I was out on La Tour on Tuesday with Susie and Howard looking at some touring skill, they are joining me in Poland next month and wanted a skills refresher. On Thursday I headed through to Gressoney for the day where some friends were staying for the week. The Val d'Aosta has great ski conditions this year with some of the best snow cover I have seen for years, we had a couple of runs off the lift then skinned over the Pass Zupo and skied all the way to Alagna over 1800m of descent. Kate and I climber the ice fall next to the crag in Servoz I have watched this almost form for years but it has never formed when I have been around. The route is a really nice 2 pitch 3+ with some great ice formations and is so close to the road you could belay from the car.
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 have finally finished the kitchen DIY so it's time to play. The snow is still great for skiing on thursday Richard and I went through to Courmayeur where there was still loads of untracked snow you just had to hike a bit for the untracked stuff. We put the first tracks down the couloir below the Yula lift but then paid the price by having to beat the track in down the Val Veny. On Saturday Les Contamines was open for the first time after the fresh snow so we were on the first lift, there was a litle bit of crust about but the skiing was great with fresh lines all day if you knew where to look. We were back for more freshies on Sunday.
The Snow has arrived and the skiing is great. Some of the local ski area are opening for the weekend with Courmayeur, La Thuile and Grande Montet opening full time on a limited service. Richard Lundberg and I skiied at Les Contamines on Sat in fantastic powder, there was hardly anyone there and we hardly cut another track all day. Sunday was fairly misserable with lots of rain low down and wet snow in the ski areas, kate and I did a couple of runs at Cote 2000 which has some great terrain and some of the most expensive coffee in the Alps 9 euros for 2. On Monday we headed through to Courmayeur in search of cheaper coffee, 3 euros 50 including a post card we also found loads of thigh deep powder, we did a couple of runs through steep trees into Val Veny then moved over to the main area where there was acres of untacked snow next to the Piste. We skied fresh tracks all day with hardly a person in resort.
Saturday saw kate and I on an early train to Zermatt to meet John and Fiona Fells, the plan was to Heli ski Monte Rosa which we had climbed a few years before. The flight was fantastic taking us past all the big Zermatt peaks dropping us at just over 4000m, the ski down was best described as variable with some great snow and lots of wind pack. The exit off the Gorner gletscher is the easiest I have seen as the glacier has retreated. On Sunday Kate and I were back in Zermatt this time skiing the Schwarz Glatscher which we had completely to ourselves. Monday we headed to the small resort of Kippel in Lotschental witha short hike we skied to the Lochenpass hut for lunch then did a huge off piste descent into the valley. After skiing we headed through to Kandersteg we started early on Tuesday as the last time I climbed in Kandersteg there were loads of team out climbing sods law stated that having go up early the only other people we saw all day were some mates from Scotland. Spider and his wife were climbing Rattenpissoir while Kate and I climbed Arbonium which was in superb condition. I;m off to Norway this afternoon so fingers crossed for lots of ice.
I was in Val d'Isere this week staying in a Chalet www.savoie-fayre.com with And y and Kat Congleton, Ed Mason and friends the plan was a mixture of day tours and off piste skiing using Vals excellent uplift where ever possible to maximize the skiing. The weather wasn't particularly cooperative with a couple of days of really bad visibility. We managed to ski most of the classic off piste runs of the area including Le Cairn, Le Tour du Charvet, Le Super S, Val de Cugnai, La Foret Fornet, Le Vallon du Petit Signal, Le Vallee Perdue. Then on skins we skied the Dome de Pramecos, then the Col des Fours which had the best snow of the week, acres of untracked powder we then finished the week with the Col des Barmes de l'Ours.
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.