End of the year.

I can not rememeber a better Christmas for skiing, it has been cold and clear with a good base of snow. This morning we awoke to 10 cm of fresh snow.

A Real Winter.

We are having a good start to the winter. There is plenty of snow and it is cold- very cold minus 15 each morning for the last week

Best Pre season snow ever.

For the last few days It has just snowed and snowed. I have spent over eight hours just clearing snow. Today it stopped and the sun came out [sort off] Despite the best efforts of the Grands Montets staff to not open enough lifts we still had some of the best early season skiing I have ever known.

Walter Bonatti Hut

We drove through the Mt Blnc Tunnel to a different world. Stacks of snow, cold and great touring conditions. Gavin Foster and I skinned up to the Walter Bonatti Hut and then skied back down through the larch trees. Not bad considering it is still only November

Walter Puppy

A new Bernese Mountain Dog arrived this weekend. He is called Walter. He is eight weeks old. Also we went skiing at Les Grands Montets for the first time this season. Conditions are quite good and there is a good snow cover above 2000 meters

FIRST SNOW

So I have not posted a blog for a while because it was between seasons. We did have perfect weather for week after week, but despite this no one seemed to want to employ me so I decided to paint the house instead. I just managed this before it snowed and got very cold.
Last week we had about 50 cm of fresh snow in the garden and temperatures down to minus ten. Photo was taken by Gavin Foster wwww.skiweekend.com

October mountaineering is as good as any time to be here

Reuben Berg and his son carved out time from thier busy schedules to meet up in Chamonix, chill out and do a couple of days climbing together.
Later in the week Gareth and Caroline made the leap from hill walkers to mountaineers. We climbed the Aiguille du Toule high up in the valley blanche. The next day we took the Aigulle du Midi lift and climbed Pt Lachanael.
On Saturday Agust Gudmundsson and his brother Lydur and their children did thier first rock climbs at Les Gaillands in warm sunny weather.

Leo the Mountain Dog is dead.

This was not a good day in the Seaton household. Leo the Mountain Dog had to be put down this afternoon because despite huge doses of morphine he was crippled by agony due to arthritus and many other problems. He was ten and a half years old and had been a faithful companion to me on many epic ski tours . He looked after Andrea Florenece and Sophie all thier lives without eating any of them or thier freinds. Apart from the girls his passion in life was stealing cheese by braking into neighbours houses and of course pigs ears which he got as an extra special treat. We are all extremely upset.

Wendy Crabb back for some late season climbing

Wendy Crabb flew out to Chamonix for a few days and we climbd the Aiguille du Marbree 3500meters which is high up in the Valley Blanche on the Franc- Italian border.
The next day the weather was indifferent so we drove to Martigny [Switzerland] and we went rock climbing. Wendy took to this lke a "Duck to water."

Early Snow

A big dump of snow last Tuesday put a lot of the higher routes out of condition. Roger Brookes and Martin Read and I had to make some careful descisions about where we should go. In very cold conditins we climbed the Pt Lachanal as our "warm up" route. The next day we climbed the Aiguille de Entreves. On our third day we drove around to the Emosson day and climbed the Aiguille du Van. A beautiful rocky scramble giving some of the best views of MT Blanc in the range.
On our finl day and having let someone else cut the track we climbed Mt Blanc du Tacul 4200m.

Perfect weather and conditions

Peter Little and I enjoyed some very good climbing in the Chere Couloir on Mt Blanc du Tacul. This is a steep Ice climb of about five pitches. The ice was like cork and conditions were perfect. Then we climbed the Aiguille de Rochfort [4001 meters] by its famous ridge.

The North Face of the Eiger.

Charles Sherwood and I climbed the North Face of the Eiger in difficult and snowy conditions. We had two bivy's on the face and one on the summit. We descended by the south ridge. Four days climbing and no sleep but euphoria rules.

Three Countries in three seconds

Charles Sherwood and I climbed the arete Gallet on Mt Dolent 3820m. Yeterday afternoon we walked up to the Mt Dolent Bivy Hut. This morning we set off at 5.00am and reached the summit at 10.15am The top is the meeting point of three countries France Italy and Switzerland. We arrived back at the car at 3.oopm. For 24 hours we saw no one. A big day and very good day out.

Harvey and his Dad tackle multi pitch climbing

Harvey Dovell [7 years old] and Chris his Dad climbed thier first multi pitch rock climb together to day high above Chamonix on Le Brevent. They also got caught in thier first alpine storm. Luckily we found a deep dark cave to hide in. Harvey thought the cave was "dead good."

Scary bridges

We all went on a family outing to do the Via Ferrata de Curalla AD+. Florence noted [and we all agreed] that the first wire- bridge suspended above the void was scary.

Albert the Alpinist

Over the years Chris Boulton and I have climbed and skied all over the Alps. This time Chris returned with his eldest son Albert [12 years]. It was Albert's first time alpine climbing. We spent the first day on the Mer De Glace learning how to use crampons and ice axes.[In the rain!] The second day we climbed the Aiguille du Toule [3495m] which is high up in the Valley Blanche perched on the French Italian border. On our third day we went rock climbing. We started in Chamonix and then we took the cable car to the Summit of Le Brevent and climbed on the crags near the top.

Girls on Tour

So Andrea had a 8.45am tennis match. She was then met by her Father and Lucy [Our Au Pair] and we then climbed the 600 meter Via Cordia in the astonishingly fast time of an hour and half. Andrea then went for another swim and then went for a two hour mountain bike ride and then finished the day with another swim.

First Alpine Climb

Oliver Nailard and John Fitt asked me if I could set them off in the right direction so that they could go off and climb some mountains on their own. We spent the first day on the Mer de Glace the second climbing the aiguille du Crochue and the third climbing Pt Lachenal 3613m

Emrich Brothers do thier first alpine climb

Tom and Luke climbed the route "La Tartiflette" at Le Brevent today. This afternoon Florence Seaton[6years] lead their sister Lize [7 year] up some of the classic climbs at Les Gaillands- Chamonix's famous climbing crag.

South Face of the Aiguille du Midi

Roger Cunliffe and I climbed this most famous piece of rock in perfect weather and only a couple of other climbers dotted around the face. Amazing for the height of the climbing season.

Alpine Rock Climbing

Roger Cunliffe and I been rock climbing in both Chamonix and Switzerland

Point Percee 2725m

Point Percee is so named because its south ridge has a big hole in it. Pierced. Peter Folkman and I decided to leave the big peaks alone because there is still too much snow and it still is not freezing properly. Instead we went to the Aravis and climbed the Arrete Doigt on Pt Percee a route that must count as one of the best in France.

Les Zero's Sont Fatigue

Finally the weather came good. However We felt that there was too much snow high to attempt a big peak up so we headed for one of Switzerlands huge climbing crags Sanetch which is above Sion. We climbed the fanastic route named Les Zero's sont Fatigue

Mt Mort

Peter Little and I started the week with the most awful weather forecast imaginable. Nevertheless We did manage to slalom around the worst of the weather and got a peak in on our first day Mt Mort. Or Mount Death! This is mountain above the Grand St Bernard Monastery. So named because it was [and is] the starting point for many avalanches that take out pilgrims on thier way over the pass in winter.

Ski Season is Back

This morning Chris Dovell and I left the Margheritta Hut 4560m at 6.00am. We skied 1500 meters straight run down towards Alagna.
We had spent the three previous days ski touring and acclimatising so that we were ready to spend the night in the highest building in Western Europe. This morning it was very cold minus 20 accompanied by a strong wind. Later when were down on the Italian plane it was 28 degrees! Chris took some great photos that can be seen in recent photos ski mountaineering folder; July 2007.

Chamonix Cross

This is hard work. A race from the centre of Chamonix to le Brevent at 2000m. luckily for me I could watch from the side and drink beer. Jane however ran the entire thing and tonight is very tired.

Clocher Clochotons

Mid Winter at the end of June

Turi and Agust went from summer climbing yesterday to full winter conditions on the Cosmique arrete high p on the aiguille du Midi. Nevertheless we got above the clouds and had really good climbing condiions and hardly no one around.