I was skiing with Brian and Liz O'Connor this week based around Chamonix. The week started with beautiful spring conditions so we took the midi cable car up then skiied under the east face of Mont Blanc du Tacul then skinned to the Col d'Entreve then down the Vallee Blanche all the way to the road (just). The following day we ski toured the classic Crochu Berard traverse. The ski out through the woods was in the best condition I have seen. On tuesday the weather looked better in Italy where high winds had closed the top lifts so 30 minutes of skinning found great fresh tracks down the Yula couloir. We had some fresh snow to ski in Megeve on wednesday and a great powder day in Les Contamines on thursday. Unfortunaley Brian had cracked a rib falling on his shovel so he couldn't enjoy it. Liz and I finished the week in Courmayeur.
The high avalanche risk that resulted from last weeks snow has started to calm down so people have been out ski touring all over the Alps. A number of large avalanches in the Val d'Aosta have blocked the access roads to most of the main valley's, Cogne was hoping to bge dug out today to much to report there. Ice has been forming in lots of other places Graeme Ettle reports ice in Arolla and near Fionay as well as Zinal once the valley opens again when the commune feel the avalanche risk has subsided. We have been out skiing locally with great cover on all the lower ski resorts, the valley Blanche has been skied but has been very wind affected and is not that well filled in. Yesterday Kate and I skied the Glacier Mort in the Aiguille Rouge finding great conditions we made the video below, as you can see the track out through the lower Berard valley is in fantastic condition for the time of year. Have a great Christmas.
Glacier Mort from Bruce Goodlad on Vimeo.
I was climbing with the Atkinson family this week in the Chamonix area. The weather was looking pretty mixed so we started the week with a team outing to Machaby. We drove through the rain and popped out into the sunshine where we enjoyed some great road side cragging. We took Monday off as the weather was terrible, on Tuesday we traversed the Crochue then Emily, Julian and I returned to Machaby climbing an excellent 10 pitch route. Lucy joined us when we tested the new Via Ferrata in Plateau dAssy, then we finished the week with a traverse of the Cosmiques Arête.
My brother Roy was out skiing this week.
We had some great conditions with lots of pow der. On Saturday Kate and I were climbing in Cogne where it snowed about a foot while we were on the route so we headed for la Thuile on Sunday blue skies and powder were the order of the day. On Monday we went to Le Clusaz where we checked out some of the long off piste runs, the snow was challenging and the weather was a bit Scottish. The snow that was coming down on Monday gave us great powder in Le Tour on Tuesday we had perfect powder all the way to Trient at the end of the day. We had a day off on Wed then went to St Gervais on Thursday where we managed to find untracked snow all day. Hearing reports of knee deep powder in Coumayeur we headed through the tunnel unfortunaley it had warmed up so was a but heavy with a slight wind crust which made the snow a bit interesting. We finished the week with a descent of the Vallee Blanche all the way to Chamonix.
Happy New year Folks
The good start to the winter has continued with a long cold spell and some snow to top things up. We have had to move about a bit to get the best skiing conditions as a Fohn wind in Chamonix has meant that the best conditions have been on the Italian side of the tunnel until Sunday.
Since the last update I went through to Zinal to climb with Graeme Ettle, I hadn't climbed there before and was really impressed, there are about 8 routes in condition, we climbed the Cascade Pas de Chasseur which is a great grade 4. If you are thinking of visiting the area the valley gets closed by the village if there is much new snow after a bad avalanche accident on one of the cascades a few years ago. I was touring in the Italian Val Ferret just before Hogmannay skiinng up Mont de la Saxe which had an excellent North facing descent, on Hognamannay we skinned up to the Gd St Bernard Monastry. New Years day was quite mellow then I climbed the cascade de Lillaz with Kat Congleton on the 2nd. After that the weather wasn't to great in Chamonix being a bit warm and cloudy but there was fresh snow in Courmayeaur so I have had three days through there enjoying some of the long off piste runs. There was about a metre of fresh snow there on Sunday but the weather changed early in the day warming up dramatically creating heavy wet snow and making the avalanche risk increase significantly. The weather doesn't look to cold for the next couple of days but the trend is to cool off again towards the end of the week.
Merry Christmas
Alexy in great snow
Most of the ski resorts in the Alps are now open with the best start to the season for years I have managed to get out on the hill for the last 6 days with some great skiing and climbing. We started just before Christmas touring over the Col du Cicle in Les Contamines, the snow on the descent was hard wind pack but really smooth and fun to ski. On Christmas Eve we skied the Crochu, Berard traverse which was in great condition. The Berard valley had recieved no sun or wind so we enjoyed great untracked powder on the descent. On Christmas day we cruised round the piste in St Gervais in perfect sun shine then skiied some off piste from the top of Mont Joly which had softened nicely in the sun.
On Boxing day we had a great descent on the back side of Le Tour skiing the East Couloir of the Pointe du Van we found great powder (video online soon) even though it hasn't snowed for 10 days. Yesterday we went though to Cogne where the ice has been building really well, we climbed the cascade de Lillaz which is in superb conditions.
To summarise conditions for anyone coming out over the new year all the ski areas are now open the touring is good with some soft snow still to be found low down, high up the snow is very wind blown. The Vallee Blanche is in good condition but the arete has not been equiped yet. The ice fall conditions are good for the time of year with 20 routes in condition in cogne, the Argentiere ice falls are in if you want to brave the walk under the serac. I could see the top of the routes in trient the other day and they looked in. Antares in the Val Savaranche is climbable as a re a couple of other routes lower down the valley. Routes are also coming in in Zinal and Arolla.
I was skiing with Brian and Liz OConnor this week, it had been snowing heavily on Friday and Sat so are touring plans were swapped for some Off Piste action. The fat skis were dusted off as we headed for Megeve on Sunday skiing round the Jailet area there was a team decision to seek out some fat skis on the way home. Armed with her new Ten Eighty Guns Liz was enjoying the powder experience a bit better on Monday back at Megeve this time skinning up the Petite Croz Bollet. We managed to get Brian some Salomon Sandstorms on the way home. On Tuesday we skied in st Gervais skiing great untracked lines all day, Wednesday we visited Les Contamines which had great snow on the N faces. We took a gamble on Thursday heading for Courmayeur which hasnt had quite so much snow the gamble paid off with first tracks down the Yula couloir. We finished the week in La Clusaz again finding great snow on the on faces.
I was climbing with Dick, Martin and Alan this week based round Chamonix, we started the week climbing the Via Feratta at the Col des Aravis in beautiful sun shine. On Tuesday we walked up to the Albert Premier hut meeting almost every British guide in the Alps coming the opposite direction. We had a perfect day on Wednesday for our ascent of the Aiguille de Tour though a bit warm as the snow on the way down was a bit soft and sugary. Thursday we traversed the Crochu which is really snowy in descent making the walk to the Lac Blanc hut really quick and easy. We finished the week with a mornings climbing at Le Fayet.
I was climbing with Brian and Liz O'Connor this week, we had a variable forecast and some pretty poor weather so routes were snatched where possible. We started climbing the Via Corde in the Chamonix valley, a great mix of pitches and scrambling that takes you from the Bois du Bouchet to Buvette which overlooks the Mer du Glace. Tuesday was a bit of a wash out but the forecast looked better for the next 2 days. We decided to head south where there would be less fresh snow and climb Monte Viso. Wednesday dawned perfectly with an amazing view over the Italian plains we climbed the normal south face route which was in great condition with great neve when on snow and dry rock when climbing with out crampons. The summit has one of the best views of any alpine peak, you can see the whole Alps from the Queyras round through the Ecrin, Vanoise, Paradiso, Mont Blanc right round to Monte Rosa. We had a long day with Brian making a sterling effort driving all the way back to Chamonix after 14hrs on the hill. We had a mellow day on Thursday heading to the Torino hut hoping for some good weather on Friday, unfortunately it didn't arrive in time so we wandered round to the Tour Ronde in thick mist and snow before heading back to Courmayeur for coffee.
I was climbing with Julian and Emily Atkinson this week, the warm weather that was forecast for last week finally arrived as did a few huge thunder storms. We decided to focus on some rock climbing so started with the Via Corde to get us moving and familiarise the troops with the kit on Monday we headed up to the Index and climbed the Perroux route which is superb 7 pitch 5c with a couple of abseils on the descent. The forecast for tuesday was for a storm so we started the day with some skills training at Servoz then headed to Les Duchere at Les Contamines to put them into practice. Wednesday looked good so we went into the high mountains and traversed the Entreve in perfect weather. It was back into the Aiguille Rouge on Thursday for the Chapel de Gliere one of the most classic routes in the Mont Blanc Massif 12 pitches of great climbing in perfect sunshine. The forecast looked stormy on Friday so we had an early start at La Frasse a great limestone crag near Les Carroz. We did some multi pitch routes then Julian and Emily both made there first leads on real rock a perfect way to end the week, we walked away from the crag just as it started to spit with rain.