Steep Vanoise 2019 - week 2

Week 2 of this year's Steep Vanoise courses started with uncertainty - after a majorly warm 36 hours would the snow forecast for the Sunday night do enough to repair the damage done?

The answer became apparent on our first run on Monday morning...:

And Tuesday kept up the momentum...:

Despite 2 days of sunshine Wednesday stayed cold and so did the snow:

On Thursday we made a pilgrimage to the North face of the Bellecote for a run down couloir Cairn, with lots of cold fluffy snow still left to ski:

For the final day we went hunting for spring snow off the back of Val Thorens, with a great run down the 'Deversoir' topped off with lunch at the Auberge du Col before a fun ski back through to Meribel...

Thanks to Amanda, Iain, Elliot, Rich, Andrew, Jack & Gavin for a great week, and to Dorian for sharing the guiding duties very capably!

3 Valleys Powder extravaganza

As seems to be a theme this winter I am running way behind with the blog (not to mention answering my emails...!). A couple of weeks ago I was skiing with a team of mountain medics, and despite some wild weather at times and spicy avalanche conditions we have managed to do some great (and relatively safe) skiing:

Some good days to go high:

And some great days for hiding in the trees!:

Thanks to Hernàn, Stu, Colin, Bill, Ben & Morne for a great week - see you next winter!

3 Valleys Off Piste - Xmas & New Year conditions 2018/19

And so the counter clicks over to 2019...

Despite reasonable (albeit thin) early season conditions 3 days of rain to 2500m in the run-up to Christmas put paid to the quality of snow off piste in many areas.

Dec 20 - great powder in Courchevel for Emma, Paul, Alice, James, Freddie & Claire:

Following the rain the only solution for a while was to go high, where there was good chalky snow to be found - now we seem to be settled into an ever-lasting high pressure system, with blue skies and no sign of snow, but there is skiable snow to be found if you go looking (and put in a bit of effort) and even lower down now the rained-on snow has been through as few freeze-thaw cycles there is some fun skiing to be had.

Despite the dry start to the winter it is good to remember that 3 (or 4) years ago we had a similar start and yet the month of March of that year I racked up the best succession of deep powder days I can remember for a long long time!

Aiguille du Fruit NW couloir

A chance message from Yorick last night decided today's plan... I was going to go for a solo recce around the 3 Valleys, but instead we switched on 'mission mode' for a flog up (and blast down) the NW couloir on the Aiguille du Fruit. It has been a few years since I have been up here so it was nice to be back in such good conditions!

December 2018 - early season conditions & course availability

It has all been rather quiet on the blog of late - work & family combining to keep me away!

Yesterday was opening day for Courchevel and Meribel, and with a CPD day due to keep up to date with all things admin for BASI I met up with 3 colleagues for a day of discussions centred around working off piste - client briefing, terrain choice, new technologies and more were discussed at length throughout the day, with a few turns thrown in for good measure.

The snow in the 3 Valleys is quite thin at the moment, especially below 2300m. Above this there is the beginning of a base of cold winter snow, though plenty more is needed to get the classic off piste routes into viable condition:

Below 2300m there is really just a superficial covering off piste, and a skeleton network of pistes open (as usual for week 1 of the winter) - skiing back to the Chaudanne in Meribel is definitely not for the faint-hearted (or those with new skis!):

Today it is very windy (nothing open) but snowing hard, with the freezing level due to drop towards 800m later, so that should start to make a difference!

Winter 2018/2019 is almost fully booked, but there are still one or two spots left on the following courses:

Off Piste Introduction - The 3 Valleys - 26 Jan - 2 Feb 2019

Vanoise Freeride - 3 Valleys/Paradiski (& more) - 23 - 30 Mar 2019

** Please note: due to an unplanned forced change in web host the www.offpisteskiing.com website is not currently fully operational for the time being **

Please contact us for booking details for the courses.

Meanwhie, to keep the juices flowing for the coming winter here is an inspiring film from Tof Henry:

Born in Chamonix [FULL FILM] from ARMADA SKIS on Vimeo.

...and we're off and running...

Despite a later start than usual due to other work commitments winter 2017 is now off and running!

Yesterday the lifts up in Courchevel opened for the winter so it was time to sneak in a run or two with 'offpisteskiing Jr'

Today I was skiing with Ali, Steve, Sue and Debbie. It is fair to say conditions are about as thin as they can be at this time of year - heading up the lifts from Mottaret the view was quite sobering:

There was a bit of fun stuff to ski up high in Val Thorens though:

It was eye-opening to see the number of skinning tracks all over the place, despite the lack of snow and very rocky terrain. Maybe I am getting old and cautious but given the current thin snowpack I would rate the chances of trashing my skis and/or myself quite highly at the moment (a la Schumacher and many others) - surely there are other ways to get an exercise fix whilst waiting for a base to build up?

Courchevel and 3 Valleys snow report - half term week 2016

It is THE big half term week here in the 3 Valleys, and it is fair to say conditions are about as good as they can be. With lots of snow over the last 10 days the weather is starting to ease off a bit and today we had a stunning day of blue skies and powder. I am coaching Alex and Dan this week, with an emphasis on powder, bumps and gaining confidence on steeper ground. As for last week Courchevel takes a lot of beating in conditions like this and we had a couloir session yesterday morning with only a handful of other skiers venturing along the Saulire ridge (one of the benefits of skiing at half-term week!).

Today we ventured further afield on some longer runs, with great powder still to be found, though sunny slopes are most definitely 'on the turn'...

Shady slopes will be the way to go for the next few days - the Aiguille du Fruit/Pointe Emilienne and similar all had great powder still today with relatively few tracks (considering the ease of access). We did a steep version of the Raffort run from Olympic Express this morning which was great, but most definitely worth searching out the most Northerly aspects possible as lower down the sunnier slopes were not as soft...

We still have the odd space on our March and April courses so have a look at our course calendar for some powdery fun!