2016 early planning - Kyrgyzstan and Lofoten

Winter is still proving to be slightly reticent in appearing here in the French Alps, and we are still waiting for a proper base to come into place off piste so in the meantime plans are already gently shaping up for 2016...!

First up is a return to Kyrgyzstan (see here for the 2012 trip reports) - the general plan for 2016 will be a 2 week trip, with a week at the 40 Tribes yurt along with a day at the Karakol ski area and possibly a couple of days cat-skiing too (to be confirmed...).

A return to Lofoten also seems inevitable, with likely dates based around the week of 2 - 10 April 2016.

If either of these trips floats your boat then don't hesitate to get in touch!

Jewels to gather - Photo Exhibition

If you are in the Cardiff area between 7 November and 5 December be sure to check out the 'Jewels to gather' photo exhibition at the Saltmarshe Gallery.

Nick is a long-standing client of mine, and among other skills is also a fantastic photographer. The exhibition covers mountain ranges from Wales, through the Alps, to the Himalaya (not forgetting Lofoten obviously!).

2013/14 slideshow

Here at long last here is the offpisteskiing.com Winter 2013/14 sideshow of pictures from our courses and adventures. Are you in there?

Offpisteskiing.com Winter1314 slideshow from Simon Christy on Vimeo.

Lofoten - Ristinden South gully

A slightly early return from Lofoten due to 4 days of foul weather forecast for the end of my trip means I can now start to post some updates from the last 3 weeks. In slightly illogical fashion I am going to start with the last day first...

Last year I had spotted some lines on Ristinden, an 850m high peak near Leknes, but ran out of time to go exploring. This year skiing something on this peak was high on my list of priorities as there is basically no information about prior descents, so although the obvious lines have undoubtedly been skied before, there is a real sense of adventure heading off in to 'uncharted' territory.

Ristinden is a stunning peak, with no 'easy way up':

There appear to be 4 good independent steep lines on this peak, the one I was most drawn to this year was the South gully, a direct line from below the summit, with a small ramp leading in from the West shoulder - more obvious from the Leknes area (left-slanting gully line directly below summit...):

Although we had to start the day on foot, soon we were straight into crampons and axe territory to figure out a passage through the lower rock bands guarding the bottom of the face. Guy & Jon on bootpack duties:

A bit of slightly blind weaving took us onto more open slopes, then up into the entrance to the gully:

Once in the gully we started to come under fire from above - a combination of wind and sun sending a lot of debris down from the iced-up rocks that cap the gully. With several larger sluffs also coming down a quick re-think was forced - we found some shelter under an overhanging rock at about 770m and after some debating decided that it was probably a good idea to head down rather than continue on into the bombardment with no obvious shelter ahead and an uncertain exit along (what we hoped was) the ramp below the summit.

A shame not to top out the gully, but we still had a great ski - Guy in action:

Oli:

Out of the gully, still steep, and exposed above small bluffs , but a bit more relaxed out of the firing line!:

With a bit of ingenuity, and some unleashing of the snow radar we managed to ski back to 150m above sea level, leaving a pleasant 20 min wander back down to the car...

All in all a great day out, hindsight says we should have continued on, but better to have the option to go back another time to finish it off...

Lofoten update

A few pictures from the first 2 days of this year's Lofoten adventures:

The 'data' conundrum

2 events the other afternoon set me thinking. First I spent quite some time creating archive files on my computer for lots of old information about various things "which may come in useful at some point". Shortly afterwards, on my way back from the post box, I passed 2 middle aged men who had just stepped off their mountain bikes at a café in town, bristling with shiny armour and more than one 'teletubby-cam'.

Which made me wonder: with storage options in Terabytes accessible to all (not to mention the mighty 'cloud'), super-fast-access-everywhere internet connections and cheap-enough-for-anyone POV cameras are we being caught up in a whirlpool of 'record everything' and 'share everything'?

It is too easy to keep everything now - where in the past you would notice boxes of 'stuff' stacking up in the garage, folders and sub-folders are barely noticeable, but how often do we actually need to go digging for the contents?

As for the 'record & share everything' lifestyle I am in a dilemma: as a professional it is great for me to be able to show photos and videos of what I and my clients get up to, I know for sure it has helped lure new business my way, and an internet and social media presence is almost obligatory in this day and age. I also know that over the years I have found fellow professionals heading out to a spot I had blogged about the day before with their clients (ie getting a free ride off the back of my homework), and this has changed my approach to a slightly more measured (wait until conditions have gone) blogging frequency at times...

But do we really need to capture every moment of our life for posterity? And what ever happened to just living in the moment, and enjoying each minute as it comes and then passes again? Are we too focussed on recording to actually enjoy the moment to the full? My friend Will was a perfect example of this - not counting the success of his days out by the number of Likes on the 'blue book' but simply by how much he and his friends had smiled - it used to frustrate me that he never took a camera out (ie I never got any photos taken of me) - in retrospect the images you really remember are the ones that stick in your head, the ones that don't need any prompts to bring back a 'warm glow'.


Anyway, enough pondering - dates are now in the diary for next winter's courses:

Off Piste Introduction - 3 Valleys - 11-18 Jan 2014 Info here
Off Piste Improvers - Grimentz - 18-25 Jan 2014 Info here
Off Piste Improvers - Andermatt - 8-15 Feb 2014 Info here
Maurienne Valley Steep Coaching - 22 Feb - 1 Mar 2014 Info here
Freeride Chamonix - 8-15 Mar 2014 Info here
Steep Vanoise - Brides-les-Bains- 17-21 Mar 2014 Info here
Lofoten Ski Adventures - 31 Mar - 10 Apr Info here


Don't hesitate to get in touch for more information!


The faithful few are still getting turns in up high, last weekend however I donned the lycra to join the current cycling 'vogue' for a 2 day blitz around the Tour du Mont Blanc. Yes, we did pick the hottest weekend of the year so far (typical). Yes I did lose 4 Kg in fluids (not good). Yes I did have fun (I think), though I still favour the 'pedal up an HC col, have a good coffee and some food then freewheel home' option as opposed to stringing them together...

Feeling fresh on the morning warm-up up the Petit St Bernard (the smiles were less noticeable later on after battling headwinds down the Aosta valley then slogging up the monster 35 km climb to the Grand St Bernard...):

Presten couloir (Fishy Tales part 5)

After a week ski touring in Lofoten with Ian, Mark, Nick and Mike it was time for a switch. The venue stayed the same, but the players were different. Having dropped the guys off in Evenes I promptly picked up Will, who had arrived on the same flight, and we headed back out to Lofoten, picking up Chipie en route, having made his way by boat(s) and bus from Tromso...

With little time but keen to make the most of the stabilising snowpack and the current spell of good weather we needed a relatively short objective for an evening session and the Presten couloir seemed perfect for this - roadside, 500m high, with the steepness starting almost from the car door:



The Presten couloir is at centre of the picture above - the big rock buttress to the right is the Presten or 'Priest' itself and is home to some high quality rock climbing.

Easy access by definition... park in the layby at the bottom of the couloir, open your car door and start climbing!



The first 100m of the couloir are skinnable in good conditions, but soon the angle kicks up and skis go on the pack:





The higher you climb the more impressive the scenery becomes:



Will breaking trail up to the narrows just below half height - often the crux of the couloir (and a mixed/water ice step) this was completely filled in with snow:



The top 300m of the couloir remain narrow, with the angle hovering about the 45º mark (though I have seen clinometer-measured quotes of 50...) - the last 30m to the col were a little scratchy, with a very thin (to non-existent) covering of snow over frozen grass and moss - fine on the way up, 'interesting' on the way down...

Will about to negotiate the frozen grass and moss section at the top - a delicate start to the descent!



Chipie in the upper section the couloir - steep and tight here:









Will threading his way through the boulder choke section:



Atmospheric skiing in the couloir with rock walls towering on either side (Chipie is in there if you look closely!):



Happy campers in the evening sun!




Chipie pulling the new freestyle move: "air to beach"



5 minutes drive took us to the Climber's Café for a pint of very expensive beer to celebrate mopped up with Mateo's fine cod stew!

Lofoten adventures - Fishy Tales part 1

I spent the last 2 weeks ski touring in the Lofoten Islands in Arctic Norway. Words can't quite describe the place, and pictures don't capture the full glory (on a sunny day), but safe to say this place is magical!

For the first week I was skiing with 4 clients - we flew into Evenes airport and drove down to Lofoten from there.
First things first there was the small matter of Ian's birthday the day before which warranted a gold medal (don't eat it all at once!):



We were treated to an atmospheric introduction to Lofoten, here, Geitgaljern lurking in the clouds:



On the way to Henningsvaer, where we would be staying, the clouds parted to reveal this:



Henningsvaer is a small vilage based around a very busy fishing harbour:



Cod fishing is a big thing here:



A really big thing...:



But there are some great looking mountains too!:



Monday dawned breezy and snowy, and with the avalanche risk at 4 we opted for a gentle tour towards Pilan to get the legs working. Visibility soon worsened and a game of navigating by map, compass and GPS ensued, with a close call with a cornice guarding a stream bed avoided by 6th sense and a brief glimpse of the other side - more of this to follow...
100m higher up the wind really started picking up so we decided to turn around. As we reached the river gully I noticed a pair of skis stuck in the snow on the far bank and found 2 skiers, one lying motionless in the gully. Team 'International Rescue' swung into action, and I dug out the emergency shelter while Dr Nick dug out his bag of tricks (top tip: always carry an Intensive Care specialist with you in the mountains!) and the rest of the guys set about creating a snow shelter and securing the scene.

Dr Nick tending to the casualty inside the group shelter, 'Kristin's rock' visible just to one side:



It turned out Kristin was a local skier and professional photographer - she and her friend had come up (and turned around) shortly after us, and in the murk she had simply not seen the cornice and fallen 2 or 3 metres, unfortunately onto a waiting rock. In great pain, a broken pelvis was eventually diagnosed. We insulated and stabilised her as best we could, knowing that the local mountain rescue team was on its way, but that a heli-evacuation probably wouldn't be possible due to the weather.

It is worth noting that the local rescue team is entirely volontary and very basic - no paramedics, very little specialist kit, and the doctor (when he finally appeared about 2 hours in) had nothing stronger than 'injectable brufen'. This is not a criticism, just a statement of fact, and anyone planning a trip here should take this into account - no PGHM to swing in and swoop you to hospital, no UK rescue team with trained paramedics and strong drugs...

With no other options we carefully transferred Kristin onto the stretcher sledge, and the team took charge of getting her down to the roadhead and a waiting ambulance:



Check out Kristin's website for some great photos: folsland.no - a well-travelled adventurer and tough cookie - how she handled the pain was very humbling.

The incident just shows that even on a local hill, with local knowledge and just a few hundred metres up from the road it is very easy for things to go wrong and a situation to escalate - by the time we found her only 10 minutes after the initial fall Kristin was already shivering violently and I have no doubt that the group shelter and our extra layers of down made a huge difference to her well-being during the rescue.

After 3 hours of rescue duties we all felt ready for some refreshment and headed to Svolvaer harbour-side for an eye-wateringly expensive pint (well, 0.5 litre) of Arctic beer...:



Day 2 dawned much brighter, with only a gentle breeze blowing. As the avalanche risk was still high we opted for a mellow=angled powder day on Smatinden:



The scenery was stunning, and the snow was damn fine too... several inches of light fluffy powder:



The ski down the top bowl was fantastic, so good we headed back up for a second round:



Today we were introduced to one of the features of Lofoten skiing - blue holes. One minute the sun is shining, next minute a cloud has appeared and it snows for 40 minutes, only to clear to glorious sunshine again. The trick is to spot the blue holes coming (or spot the cloud approaching) and be ready for a lightning quick changeover to downhill mode to make the most of the visibility.

A blue hole about to shut on Mark:



Not a bad view to aim for:



A final run in the left hand bowl took us all the way to the valley floor, for a gentle skin along the cross country trails back to the car park.



More to come in Fishy Tales part 2...

Fishy tales - teaser

The blog has been very quiet for 2 weeks as I have been away working & playing in Lofoten, in Arctic Norway.

Loads of photos to follow, but for the moment here is one that sums the last 2 weeks up for me... snow, sea, and threatening skies!