2 weeks later and there is still cold snow to be found on shady slopes, with good spring snow on sunnier aspects if you can get away from old ski tracks and get the timing just right!
Showing posts with label 3 Valleys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3 Valleys. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 February 2019
3 Valleys Off Piste coaching - Feb 19
2 weeks into an a March heatwave it seems like a long time ago we were skiing cold powder in a storm, but it was only 2 weeks... I had a great week coaching and guiding a group from the Eagle Ski Club. Based in Bozel, we skied mostly in the 3 Valleys, with conditions going from one extreme to the other- -10C and hiding in the trees from the storm on Monday to +10C and afternoon slush by the Friday!
2 weeks later and there is still cold snow to be found on shady slopes, with good spring snow on sunnier aspects if you can get away from old ski tracks and get the timing just right!
2 weeks later and there is still cold snow to be found on shady slopes, with good spring snow on sunnier aspects if you can get away from old ski tracks and get the timing just right!
Tuesday, 26 December 2017
A great start to the season!
Merry Christmas to everyone from us here at offpisteskiing!!
The blog has been very quiet for the last month due to a number of reasons, but here we go for another winter of fun.
It has been a busy start to the winter, flat out with work since the lifts opened here in the 3 Valleys. With great early December snowfalls giving one of the best starts to the season for many years (and certainly better than the last 3 pre-New Years) scope has been wide open for some fun skiing.
A few pictures to sum up this December so far:
Mid-December, skiing back to Bozel after a day's work:
18 December, thigh deep powder in the Courchevel trees with Dave S:
Paul P - sunshine and powder above Courchevel:
Friday 22 - a perfect day of 'micro-tours' with Dave S. No more than 30 minutes skinning every time, for 1000m of descent in untracked snow - perfect!
We are currently enjoying a bit of family time and skiing with offpisteskiing Jrs 1 & 2, but coming up in the next few days on the blog:
- thoughts on early season skiing: given a large number of accidents in late November/early December has the culture of 'if its white we will ski' gone too far?
- review of Contour Hybrid Split skins: having always been a Black Diamond Glidelite Mix devotee will these make me defect? Quite possibly given experiences so far...
- a look ahead to winter 2018: coaching courses and ski touring adventures in the Alps, Norway and Iceland...
See you soon!
The blog has been very quiet for the last month due to a number of reasons, but here we go for another winter of fun.
It has been a busy start to the winter, flat out with work since the lifts opened here in the 3 Valleys. With great early December snowfalls giving one of the best starts to the season for many years (and certainly better than the last 3 pre-New Years) scope has been wide open for some fun skiing.
A few pictures to sum up this December so far:
Mid-December, skiing back to Bozel after a day's work:
18 December, thigh deep powder in the Courchevel trees with Dave S:
Paul P - sunshine and powder above Courchevel:
Friday 22 - a perfect day of 'micro-tours' with Dave S. No more than 30 minutes skinning every time, for 1000m of descent in untracked snow - perfect!
We are currently enjoying a bit of family time and skiing with offpisteskiing Jrs 1 & 2, but coming up in the next few days on the blog:
- thoughts on early season skiing: given a large number of accidents in late November/early December has the culture of 'if its white we will ski' gone too far?
- review of Contour Hybrid Split skins: having always been a Black Diamond Glidelite Mix devotee will these make me defect? Quite possibly given experiences so far...
- a look ahead to winter 2018: coaching courses and ski touring adventures in the Alps, Norway and Iceland...
See you soon!
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
Courchevel snow report
A quick update from the 3 Valleys in the video below...
Originally I had bigger (and steeper) plans for today but work and family conspired to limit me to a quick afternoon leg-stretch!
Originally I had bigger (and steeper) plans for today but work and family conspired to limit me to a quick afternoon leg-stretch!
Courchevel Snow Report 18 Nov 14 from Simon Christy on Vimeo.
Friday, 22 February 2013
Updates
Not much to update on the off piste front this week as I have mostly been on the piste in Courchevel (and next to David Guetta in the VIP area at La Folie Douce this afternoon!). The weather has been cold and sunny all week (very, very cold today!), snow conditions reasonably stable off piste by all accounts, and tracks almost everywhere you look!
Some big lines have been getting ticked off with the Couloir de l'Aiguille Carrée on the Aiguille Verte seeing a rare descent from the Snowhow boys today, the South Face of the Grande Sassiere being ticked last weekend by my mates Chipie and Blair, and Ross striking out on a bold solo mission up the NE slope and down the South Face direct of Les Courtes! Busy times...
Meanwhile I have some big thank yous to throw out -
Dynafit, for very quick replacement of some malfunctioning Radical FTs
Jon Coster at The Piste Office for loads of advice and speedy shipping of some Quiver Killer inserts and plates to adjust the ramp angle of my Dynafits (more on this to come in a post shortly)
Gavin and Tom (and Ewan) at The Boot Lab in Courchevel for Quiver Killer mounting, and careful insertion of rivets to take out the forefoot flex of my TLT5s (and more on this to follow!).
Great customer service all round - thanks everybody!!!
Some big lines have been getting ticked off with the Couloir de l'Aiguille Carrée on the Aiguille Verte seeing a rare descent from the Snowhow boys today, the South Face of the Grande Sassiere being ticked last weekend by my mates Chipie and Blair, and Ross striking out on a bold solo mission up the NE slope and down the South Face direct of Les Courtes! Busy times...
Meanwhile I have some big thank yous to throw out -
Dynafit, for very quick replacement of some malfunctioning Radical FTs
Jon Coster at The Piste Office for loads of advice and speedy shipping of some Quiver Killer inserts and plates to adjust the ramp angle of my Dynafits (more on this to come in a post shortly)
Gavin and Tom (and Ewan) at The Boot Lab in Courchevel for Quiver Killer mounting, and careful insertion of rivets to take out the forefoot flex of my TLT5s (and more on this to follow!).
Great customer service all round - thanks everybody!!!
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Snow
I have been back in Bozel for the weekend after 6 days work in Zermatt running a BASI Mountain Safety course - we had lots of new snow through the week, not great for navigating & getting out skinning but great for illustrating avalanche dangers with lots of small slabs, some skier triggered, in the last 2 days.
There was approx 50/60cm of fresh snow through the middle of the week & it seems it was much the same in the Vanoise, with plenty of folks out touring including a fine early season descent of the SW face of the Pointe Matthews - a tasty 5.2 descent more often skied in spring conditions!
There is about 10cm of snow on the ground here in Bozel at 840m, and with a fair bit of snow forecast for this week it looks like a great start to the season.
There was approx 50/60cm of fresh snow through the middle of the week & it seems it was much the same in the Vanoise, with plenty of folks out touring including a fine early season descent of the SW face of the Pointe Matthews - a tasty 5.2 descent more often skied in spring conditions!
There is about 10cm of snow on the ground here in Bozel at 840m, and with a fair bit of snow forecast for this week it looks like a great start to the season.
Friday, 4 May 2012
Pointe du Bouchet N face
The weird weather continues, yesterday the sun came out (while I was driving to Geneva & back...) and everything up high appears to have sluffed off, leaving questionable snow quality. At a loss for something bigger to do locally today I drove up to Val Thorens with the idea of doing some laps in the St Peres couloirs. Sadly on closer inspection from the lifts these looked less than appealing, so a fall-back option was called for. I have skied underneath the Pointe du Bouchet many times but never actually been to the top. The snow on this north face looked to be reasonably soft so Plan B was launched...
La face du jour (apologies for poor quality pics - forgot my camera...):
Birds eye view of the top chairlift in Orelle:
Nice powder!
Lower face, great sluffy powder:
Below the face a hard right traverse yielded great spring snow all the way down to Plan Bouchet - result!
Looking to maximise the day I then jumped on the chair for a quick lap but Plan C emerged on the way up - a slope I have looked at lots of times in the past but never got around to skiing. A quick half hours boot-pack got me up onto the high point of the Rochers Renod ridge where after a bit of rock-hoppery a fantastic descent on perfect spring snow followed. Not a steep descent, but nice to finally ski a line I have looked at for a long time!
Summit, with Maurienne valley behind:
Pointe Renod:
Great spring snow:
The weaqthe rlooks set to change tomorrow again, then next week I am working in Switzerland for 5 days - here's hoping the second half of May is more productive on the Steeps front...
Friday, 13 April 2012
April Powder part 2
Another day another set of powder turns.
Despite a gloomy start in Meribel yesterday morning I was hopeful there would be a 'window' of opportunity mid-morning before the next set of precipitation came in and so it turned out. As we worked our way up high the skies brightened and we were treated to a good 3 hour spell of blue skies, linking up some great powder descents around the top of the Mottaret valley.
Nick:
Tom:
Jen:
Despite a gloomy start in Meribel yesterday morning I was hopeful there would be a 'window' of opportunity mid-morning before the next set of precipitation came in and so it turned out. As we worked our way up high the skies brightened and we were treated to a good 3 hour spell of blue skies, linking up some great powder descents around the top of the Mottaret valley.
Nick:
Tom:
Jen:
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Friday, 18 January 2008
More powder!
Despite dodgy forecasts the last 2 days have continued to provide awesome conditions with fresh snow overnight and clear skies by day. Here the British Spinal Study Group get some fresh tracks down towards St Martin:
Tuesday, 15 January 2008
Powder!
More powder again over the last 2 days...yesterday we put first tracks down the Canyon in Les Avals:
Perhaps this might restore some faith in European skiing (which the press did their best to destroy last year - despite the fact we were skiing powder this time last year too!)
Today we were putting in freshies in a secret spot in Val Thorens...super-deep, light, and noone else around...perfect!
Reports are excellent from across the French Alps, with contacts in Chamonix, Val D'Isere and the Southern Alps all reporting bumper conditions, with more snow forecast!
Perhaps this might restore some faith in European skiing (which the press did their best to destroy last year - despite the fact we were skiing powder this time last year too!)
Today we were putting in freshies in a secret spot in Val Thorens...super-deep, light, and noone else around...perfect!
Reports are excellent from across the French Alps, with contacts in Chamonix, Val D'Isere and the Southern Alps all reporting bumper conditions, with more snow forecast!
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