Good Snow no people

Easter is traditionally when your average skier cans the season and the resort quietens down. Normally the best snow of the season arrives and we have the best off piste skiing. Even Les Grands Montets is good because you can actually get up the cable car without getting in a fight. Robin and Elizabeth Tarling and I had four very good days. We skied off piste at Le Tour. We went to Les Contamines and skinned up to the col du Fenetre. We then skied at Les Grands montets in poor weather but great snow. On Our final day we skied Grands Montets in good weather and good snow.

View from the bathroom window

So this was the picture this morning.

New webcam at the Seaton house.

Webcam

So there is now a web cam pointing at the Aiguille du Midi from our Chalet

Big Spring Snow

A couple of days ago we had grass growing in the garden. Now it is minus ten and we have big snow.

Big Change.Winter is back.

Winter is back. The snow has been good high up and on Good Friday Andrew Montgomery and I did the Crochue Berard traverse. The ski down to Le Buet was perfect. Then it snowed. It started at 6.30 am and did not stop until the next day. 60cm in the garden. On Saturday everything was closed in Chamonix so we went to St Gervais where we had a very good day's skiing through the trees.
On Sunday we tried something different where we drove the Land Rover up a track [with chains on all wheels.] We then started skining up to the Chalet de Mayers high above Sallanches.

Falling in streams and lots of Mud

You know you have had a good days skiing when you have fallen in a river and have mud all over your kit. Fiona and Reuben and I skied all over the place. On our first day we skied at Grands Montets. The second day at Les Houches in poor visibility. Third at La Thuile with really good snow and blue skies. The fourth in Combloux [Brilliant snow mixed with mud and streams] Fifth day ski touring above Sallanches. The sixth we skied at Le Tour and found some very good snow.

Helicopter drop on the Petit Combin

Mike Woolford Stephen Yeates and John Donner and I were dropped on top of the Petit Combin in windy conditions. THe first few hundred meters were on wind crusted snow. But then it got good. Then it got really good with fabulous snow and no one around apart from a Golden Eagle that followed us .
The snow below 2000 meters was as bad as the snow high up was good. We ended up at the bottom quite knackered.