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.
I was working for the ski club of Great Britain again this week based in Courmayeur. I met the troops on Tuesday morning and skied at Courmayeur for the day enjoying long descents from both the Yula and Arp lifts. On Wednesday there was some high cloud so we managed to stay under it skinning up the Punta Croce, the snow level was such that we could explore the old Fort on the summit. Thursday we skied on the oposite side of the valley skinning up the Col Fetita, we even managed to find some fresh powder in the trees on the descent. Friday we thought we would explore the Val Ferret we skinned along the ski du font track for about an hour then headed up the hill stopping in the winter room at the Bonatti hut for a brew before continuing to the Col d'Entre deux Sauts. We found plenty of soft snow on the descent but the 5km skate back to the car was a bit challenging. There was a fresh fall of snow on Friday night so we finished the week with some off piste skiing round La Thuile.
I had a change of team on Sunday skiing with Pete and Jane, the plan was to go up the Midi and do a tour looking at some skills along the way. The wind was a bit stronger than we realised blowing all the fresh snow around which made for some challenging conditions. We skied down the Gross Rognon variation which was quite exciting when you couldn't see the ground for moving snow. We skied all the way to the valley then headed round to les Houches skinning up the Tete Noire which gives amazing views of the Chamonix valley.