I was skiing with John and Fiona Fells this week, the plan was to ski the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt. We set off with a very mixed forecast getting as far as the Col du Chardonnet, by the time we reached the col the weather had closed in and we decided to call a halt there and headed back for the valley. The forcast remained bad to we headed through to the Benevolo hut where the weather better, we skied the Punta Paletta on arrival then the Punta Calabre the next day in great powder. On the third day we skied down the Vaudala on our way back to the valley. The mixed weather continued so we had a total change of plan and went to the Via Feratta at Thone before heading back into the mountains finishing the week with the Col du passon.
Another attempt at the Haute Route this week with Angy, Andy and Nick Benitz. We met up in Verbier for a training day in perfect weather spending the first night in the Cabin de Mont Fort. The weather for the next few days was quite difficult, skiing on a compass bearing to the Prafleuri then Dix huts. The visibility was bad again the next day until we reached the summit of the Pigne d'Arolla where the cloud cleared to give us a fantastic descent to the refurbished Vignettes hut. The final day to Zermatt was in perfect weather skiing all the way to Zermatt. We had one day spare so we managed to book a last minute Heli drop on Mont Rosa finding every snow condition from perfect powder to desperate crust finishing with spring snow to the valley.