Skiing is still very good

Chris and Kim Dovell and I had two days ski touring around the Emosson Dam. Yesterday we climbed the Point de La Terrace and to day we climbed the Bel Oiseau
The skiing conditions are still very good especially today as the skiing was as good as it gets.

Late May skiing.

Andrea and I climbed up to the GD St Bernard Monastery on our ski mountaineering skis and spent the night. Andrea met the Monks and was introduced to Justy the Avalanche search dog who is a Golden Retriver not a St Bernard. [They are too big to climb into helicopters.]
This morning we skied back down on beautiful spring snow and back to the car.

Emosson Dam

Last Friday the road to the Emosson Dam was opened for the summer Mark Hanson and Robin Tarling and I left the car park at 6,30am while the snow was still frozen and to ensure that we got good spring skiing on the descent.
We Crossed the Dam and climbed up to the Point de La Terrace.

Snowed in at the Grand St Bernard Monastery

Rogue report from the High Sierras, California, USA

Mark's friends & clients call in to test out the new audio blog, fresh from a weekend trip down to the spectacular High Sierras. They climbed & skied a couple of nice corn-snow descents. Hear what makes the High Sierra such a great place to spring ski...

The picture shows Beth tromping up the very large Mt. Wood (no ski lifts here!)

Perfect Spring Touring Conditions

Patrick Keatinge Mike Tothill joined me straight from skiing across the Hero's of Telemarks route in Norway. Last year Patrick trekked to the North Pole, so this year they wanted something steeper.
We started with the Col du Argentiere. The next day we climbed up to the cabane du Velan in indifferent weather. The next day we climbed Mt Velan in just under six hours. We skied perfect snow all the way back in about 45 minutes. We spent another night in the Hut and the next day toured over to the Super St Bernard Ski station.
Finally on May Day we finished the week with an ascent of Le Buet. The ski from the summit was perfect. Not a bad turn on the whole descent.