic on the long appraoch road

Fabulous weather and great snow cover meant our trip to the Refugio Benevolo was very good.  Bill, Greg and I drove through the Mt Blanc Tunnel and then down the Aosta valley from where we turned up the long  side valley to Rhemes Notre-Dame.  Here the road stopped abruptly because it hadn't been ploughed any further.  We dumped the car and started skinning up the road.  We passed through the final village [compeletely closed in the winter] before joining a long beautiful valley where tired, we arrived at the welcoming Refugio Benevolo nearly 4 hours after leaving the car.

The road becomes a path

Despite mid week the refugio was packed.  It was a good job that I had made the booking several weeks beforehand.  It is a great place, with friendly helpful staff, good food, good beer AND hot showers.  The down side is that the rooms are extremely narrow and there are three tier bunks .  Ear plugs are essential.

Resident Fox

Benevolo 

The next morning we climbed Punta Galicia 3346 m .  This is a long way!  It is aslo one of those peaks which has many false summits.  Despite the refugio being busy we had the whole route to ourselves and the sense of wilderness added to the experience .

Greg on the summit of Punta Galicia

We enjoyed a second night at the refugio and the next morning we embarked on a wonderful U shaped tour that ultimatly brought us directly back to the car.  We left the refugio at 8.00hrs and headed to the summit of the Pointe Paletta 3024m.  This was a good ascent following an interesting ridge to the top of a narrow summit.  

We were able to ski off the top by a steep slope which lead us into an endless valley through ever changing scenary.  A brilliant days ski mountaineering.

On arriving back at the car our plan was to find a hotel.  Yet it now being the weekend, we failed.  So we returned to Chamonix.

On the Sunday we skied off the Col du Brevent before skining back up to lac Cornu and then up and over into the Combe de la Gliere and back into the Flegere lift system.

Me 

On our final day we headed for the village of Liddes and completed what I currently consider to be the best one day ski tour there is :  The Tour de Bavon with the descent of the Combe de L'A

Stunning view towards lac Leman