Chamonix -Zermatt High Level Route 2016 completed.

The Hewitt brothers; Tim and Ben arrived from Perth Australia to attempt the Chamonix Zermatt Haute Route. Evidently they had done their research well. They had made their booking with me roughly a year ago. They had decided they did not want to be part of a Haute Route package where they got "processed" along the route. They had chosen the optimum time [just after Easter] and additionally they had built in a few extra days in to their schedule with me.

All was set up well apart from the weather. The weather was a bag of crap. Foehn had been blowing for days and stripping the snow from the slopes. Further because it was so warm , the snow wasn't freezing at night the net result meant it was dangerous , especially at lower altitudes where there was a real danger of full depth avalanches.

With all this in mind we met up and Ben and Tim said they were not too bothered if they did the Haute Route or not, the end game was to have a good time. Considering the weather forecast this sentiment was just as well - BUT - I didn't believe a word of it.
If you have traveled half way round the world it is preferable to go back with a result.

We started with a warm up day at le Tour. Foehn made for soft slushy snow. Next day the Foehn was blowing even harder - so there was a logic to try and escape the Foehn by going through the Mt Blanc tunnel and heading round to Punte Crocce , high above La Thuile. We saw no one all day.

When we got back to Chamonix I re looked at the weather forecast for about the 10th time that day. It was surprisingly better. So much so that I thought we had a chance of at least setting off on the Haute Route.

Wednesday 6th April was the day. I awoke to the sound of lashing rain. I went to see Tim and Ben at their hotel and said we would go and have "a look" , because the forecast was better for the afternoon. Meanwhile I said to their hotelier that "we might be back tonight."

I could just see enough from the top of Les Grands Montets to set off down the glacier but the conditions were hardly ideal and the light was at best "flat."

Up over the col du Passon


and immediately into thick thick cloud. So thick that it was necessary to keep throwing snow balls to see which way they rolled , all in an attempt to see where the slope was. Thick mist and skier swallowing crevasses all made for a toxic mix.
It was with some relief that eventually we dropped out of the mist bang slap in the right place just above the Albert 1er Hut.



It was in the evening that the weather cleared



Thursday. Finally an absolute stellar weather day:



The ski down the Val d'Arpette was on spring snow and was very good all the way to coffee in Champex. We shared a taxi with the only other group on the Haute Route and transferred to Verbier. We stayed the night in the town and the next day skied off the top of Mont Fort and all too quickly into a wall of impenetrable fog. Out came the map and compass and eventually we navigated out of the fog into clear blue skies. The ski down to the Prafleuri Hut was memorable:



That night [8th April] it snowed and put down about 20cm of new snow. Luckly for us the next day was " Grand Beau" and we headed around the Lac des Dix and up to the Pas de Chèvres before catching some fresh snow and a great descent to Arolla where we hit a glitch on the accommodation front . Our first hotel choice had been commandeered by the Swiss Army as its base from which to organise the Patrouille des Glaciers . PDG - The famous ski mountaineering race. The rest of the Hotels had been booked out by people training for the race. Nevertheless we did find a perfectly good bunk house.

On the morning of the 10th April we left the village of Arolla at about 7.00am for the big ascent to the spectacularly positioned Bertol Hut 3268 meters:



We were there for a Rosti fueled lunch.


As audacious places to build mountain huts the Bertol is up there with not many others. The view of the sunset towards the Dent Blanche is a view that gets branded on your memory:



The exit from the Hut the next morning was thought provoking especially if you don't like ladders. Which Tim only decided to tell me on the descent, having had a sleepless night in contemplation.



The final day. The weather was clear and cold , but the forecast was for a deterioration . The big of advantage of completing the Haute Route via the Bertol Hut is that you are ideally placed for a quick dash to Zermatt because of the high position of the hut. An hour and half and we were at the Col de la Tete Blanche 3589meters. It is here that we peeled our skins off for the final time. We started the descent of the Zmutt glacier on snow which was more akin to broken plaster board. However a little further down we found the real stuff: Acres of untracked powder:



Then the treat of seeing and skiing under the north face of the iconic Matterhorn



We finally took our skis off in Zermatt , then it started to rain.

A Picture worth a Thousand words.

I spent five days ski touring in and around the Chamonix Valley [and a trip to the Aosta Valley and Combloux]

There was a group of Peter Craig Barry Patrick

Possibly the best way to show case the week is to provide the link to Peter Harper's photos.[If the link doesn't work copy and paste the link into the browser]

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO2ELNn5h_iO4D8VffBjRa7-YGjhvwjGYDRggHJks0doAc8ibYN3jBrZVPeGnlmTQ?key=ajR4R3NpOWpGYnl3dXBhYW5YSHNmbF93Y09iV1BR

Sunday : We skied at Le Tour

Monday: We climbed Punte Crocce high above La Thuile in the Aosta Valley

Tuesday : Up the Aguille du Midi where we skinned over to the Italian side before skiing down the comb de la Vierge. They even made a video of their day whhich can be seen by copying this link

https://youtu.be/SKTzsGMM2uM


Wednesday : We climbed Petit Croisse Baulet above Combloux

Thursday: From top of Flegere we traversed around on the Chamonix side before heading up to the col d"Encrenaz.

Its a bit like skiing only different.

February was frustrating in that the weather and the temperature was all over the place. Then along came March and the conditions were as good as February was bad.

Although it did not snow a lot because there was lots of snow and it stayed cold we had some brilliant descents. In mid March I was joined by Laurence Whyatt Mike Dowling and Luke Thorne for 6 days of ski touring.
On the Sunday we skied at Le Tour , mainly from the lift system yet we did use the skins to venture over into Switzerland and have a look down the Rhone valley towards Martigny.






and importantly un tracked snow.




On the Sunday we headed up from La Flegere and climbed up to the Breche du Berard





On the Monday we ran the gaunlet of the Grands Montets lift system , skied down from the summit of les Grands Montets crossed the Argentiere glacier and skinned up to the Col du Passon. It was very busy because the route is now the new Haute Route - route, as the col du Chardonnet has been rendered in practical by global warmings effet on the height of the Argentiere glacier making it difficult to climb up the first part of the Chardonnet glacier.
The final climb of the col du Passon is done with skis carried on the rucksack and crampons strapped to the boots.


The descent to le Tour was more eventful than I would have wanted. I choose to try and ski the snow which had been left un affected by the sun. This gave some fantastic skiing but ended up above some inconvenient cliffs. When we we arrived there was a bunch of Swedes who had taken to rapelling down some nasty looking overhangs. I didn't fancy this so we stuck our skins on and found another exit , which in fact gave the best skiing of the day.

On the Tuesday we ran the next gauntlet of the Aiguille du Midi. We arrived at 8.00am to find it wasn't actually open. The reason was that they hadn't managed to clear the snow from the terraces. [Of course the back-story is that they have cut staff numbers so heavily is that they don't actually have the people to do the work this despite it is the biggest generator of cash in France.]

This meant we were late starting , fortunately the boys were quick. We skied down the Vallee Blanche to just where you can stick on your skins and climb up to the Col du Toule. From there we negociated the steps , then ladders.

We then skied down the glacier du Toule in 30cm of fresh snow , which because the Aguille du Midi was so inept at opening on time, the snow was pretty trashed by the sun by the time we got to the middle station at Helbronner. We then took the cable car back up and skied the Italain side of the Vallee Blanche in the afternoon.

On the Wednesday the weather was indifferent for Chamonix so we headed away from the bad weather to Combloux. We climbed the Petit Coix Baulet and from its summit viewed [with smuggness] the bad weather in Chamonix.



From the summit we had a fantastic descent down to Geittaz but not before missing the bridge and having to make a river crossing.


On the Thursday we headed back to La Flegere and this time climbed up to the Col de Encranaz . This gave us some of the best skiing of the 6 days .

Strange Times..

Mid February is meant to be the best time of the year to ski . But not last week. It rained . Not snow but rain . There is little more demoralizing than being in a ski resort and its chucking it down.

I was in Megeve to ski with Charles and Rosemary Sherwood. It was Rosemary's first visit to Megeve and with the weather it threatened to be her last. She was distinctly unimpressed with the stair rod like rain. It did eventually snow and with a couple of stand out days the start of the week was [almost] forgotten.

Again it was the brilliant Aravis area of Geittaz that gave the best skiing

The descent from the Christomet lift all the way down to Le Plan was very good too and I skied this with Charles.


You can tell when you are having a good off piste adventure because it normally involves crossing a stream or getting covered in mud. [Generally both.]



OR being swallowed up by a man -trap:


On the Saturday of last week it finally was clear. The combination of the weather getting colder and dumping 40 cm of mostly windless snow set up a very good day at Le Tour



I was joined by Leo Vita-Finzi who lives in Geneva. Leo drove up for the day and we had one of those "good as it gets days." So much so that I suggested to Leo that he should give up skiing because he was unlikely to have a day quite as good as this one.

Half Term week is a very good time to ski off piste

It might seem counter intuitive to come skiing at half term when both the English and French schools are on holiday if your looking for piece and quiet. But if your primary goal is to ski off-piste then its good bet. This is probably because parents are wrestling their kids into ski school and because the media seems to whip its self into a frenzy [just before the half term] about how dangerous the avalanche risk is. The result is that no body seemingly ventures off the piste.


On the Monday Francis Bridgeman and I skied laps of trackless snow of the back of Le Tour and saw virtually no one.


On Tuesday it was the same at Grands Montets . Once we got off the top cable car we saw no one on the entire descent all the way to the car park at the bottom.



Wednesday at Flegere was the same. In fact it became quite disconcerting- where was everyone ? What do they know that we don't?


On the Thursday we were joined by some of Francis friend Amanda, Melanie and Chris. They were all parets who had managed to off load their kids for the morning so that they too could ski far away from the crowds. We skied off the top of grands Montets all the way back to Argentiere taking a line skiers right of the Chalet Lognan. The theme continued: we saw no one.

Off piste and personal... with Mark Seaton, mountain guide

Short interview with me by Francesca White , journalist for the Tatler writing a piece for Wimbledon Clinics blog.

Off piste and personal... with Mark Seaton, mountain guide

Just going out side and I may be some time.

Anyone who has ever spent time in the mountains will have at some stage mimicked captain Oates famous last words Yet it is not often that it is said in the company of a direct descendant of Robert Falcon Scott - Scott of the Antarctic.


It is a standard joke between Lucy-Kate Hunt [Scotts great granddaughter] and her good friend Catherine Lewis. Catherine never misses an opportunity to weave the quote into the days ski-touring adventures.

The long standing plan was for us to drive to Gressoney , stay two nights in the very comfortable Orestes Hütte, hopefully climb the Vincent Pyramid and take advantage of the wonderful off-piste the Monte-Rosa ski area has to offer.

The plan fell apart when we arrived in the car park at Staffel. There was no snow. Just ribbons of white down some pistes. Added to which the whole resort had shut down because it was so windy.

PLAN B - So often in this game it is about thinking up a solution quickly. We drove to La Thuile and made arrangements to stay at the Maison de la Neige. This involves taking the lift out of the village and then skiing down to the Hotel which is situated on the [closed] road to the Petit St Bernard road.
The first lift was open yet by the time we were ready to take the second lift, the wind had increased and it closed in front of us. Added to which the pisteurs closed the piste to the hotel.

Eventually I tracked down the head Pisteur [who was also a Mountain Guide] and he gave me permission to use the closed piste. A very atmospheric ski took us to the fabulous hotel and a very cosy night. [The hotel has an excellent cellar too]


The next day the wind had dropped and the sky was crystal clear. We left the hotel at 8.30am and skied down the road and through the meadows back to the car . A short drive to Arpy where we skinned up to the summit of Punte Crocce.






From the summit we hit some very good snow and managed some very good turns;




Saturday we were back in Chamonix. It snowed over night, but was clear and sunny. I had mixed feelings about doing the Crochue /Berard ski tour because although it is fantastic , it is also arguably the most popular day tour in the world.

In fact no matter how bad or in experienced you may be as a ski-tourer you can be certain that there will be someone worse than you. AND indeed there was!

It was busy but after the first col eveyone fanned out and we found ourselves alone looking back up at the magical descent of the Berard Vallee.

The ski down was some of the best skiing of the season.

Big Melt

Season continues to be weird. One minute it promises to get really good with lots of snow , then it starts raining again. The key to getting good off-piste skiing is to be flexible and mobile.
Reuben and Fiona joined me for 4 days .

On the Tuesday we skied off piste off the back of Le Tour .



Wednesday we drove through the Mt Blanc tunnel , took the new Sky Way lift and skinned up to the Col D'Entreves . A particularly memorable lunch for Reuben & Fiona's 42nd wedding anniversary.



On the Thursday we went to Courmayeur skied to a very late lunch at the Plan Checrouit where we we duly entertained by the mad Anna.

On Friday we skied at Les Grands Montets which was above the clouds and very stunning.

Drink as Much Ski as Much : The Excess Men.

They don't like change : Over the last 20 years they turn up on the same last weekend in January , stay in the Hotel de la Couronne , drink in the Office bar , dance on tables the in the Savoy Bar ,induce severe hangovers , BUT to their ever lasting credit they are always ready to go skiing or ski touring with me the next morning.

This last Friday and Saturday we had two particularity memorable trips. On the Friday , I shoe-horned them into the car and we drove to Combloux where we climbed the Petit Croisse Baulet. The view from the top was fabulous.



Yet what was particularly special was the descent off the back of the peak all the way down to the village of Le Plan.



Seemingly the day was so good that the "boys" , James, Kevin ,David, Pete, Adam, Matt did what they always do and went out to celebrate until the small hours.

So when I arrived at 8.30 am the next morning they were a little worse for wear. They claimed it was rather like altitude sickness. Again we squeezed into the car [which stank of the previous nights garlic snails] and I drove all the way to Les Contamines.
Despite a reasonable forecast the weather wasn't good. It started to snow heavily and there was thick impenetrable fog , which they claimed created motion sickness [I wonder why?]

I suggested a strategic coffee stop which was eagerly lept upon.


The coffee stop seemed to have a magical effect. They sobered up and the weather cleared up .



We were able to continue with the plan which was to skin up to the Col de La Fenetre and then make the long ski descent all theway to the valley floor and virtually back to the car.

Klosters : If there is a better skiing resort show me it.

If you can arrange it try and get to Klosters just before the
World Economic Forum which is held in the neighbouring resort of Davos. The reason is shortly after leaving the motorway at Chur there is a road block with Tanks and the Swiss Army [who contrary to popular belief are as a useful as a chocolate Tea Pot]:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/world-economic-forum-swiss-soldiers-sent-home-from-davos-for-using-cocaine-a6828776.html

But the road block has the effect of dissuading all other skiers from entering the valley. The net result is that you have the resort to yourselves. Add a fresh dump of nearly 2 meters of cold fresh snow and you are in skiing heaven.



John Cackett and I set off from Chamonix with the intention of skiing in Villars on the way. This didnt happen . There was thunder and lightening [not normal in early January] and lashing rain- also not normal but increasingly common. All that happened is we got soaking wet just getting out of the car. Not a great start , but so often the most memorable trips begin inauspiciously.

Next we drove to Klosters , negotiated the road block and arrived at the iconic Wynegg Hotel. [The Wynegg could claim to be one of the corner stones of the development of alpine skiing.] Then it snowed . It snowed for the next week.


During this time two of John's sons Finn and Leo joined us. Leo is a renowned photographer with a portfolio of some of the most famous sports stars in the world. He even took a photo of me:



Finally the good weather arrived and the combination of fabulous snow and blue skies was enjoyed by virtually no one other than the four of us.