Le Photographe

5 interesting days skiing with photographer Nick Mason this week. Great conditions overall with lots of fresh snow but very cold temperatures and a couple of days of strong wind.
A tricky week for shooting skiing shots though, with limited sunlight and quite a bit of time spent waiting for breaks in the cloud.

Today we finished with a tour over in Champagny/La Plagne:

Nick styling in the powder off Mont de la Guerre:



And down the gully back to Champagny:



Looking up to the Pas des Brebis:



Nick part way up the short climb to the Pas des Brebis:



Dangerous conditions on the summit ridge from this side meant we skipped the summit of the Mont Jovet for today, but were still rewarded with 1000m + of awesome powder back down towards Bozel:

Breche Martin-Encrenaz

Friday saw me in Chamonix with a rare mid-week day off, and with a new pair of touring boots to break in courtesy of Jules at Sanglard I met up with regular steep skiing partner Guy Willett of Dream Guides for a day out in the Aiguilles Rouges. The plan was to head for the North couloir of the Breche Martin-Encrenaz, a rarely-skied gem hidden away on the far right of the 'Lac Blanc' bowl.

The plan was to do this 'on-sight', climbing the South couloir to the Breche. Skinning in from the Lac Blanc, the South couloir is the obvious narrow line above Guy:



As expected the couloir proved to be a crust-fest, and we swapped leads breaking trail in the knee-to-thigh deep breakable crust...oh what fun! Guy pushing on through:



Finally we emerged into the Breche, from where the route down wasn't looking particularly inviting, and certainly not the 4.3 rated descent we expected. A steep (50º?) powder-filled gully disappearing over the abseil section, but no obvious abseil spikes, and snow too soft for a good 'dead-man' anchor.
After some deliberation we opted for the safer option of skiing the ascent couloir rather than sketching about on steep powder above a 30/40m cliff.

Guy getting ready to head down:



Psyching up for the first turn...the snow was about as much fun on the way down as on the way up... 45º+ of variable breakable crust and refrozen surface made for some 'character-building' skiing:



Jump turns were the order of the day:



Further down the couloir widens and the angle eases slightly, though the better snow was to be found way out skiers right of the couloir:



Guy certainly not missing his telemark kit today..!

Off Piste perfection - Valais

Last week saw the Jagged Globe Off Piste Perfection week based in Orsieres, near Verbier. It was great to be working with my good friend Philippe Terretaz again, and with our groups we enjoyed great skiing despite the prevailing Foehn condtions. Brusons, Crevacol and Ovronnaz gave us some great untracked powder, and all the team made good progress, tidying up skiing skills and testing themselves in some trickier snow as well.

Crevacol powder... The wind was absolutely howling in the Verbier/Valais area this day so a sneaky move through to Italy saw us skiing perfect powder with barely a breath of wind:








Touring from Ovronnaz. This small resort is the perfect starting point for some great day tours, with fresh tracks guaranteed:

Vanoise Off Piste & Day Tours

Yesterday saw the last day of the Offpisteskiing Vanoise Off Piste / Day Tours week.
The weather definitely played into our hands, with fresh snow early in the week, followed by 4 days of glorious sunshine allowing us to explore the off piste and touring around the 3 Valleys and further afield, with a great day out at Areches-Beaufort where we put first tracks in the Combe Nord-Est of the Grand Mont... a great day out...

Putting in fresh tracks above Mottaret:





Skiing down to Brides-les-Bains:



First tracks off the Grand Mont D'Areches:





Skinning up to the Col des Saulces:



The team:



Gentle powder pitches to warm up for the descent:

Blue skies and powder!

Cracking first day for the offpisteskiing Vanoise Off Piste/Day Tours week today.
After some warming up on and near the pistes we managed to find some good (and safe) powder to ski high up in Mottaret. Alot of care was required in slope selection following the heavy snowfalls, strong winds, and varying temperatures of the last few days; and there was plenty of avalanche activity to observe (including one large slab under Speedball which looked skier triggered!).

Although the risk for tomorrow is down to 3 alot of care is needed off-piste at the moment, so take care out there!!

More powder...

Another good day for the Off Piste Beginners course today...blue skies and powder on the menu...

Off Piste Beginners '09

Great conditions this week for the Off Piste Beginners course based in Brides les Bains and run through Jagged Globe.
Simon, Lee, Chris, Katherine, Christine and David have enjoyed some great powder, and with progressively more snow falling for the first 4 days of the course it has been a great progression for the guys to get to grips with skiing the soft stuff...

Spot the skier:



Perfect powder:



Going, going...



Gone...



The gang have all been making great progress this week (with the odd tumble along the way...) and hopefully in the last 2 days of the course we will be able to consolidate all the changes made.