'Keyhole couloir'

This week I have a few days off, and having had a lazy weekend letting the body recover from a succession of busy weeks, and with a window in the otherwise pretty poor weather forecast, I met up with Will for some adventuring out the back of Courchevel today. Will has been busy as always on skis this winter, and has managed to work out some new lines (probably previously unskied) on some of the peaks out behind Courchevel. He was keen to show me one of his discoveries, involving a bit of alpinism, some mixed climbing, and a short abseil (and hopefully some powder)...

Long distance shot to the 'Keyhole' (on the ridge), more of this later:



A fairly steady skin up on firm spring snow leads to a col on the ridge:



For the full mountain experience we didn't head straight for the couloir and went summit-bagging:



Bit of an airy climb on inconsistent powder with big drops either side:



Tricky skiing back off the summit, with very variable snow, and lots of rocks not far from the surface!



Getting to the 'Keyhole' involves a bit of insecure mixed climbing this winter:



Will at the 'Keyhole':



On the other side it was all looking quite good:



The top section is steep (50º ish) and leads straight into a choke-point - abseil needed this year. Looking back up from below the anchor:



Looking down from below the abseil, mmmmmmm!:



A bit of 'Ambiance':



Will giving his skis a quick grind on the abseil:



Some good snow makes all the effort worthwhile:



Will ripping it up:



Lots of space lower down:



What a great day! Climbing, summit, abseiling, powder... it was all there.

It has to be said that right now powder is hard-won in the 3 Valleys though, the strong winds of the last few days have done a lot of damage, leaving some interesting crust on alot of slopes, and still a high risk of avalanche on certain slopes - the rain-crust from January is still making its presence felt.

Eagles Ski Club training/tours week (Part 2)

St Foy was the venue of choice on Wednesday, and after some cunning car shuttling we had a few warm up & coaching runs off the lifts, and then set off towards the Pointe de Soliet & Col de l'Argentiere:



Early lunch on Pointe de Soliet:



A hot traverse & skin on the South side took us to the Col de l'Argentiere, from where we got back into some good soft powder:






This route rejoins the steeper North face routes above Les Savonnes before heading down the "icy path of doom' back to La Masure, from where a couple of car laps saw everyone comfortably installed at the Auberge du Monal for some post-match refreshment!

On Thursday we stayed close to home, and took the funicular up into the Les Arcs area. This was undoubtedly the busiest resort of the week so far, with big queues for many of the lifts, even with ski school priority!

The original plan to drop off the Grand Col down to Villaroger was swiftly shelved when soft shady snow was spotted below the Aiguille du St Esprit shoulder...

Rod enjoying some soft snow:



A good steady pitch:



Despite getting afternoon sun the slopes lower down gave good skiing right down to the Commune d'en Bas:





A short skin after lunch took us onto the Crete des Lanchettes, where we found some unexpected bonus turns down to Deux Nants:





Ed does some snowpack exploration:



The week was wrapped up with a trip over to la Plagne and down the North face of Bellecote on good chalky snow (no pics due to camera being left at home!).
Thanks to Rod, Nic, Tania, David, Neil & Ed for their company all week. Lots of good progress all round, and some great snow in the bargain as well...

Eagles Ski Club training/tours week (Part 1)

This week is a week of coaching + touring adventures for a group from the Eagles Ski Club.
From a valley base in Bourg St Maurice we have been exploring all that the Tarentaise has to offer... a warm-up day in Val D'Isere with plenty of soft snow from the Friday snowfall, followed by a testing day at La Rosiere/La Thuile on Monday, with variable visibiity, but good snow off piste.
Yesterday we went back up to Val D'Isere & headed off down the Pays Desert to the Pont de la Neige for a tour over the Col des Fours. Plenty of space on Pays Desert for freshies still:



Pont de la Neige:



Great views of the Haute Maurienne:



On the way up the Christy Powder Radar (®) kicked in, and we diverted from Plan A and made for the nearby Ouille des Tretetes, with a slope of untouched powder just waiting for us:



It was quite good:



In fact it was very good!






For details of backcountry/off-piste coaching courses please have a look here...

Steep Vanoise 2011 (part 3)

Last day of the Steep Vanoise course today, and a combination of dodgy weather forecast and the need to swing by a good ski shop drove us up to Courchevel. Patrick at Camp de Base was helpful as ever solving Paul's binding troubles, and on heading up the lifts it seemed we had made the right call with the weather, with dark clouds everywhere except Courchevel!

After a warm-up lap in Emile Allais we wandered over towards the Croix de Verdons couloir - less of a 'wander' than usual with quite a spicy entry into the Curé couloir, and very little snow on the ridge above the CdV...

Hiking up out of the Curé couloir:



On the ridge up to the Croix de Verdons:



Graham in action:



Ian:



Good powder to be found still:



After lunch we made the hike up to the Rocher de la Loze to ski the main couloir on the North 'Freeride' face. Paul in action:



One last ride up the cable car, and the powder radar came into its own as we dropped into a side couloir to the Tournier and found deep (if heavy) powder with not a track in it.

And so another good week comes to a close. Thanks to Paul, Ian & Graham for putting up with my mad plans! We certainly saw a biut of what the vanoise has to offer through the week...

Steep Vanoise 2011 (part 2)

On Wednesday we went into the Lauziere range, with the target being the North East couloir on the Cheval Noir, a 4.3 rated descent with a top section at 45º.
Cheval Noir from Col des Mottets, the couloir is centre on the face:



A long hot skin up the Combe Pierreuse and some boot-packing (chest deep at times) finally took us onto the summit with a good view into the couloir:





Ian, Paul & Graham on the summit:



Steep upper section:




Graham:



Paul:



Graham again:



Ian:



Paul demonstrating that even Volkls aren't unbreakable!:



Today (Thursday) we switched venues again and made for St Foy and the North face of Fogliettaz. As so often this did not dissapoint, and peering over the ridge to see only 6 tracks in the whole face definitely brought a smile to everyone's face! Great to catch up with Fred from Topski up there too.

Ian on the top pitch:



Graham going in deep:



Paul matching tracks:



Ian does some 'deep snowpack inspection':



Bottom of the upper face, still a long way to go from here:



Nice spot for lunch:



Last day tomorrow, who knows where we will end up?