Conditions update & course spaces.

Conditions update 27/12/2010:

The snow in the 3 Valleys is currently in excellent condition - soft, light powder off piste (though still thin in places so watch out for the rocks!), and great snow on piste. With cold, clear weather predicted for the next few days now is a great time to get out & roam far & wide through the 3 Valleys area.

Course spaces:

We still have a limited number of spaces available on the following courses:
Tarentaise Day Tours & Coaching week, 5 - 12 March
Steep Vanoise Tours, 27 March - 1 April

Contact Simon here for details.

Windy weather

Today I met up with Patch, Sam & Olly for a day's touring.
Despite a forecast of strong Foehn winds the morning didn't look too bad!



With Chanrossa chair shut a detour via a few extra lifts took us to the top of the Roc Merlet chair, where we headed off in search of adventure in Les Avals... With no track in place a short skin took us onto a very windy Merlet shoulder from where we dropped down through variable snow to the Plan du Vah.
Time for a spot of early lunch out of the now strengthening wind:



An hour or so of skinning got us onto the Col des Saulces and we headed off in search of powder (or something!) in the Combe des Roches.
Sam leads the team:



Up high the snow was (not surpisingly) very variable, with some nice wind-compacted snow interspersed with harder patches. As we dropped lower onto more sheltered slopes the snow gradually softened up, finally giving some great powder turns through the trees.
Olly enjoying the soft snow:



Well done to all the team for braving the weather, here's hoping for kinder conditions next time!

Intro to Touring weekend

This weekend the offpisteskiing.com Intro to Ski Touring weekend, based in Chamonix. With travel chaos in the UK we were slightly reduced in numbers, but Will, Lou & Don braved the cold (very cold) temperatures and we found some great powder while covering the ins & outs of ski touring.
On Saturday we headed to Le Tour, where cold knee-deep powder was interspersed with the occasional patch of windblown hardpack just to test the balance...
On Sunday, with a poor forecast we looked lower and made the short tour up the Croise Baulet from Combloux. The ski down more than made up for the uphill efforts, with great powder turns, all rounded off by a chocolat chaud in Le Plan before using the lifts to get back to our starting point.

Heading towards the Col du Jaillet, Petit Croise Baulet up right:



300m of climbing took us to the top:



Great powder turns on the way down (too much fun being had & the camera was forgotten!). A mid-descent break for food & drink:



Last few turns above Le Plan:

Yesterday's powder turns

A quick video I knocked together of yesterday's tour above Courchevel, just to give an idea of conditions at the moment:

Courchevel pre-season powder from Simon Christy on Vimeo.

More powder..

Managed to sneak out for another quick tour this afternoon in the brief interlude between weather fronts.
Great conditions again, with perfect powder, up to 40cms deep in places.

Nice views:


Greg enjoying the soft stuff:


Partial opening of the Courchevel/Meribel lift system this Saturday - should be great conditions (certainly on-piste)!