A Day off School and a trip out with Mum & Dad

Sophie was given permission by her teacher to skip school and ski the Vallee Blanche with her Mum & Dad.
Sophie scuttled down the ridge and then zoomed down the main section before being treated to seeing her first mountain rescue as some idiot on his own with no Guide fell in a crevasse at the start of the Requin Ice Fall.
We were back at Montenvers by 12.45am .

Meanwhile over in Alpe d'Huez Florence came first [in her age group] in the French National Ski Championships competeing in the Super Giant Slalom.

And over in Germany on a school exchange the biggest Dangerous Sister, Andrea has taken up 5 meter high board diving and the Luge.

High Winds and French love of Train Strikes

The seemingly endless love of striking has made the logistics of getting back from various ski tours a challenge.

Before this I skied the Valley Blanche a couple of times. Bitter winds made the descent of the ridge testing. Too much so for one particular skier who might possibly go to the top of the league table for the shortest ever attempt to ski the VB. It lasted half a turn before he fell over and dislocated his shoulder. The resucue helicopter had fun and games finding a place to land because of all the skiers and the high wind.
Conditions were much better lower down and we even found some fresh snow.

On Saturday I did the Col Crochue/ Col Berard ski tour with Reuben Berg. At the top of the 1st col it was very windy and the snow was like concrete, yet when we got into the Berard Valley we found the snow had been unaffected by the wind and we got fresh tracks. After a quick beer we moved to the Gare to wait for the train which never came because there was a strike. Good of them to tell us.

On Sunday I headed back on the same tour but this time with Richard Lewis , who had requested that he wanted to go home very tired. Therefore we headed up and over the Breche Berard. A couple hours extra up hill. But it was worth it because we found really good snow for the descent. It was once down that we had the fun and games with the replacement bus for the striking train. The issue was the bus wasn't big enough and a load of people got left behind.

To day I skied at Le Tour with Catherine Lucy-Kate and Helen - mothers who had escaped from their children for a days off piste skiing.

Les Dent du Valerettes

Drove round to Monthey in the Valais and met up with Richard Lewis for an ascent of the Dent du Valerettes. Stunning views toward lake Geneva and on the other side the Dent du Midi. A great summit with snow considerably better than anything recently.

Now its too hot!

Mike Flynn joined me for 3 days - the brief was to ski interesting off piste. "Interesting" it was. Good snow it wasn't. This was because the temperature shot up and everything turned to mush. Then it would freeze over night and the snow turned to ice. This was cyclic the result being snow that was like concrete.
Still it is what it is. Fortunately Mike was as good a skier as Guide is going to get to ski with. Mike was fazed by nothing. On our first day we skied off piste at Le Tour and this was good especially on the north facing slopes, yet our last descent was very heavy and soggy as we skied down to the car.
The next day I decided to ski the Pas de Chevere - Chamonix's second most famous off piste run. This was decidedly icy at the top. By the time we got to the Mer des Glace it was super hot and an avalanche took out the train track on the Montenvers.
On our third day we did the famous ski tour the col, col Crochue Berard. Beautiful weather but poor snow.

It has been very cold

Three or four seasons ago when it was raining at 3000 meters in January I promised I would never complain about being cold again. We craved cold. Then in the last two weeks when the temperature rarely crept above -15 degrees c and for a lot of the time dived below -20 I began to change my mind.

Diesel fueld Cars were constantly breaking down because the fuel was waxing in the tanks and the normally fast flowing rivers froze over. Yet it was fantastic as the snow has stayed fresh and powdery. Recently the temperature has crept up and in the sun its very warm.

I have done lots of different things with lots of different people . Recently the standout descent was down the Possettes Gullies behind Le Tour to Le Buet. I did this with Catherine and Richard Lewis.

Earlier I visited a new "resort" The Rochers de Naye high above Montreux. It has one train and two drag lifts and when we found it it had the most perfect off piste skiing imaginable. 40 cm of super cold windless powder and no one about. Just incredable.

Longest Haute Route ever

Ski & Board's photo editor John Norris wrote a piece about completing the Haute Route with me a few years ago

Snow was good Now it is dream like

Last week Chris Boulton brought out his annual ski group. They are creatures of habit: Same hotel [the Couronne] same bar [the Office] same hire shop [Stamos] pretty much the same team although it seems to get bigger and bigger. Plus the same Guide [me]

My job is to make sure they don't ski the same places and in the attempt to keep it fresh I even ended up skiing somewhere I hadn't skied before namely down the north facing slopes below the Montenvers Railway. The snow was so high and the slopes in places so deep that if you were not careful you could land on top of the pantograph cable which powers the train.

I think the standout day was when we went ski touring high above Martigny and climbed the Mt Arpille. We even took Walter the Mountain Dog with us too.

A week of two halves

Just finished a fantastic week of off piste skiing with Russell Bragg
It was Russell's first real commitment to off piste skiing and he took to it like a Duck to Water. On our first day we headed up to Le Tour where despite it being unpleasantly cold we got to grips with avalanche transceivers, probes skins ski touring skis in essence all the stuff that's good to know before heading off into the wilderness.

On the Tuesday we completed our first ski tour together by heading over the col Crochue col Berard behind La Flegere.

Wednesday we ventured into the Valley Blanche and skinned over to Italy for a Cappuccino before skiing all the way back to Chamonix but not with out stopping at Mottets Buvet for a beer.

Thursday we thrashed our legs skiing at Grands Montets. Then the weather changed and we got snow. Lots of snow. So much snow that Chamonix closed. This didn't stop us because we just had two exceptional days skiing powder in Combloux. Russell said it was the best skiing he had ever had in his life. I added so far...

Some of the best off piste skiing - Ever

Just finished a stint of 10 days contentious skiing where it snowed most days. Chamonix was shut several times but we just jumped in the Land Rover and skied in Combloux where we enjoyed sensational powder skiing.
On one of the clear days we were lucky enough to find ourselves at La Flegere where I had the best conditions i have ever had there.

Best Day off the Season [So Far!]

More snow has already fallen so far this season than in the whole of the last ski season which is good. What is even better is that there is more forecast.

Today we headed off the back of Le Brevent towards Mont Joux. We had the pleasure to be lead by the legendary Guide Yves Dietry. Famous amongst other things for developing steep skiing in the Chamonix Valley. Notable descents being the first ski descent of the North Face of the Aguille du Midi in 1977.
Click on the link to see the full tour.

Sallanches book signing

Marc Le Guide teamed up with Quechua tomorrow. There will be a book signing in their Sallanches shop between 3.00pm and 5 pm .

Chamonix book signing

November is the new May

I have done a lot of different things in the mountains recently. Last week Catherine Lewis and I spent the day on the Mer de Glace getting some preparation in ready for climbing next summer.

I had a brilliant days rock climbing high above Cluses with Christophe [the translator of Marc Le Guide] We climbed at les Vuardes on route La Costa 6a+.
On Sunday we went out with 2/3rds of the Dangerous Sisters skiing in Cervina [Flo was race training in Tignes]
The skiing was very good.

Next Geoff Barrett came out prior to his trip to Aconcagua next week! Geoff and I spent two days getting to grips with the fundamentals of alpine travel. We had two days on the Mer de Glace all to ourselves.

Marc Le Guide

Finally the French edition of Mark the Mountain Guide is out. This time in soft back.

At present copies can be ordered from me [signed & dedicated] € 8.00 +p&p.

What month is the best time to climb in the Alps? Answer now.

The impressive thing about the weather this Autumn is that we have had one or two days of bad weather, heavy rain , snow and then the high pressure has kicked in and the days have been utterly perfect- cold clear and windless even at 3600 meters.
I have just spent four days with Reuben Berg making the most of the exceptional weather and conditions.
We spent the first day cragging in the Chamonix Valley.
Our second we headed to Montreux in the trusty 33 year old MG Midget. We took the train to the Rochers de Naye alighting at the Gare de Jamman. This is just under the Dent de Jamman - our objective for the day.
We tromped through deep snow to the foot of our rock climb. Fortunately our route was steep and faced south so it was blasted by the sun and clear of snow.
On our third day we headed up the Aguille du Midi [which was wonderfully quiet]and climbed the Cosmique arete. The conditions and the esthetics just do not get better than this.
Today the Le Brevent lift reopened for the school half term and so we rode it to the summit. We were greeted by warming sun and snow under foot yet the rock was warm and clear of snow. I was left with the feeling : If there is a better setting in which to rock climb I would love to know what it looks like.

An extrordianry indian summer

Weather has been amazing and managed to steal a couple of days rock climbing with Francis Bridgman. The first above Argentiere on the Chesery crags.
Our second day was in the Val Ferret dodging the cows coming down from their summer pasture.

Mt Blanc 4810 meters twice in a week

Conditions and the weather have been so good last week that I ended up climbing Mt Blanc twice. The first time with Mark Daniels on Tuesday, then yesterday with Alison Smith.

Mark caught the train from Geneva where he lives I met him at the railway station and we then we rode the Aguille du Midi cable car and strolled over to the Cosmiques Hut where Mark enjoyed an unconventional acclimatisation process: A giant Omelete and a few beers followed by an afternoon snooze.

The next morning we set of at 6.00am [You can start leisurely at this time of year because the sun doesn't effect the snow conditions]
We reached the top at 11.30am and sat on top for half an hour because there wasn't a breath of wind. The only people we saw all ascent were 5 Parapenters heading to to the top of Mt Blanc in order to fly off.

Next Alison arrived [also from Geneva] on Friday and we again spent the night in the Cosmiques Hut. This was not the first time Alison and I had climbed Mt Blanc together: The last time was 21years ago! Conditions were still pretty much perfect although there was considerably more wind which didn't cause us any problems but meant that the by now many Parapenters couldn't fly from the summit.

This week were the best conditions I have ever known for Mt Blanc. What was really good was that it was so quiet. Why the place is mobbed in July and August when conditions are often uncertain I do not know.

An Undiscovered Gem

This stunning photo was taken by Peter Little of what turned out to be an outstanding climb: The arête des Bouquetins pic Jallouvre above col de la Colombiere. Mind you the snow in the photo all fell the previous day and scuppered our attempt to rock climb in the Val Ferret Italy.
Fortunately We only had one day of bad weather and the rest of the week was anticyclonic and we choose to spend 4 days rock-climbing above La Flegere.

From a Land Down Under

Michal & Mihaela came all the way from Australia on their European tour [unfortunately without the VW Combi] and stopped off for a weeks climbing in Chamonix.

They were pretty much new to it all, so we followed a tried and tested routine by starting on the Mer de Glace followed, the next day by a Traverse of the Aguille du Crochue [and a swim in lac Blanc]

On the Wednesday we headed into the valley Blanche, took the bubbles over to Italy and then tracked back through some monster crevasses and over to the Cosmiques Hut where we spent a very pleasant evening and enjoyed a few flagons of red wine.
On Thursday we set off up Mt Blanc du Tacul but decided to turn round because Mihaela wasn't feeling 100%

We finished the week with an ascent of the Cosmiques Arete - all which took place in perfect weather

Stunning Autumn weather for alpine rock climbing

Peter Folkman came out for five days alpine rock climbing. The forecast was indifferent but unusually it was revised in our favour and the weather just got better and better.
We started with a warm up climb at Brevent then the next day moved over to La Flegere and climbed Nez Rouge just behind the Index.
On our third day we decided to revisit the famous arête de Cosmiques as this had been Peter's first alpine climb with me some 15 years earlier. This was the spring board which allowed him to climb many alpine peaks including the Eiger, the Matterhorn and many others eventually leading to full membership of the Alpine Club.
With the acclimatisation of the previous day we were then able to Traverse the Entreves - a magnificent rock ridge which looks down on Courmayuer.
On our final day we opted for an easier option and returned to la Flegere and finished by climbing the elegant Eperon Sublime? Named after the famous route in the Verdon Gorge.

The Dolomites

Charles Sherwood and I had a very good week. We started with a complete traverse of the Violet Towers in the Val di Fassa.
We then moved over to the Mamrmalada where we climbed the very long Tommasson route on the south face- first climbed by Beatrice Tommason in 1901. We sumitted to find a conveniently placed mountain hut complete with guardian who cooked us bacon & eggs for dinner.
We continued further east and based ourselves in Cortina for a couple of nights where we climbed some easier routes on the Cinque Torri before moving into position for our attempt on the North Face of the Cima Grande - one of the most sought after north faces in the world. We wanted to climb the Comici Route
Despite an overnight thunderstorm which left the top of the climb sopping wet we reached the top and just about made it down before dark. A big day.

The Glacier Boys

Arther Boulton was joined by two of his pals Fergus and Rory for an "Ecole de Glace" high up on the top of Les Grands Montets. What made the day even more exciting was finding an unexploded bomb every school boys dream!

Sophie Gets to grips with the Glacier

The Youngest Dangerous sister put her Dads 40 year old Mountaineering boots on and attacked the Glacier.

Madness Midges Munros

I spent a week visiting some of my old haunts with Francis Bridgeman and Chris Dovell. We started on Skye and climbed pinnacle ridge on Sgurr nan Gillean and only met four people all day.

The next day reverted to type and rained all day so we spent it in the Carbost Inn and Dovell drank 8 pints of Guiness but was still up bright an early the next morning for the ascent of Britains hardest mountain the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

Our last day on Skye the weather was so so- So we Climbed Bla Bheinn via the "voie normal". We then headed back to the main land taking the ferry to Mallaig.

Glencoe was our next goal namely the Anoch Each Ridge. This was something Francis had wanted to do for at least 15 years. Finally he got a clear rainless day and we had a truely wonderful traverse which arrived at the Clachaig Inn for a celebratory beer [ I had a cup of tea]

First steps

Jane and David were not so sure if they wanted to become alpine climbers but were determined to really find out if they could do it
I came up with a three day plan .
Like so often I choose for us to start on the Mer de Glacé which is the best place around to learn how to use crampons properly.
Our second day we went up the Grands Montets and climbed the ridge back up to the summit of the Grands Montets and finally over the railings and onto the viewing terrace.
Then on our third day we did what Jane and David wanted to do most: to traverse the Valley Blanche from the top of the Aiguille du Midi to Italy.
Three wonderful days which proved to them that they can climb in the alps and become "alpine mountaineers."

A good foundation of skills is the key to becoming a safe mountaineer

So this was the idea behind last week. 5 friends : Their organiser Katie Cranlegh Swash, Fern Adams, Chris White, Richard Lewis and Chris Doman decided to come to Chamonix and get to grips with the basic skills that would hopefully underpin anything they choose to attempt in the future.

We started above La Flegere with some snow climbing skills coupled with some lessons in case the snow climbing didn't work as planned - Ice axe arrest. We finished the day with an ascent of the Aiguille de Glieres.

The next day we went to the Mer de Glace where we learnt the key skills of proper crampon technique and finished up with some steep ice climbing by climbing out of a crevasse.

On our 3rd day we put what we learnt into practise by traversing the Valley Blanche and negociated some daunting crevasses and spectacular snow bidges.

On Our fourth day we were hit by bad weather and had to retreat to the valley where we spent the day looking at rope techniques for crevasse rescue and alpine abseil techniques.

On our final day the weather came good again and we headed up the Grands Montets for a real live practice at crevasse rescue. We finished the day by climbing the Aguille des Grands Momtets and finished up its spectacular rocky ridge.

A Donkey Has Eaten My Underpants

Well the news was not good as the Hut Guardian broke the news at Dinner. Needless to say he couldn't keep a straight face. [The underpants had been washed and hung out to dry but not out of reach of said donkey.]
Peter Little and I had discovered a gem of a Mountain Hut the Crete Seche http://www.rifugiocreteseche.com/ which has some spectacular very long rock climbs on very good grannit. We climbed the classic Brontolo-Bakalov which leads to the summit of Punta Charrey.

For the second half of the week we switched our attention to snow and big secluded 4000er's. We choose to target the Dirruhorn. We drove over to St Nicolas near Zermatt and walked to up the beautiful Bordier Hutte in about 4 hours.

Breakfast the next morning was at the grim time of 2.30am. Peter and I headed off up the moraine eventually reaching the glacier in about an hour. We then headed up the left side of the glacier avoiding some very big holes. After about three hours we arrived at the couloir which leads up to the Dirrujoch. This was steep and unfortuanetly the sun was now beaming down on us and loosening rocks which started coming down the couloir. We tried climbing the rocks at the side , but this was very slow. Being slow is not a luxury you can afford while alpine climbing and mindful that the glacier would be a soggy nightmare if we were too late, we reluctantly decided to retreat. A shame not to make the summit but still a wonderful wild place and we vowed to return.

Mt Blanc? Not this time

I met up with Gareth Peaple and we decided to try and defy the forecast by heading up to the Tete Rousse Hut. The next day we moved up to the Gouter Hut because the weather forecast improved slightly. Other groups arrived too hoping the weather forecast would be okay. Although you can see the wind blowing the clouds in the photo
Breakfast at 2.00 am and everyone set off and we plodded up in indifferent weather. We made it to the summit of the Dome de Gouter 4200 meters but once there I decided it was hopeless cause. We decided to turn round . As we did everyone else turned round too.
Gareth was pretty positive about the experience and vowed to be back!

Marc Le Guide

Met up with Marc Le Guide translator Christophe Jaquet and climbed the spectacular Poeme a Lou high up on the Brevent. It was made even better by beating the rain.

Calm before the storm

I'm not talking about the weather but the calm before the French school holidays when the whole world descends on Chamonix.
Francis Bridgeman started our week together on the normally packed Index high above Les Praz. We had the place to ourselves coupled with wonderful weather.
The next day we visited the Mer de Glace for some preparatory work with the Ice axe and crampons.
After that we drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel and climbed the wonderfully secluded Aiguille du Toule.
We then traversed the aiguille du Crochue again it was wonderfully quiet.
On our final day we had a bit of a contrast in terms of seclusion. We climbed the Petite Aiguille Verte , which was in fantastic condition , but was ridiculously busy, with lots of potential work for the Mountain Rescue.

So whats all this alpine climbing about?

This was the question Bob Dyson decided to answer by joining me for the last 4 very hot days he was completely new to it. This is what he concluded:

Dear Mark
I really do not know where to start as you laid on so many new alpine experiences for me to savour.

From stepping out of the car on Friday morning and being roped up and on the rock face within minutes to the decent to the Mer de Glace for crampon and ice axe techniques; the unforgettable climb of Aiguille des Crochues and the white paradise we crossed from Aiguille du Midi on Monday.

It was all sensational.

I asked to be taken to places I hadn't been and you obliged in spade fulls ensuring throughout that I was exhilarated but safe. You are the consummate professional and I cannot thank you enough Mark.

The added bonus was of course your company and my meeting your wife Jane, daughters and dog.

Bob

Let's go to the Sea Side

I started the alpine climbing season all reved by the wonderful stable weather we had enjoyed but just as I was about to start the weather pattern changed which meant that our plans changed very regularly.
Luckily Reuben Berg has climbed enough out here to know that there is nothing you can do about the weather. The key is to be flexible so when I suggested we head down to climb on the Sea Cliffs at Capo Noli he had no hesitation but to say "lets go!"
Three and a half hours later we were in Finale Liguria the only problem was it was still raining! Eventually it did clear and our rockclimbing started.