Val D'Isere - Table D'Orientation

Despite a slightly dodgy forecast, Sunday turned into a cracking day. From first thing the sun was shining at the top of the Bellevarde, and the lower clouds gradually cleared to leave perfect blue skies by lunchtime.

In the morning we hiked up to the Table D'Orientation couloir, which starts up behind the Downhill start huts at the top of the Bellevarde itself.
The couloirs are fairly similar to the Grand Couloir etc in Courchevel, and had perfect soft snow still, despite a few tracks.

Guy on the first few turns:



Tim in the top section:



Matt in the top section:



Oli lower down:



Matt again:



The team rip the wider slopes below the couloir:



After lunch with John, Tim, Matt, Claire and Charles we headed over to Tignes and hit great snow off the end of the glacier, and on the Petite Balme, with a good run down Super-Spatule with the usual tree-dodging at the end to wrap things up.

Claire on the Petite Balme:



Another fantastic day, despite the forecast!

Pisteur's Couloir

This weekend I've been over in Val D'Isere for a few days work. Yesterday we had a great day enjoying perfect conditions on and off piste.
A light covering of fresh snow was there and waiting to be tracked out, with great conditions on the Cairn, and down the Vallon Perdu.
Tim coming through the 'mousehole':



Later in the afternoon Tim, Charles and John came up for a look at Pisteur's Couloir on the Mont Charvet. This classic line is clearly visible from the top of the Olympique & the Fontaine Froide area. The top 40m was fairly interesting, with a 165cm wide trench down the 45 degree slope (obviously left by skiing dwarves) which we all struggled to fit our skis into:



From there down conditions were superb, with soft snow sloughing off on every turn.
Tim just below the 'trench of doom':



Charles in the mid-section:



John enjoying the wider slopes near the bottom of the couloir:



And again on the exit slopes:



A great end to a great day. Tim with the couloir in the background:

Behind the 3 Valleys.

A fine day out in the sun today with Derek.
We started with a quick blast from Courchevel over to Val Thorens with the intention of doing a tour round the back of the 3 Valleys.

Perfect snow was waiting for us on the ski from the Col chair down to the curiously named Lacs Cafe au Lait:



A 40 minute skin then took us up to the Col Superieur de Chaviere, at the very head of the Pralognan valley. Derek removing skins at the col:



The East side of the col gave variable but pleasant snow until we cut a leftwards traverse to sneak in towards the Lac Blanc above the Peclet-Polset refuge, with some nice short pitches on the way:





A very hot and sweaty skin then took us up to the Col des Fonds, at the head of the Meribel/Mottaret valley:



The final push to the col:



Its all downhill from here (nearly). Sadly we had been 'gazumped' on our quest for virgin snow all day, as 2 skiers had already skinned up from below the Col de Chanrouge and skied our valley, however 2 tracks are easy to avoid and we had the rest of the fresh powder to ourselves:



A happy-looking Derek:



Aiguille de Chanrossa:



A grind across the flat terrain got us finally back into Mottaret at the end of a long, hot, but memorable day, with mostly great powder snow on the descents!!

(Cheers to Zoe for the lift back round to Courchevel!)

Courchevel Powder

Out hunting the powder again today, and after a false start trying to get over to Val Thorens and failing (wind) hooked up with Jonny and Ewan to head up the Aiguille du Fruit above Courchevel.

Ewan near the top of the climb:



The strong winds had already taken their toll and the snow was variable in the top of the couloir.

Ewan on the first few turns:



Jonny K:



As we got further down the snow slowly got lighter as we got out of the wind affected zone.





Jonny ripping it up:



Since the car was in Mottaret I made a detour via the Saulire to ski one of the Meribel couloirs that I hadn't been down before. There are a whole series of openings along the ridge at various points, and this one was interesting with a short 30m of sidelipping/jump-turning to negotiate some rocks, followed by a crucial left traverse to avoid going over a small cliff.



Bit more straightforward from here down, though still quite tight and not great snow.



These couloirs are rarely in great conditions due to catching a lot of sun, but are definitely worth seeking out to spice up a run back to the 'sunny side'. Looking back up into the couloir:

2nd time lucky?

After a great weeks work skiing the fantastic powder which just kept on falling, a clear forecast for the weekend meant some play was the order of the day.

I headed up for a 2nd attempt to ski the Croix de Verdon from the very top, having turned back from the final slope a couple of winters ago. From the top of the cable car the top half of the couloir is an obvious, though rarely skied, line.



A sweaty boot up the couloir with a new Swiss friend Serge got us to the little col below the final slope. Most of the couloir is quite exposed, finishing in a rocky gully, but the top slope is a different matter: 50º slopes with big cliffs underneath. 20m of swimming up ever deepening mush and we decided it wasn't a goer. The bottom couloir gave a reasonable ski, but I'll be back for that top pitch again (just a shame it always seems to be in condition when I'm working!).

Serge in the couloir:





We dropped back into the regular Croix de Verdon couloir and followed the boot pack up the right hand side (left by some other friends...cheers for the track guys). The Entonnoir was well skied out, so we peeked over the Meribel side and it was totally untouched...

Many happy perfect powder turns later we hit the Meribel pistes...not bad for a fall back option!

Serge near the ridge:



Mmmmm...

Snow, snow, snow...

Woke this morning to snow falling outside the house here in Bozel (850m). With Meteo france forecasting 30-70cm over the next 24 hours its shaping up into a great Spring!

Avalanche risk will be high for the next few days though so take care out there...

View from the front door this morning...all this was green yesterday:

Chamonix - Quick Hit

Quick hit over in Chamonix this week for a days work on the Grands Montets with Mat and his Dad, with the pistes as good as they have ever been, and great soft snow off-piste. With the top lift having been shut the day before there was still loads of fresh stuff left by the time we went up...

The view from the top of the Grands Montets, looking at the North face of Les Drus, and beyond the Chamonix Aiguilles and Mont Blanc.



Wednesday I had the pleasure of a mornings skiing and catching up with a couple of friends I'd not seen for a while, and then into the 'boot room' at Sanglard Sports for a bit of boot-fitting from Jules (the master boot-fitter-man).

Reports are of great conditions in the Vallee Blanche, with face shots down the Col du Plan/Grand Envers. Couloir Cosmiques is being skied in good conditions, and classic Argentiere tours (Col du Tour Noir etc) sound in good condition. The high North Faces are very grey though...but the current heavy snowfalls may change this.