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!

Milking the conditions

It hasn't snowed for quite some time now (since the high rain of 23/24 Dec), and on the whole conditions aren't great, but that doesn't mean there isn't still some fun snow to be found - as we discovered today with Steve & Val...

Aiguille des Saints Pères - Couloir Ouest

A quick hit this morning to try and kick-start some fitness and maybe sneak in some good skiing...

I had heard reports that the St Pères couloirs had a reasonable fill of snow, and with the Val Thorens ski area already open there was the reassurance of having a high roadhead and snow back to the car (quite a rare thing this December...).

Several couloirs line the face of the Saints Pères, but the right hand one is by far the steepest (and most aesthetic):

An 8:30 start saw me skinning up out of Val Thorens before the lifts opened, with 1000m vertical on the cards. Despite a gloomy morning in the valley it was actually quite clear, with just a bit of high cloud around the Aiguille de Peclet. Looking back towards the valley showed just how poor the early season snow situation is:

Looking up into the couloir from the approach slopes:

The skinning went quickly enough, but progress slowed on entering the couloir - the snow consistency was not great for skinning, even with couteaux on, but boot packing was slow going in the deep snow. The promise of a great ski down kept spirits up though and soon enough I came out at the col. The top of the couloir currently is as well filled in as I have ever seen it - just 3 metres or so of rocks which are too tight to ski through (with rocks under the snow too) but below that it was perfect - creamy, heavy powder on a fairly consistent base. In the past I have generally had to downclimb or rap the first 20 metres over exposed rocks!

Ready for some fun:

The descent was great - 400m of good creamy powder, and then by following the stream/gully lines which are well filled in I was able to ski back to within 50m of the piste edge without feeling like I was risking skis or limbs (there were a good number of 'skier vs rock' incidents when Val T opened recently for a weekend...).

Looking back up from partway down the couloir:

A good way to kick off some steeper skiing for this winter - although the couloir is graded 5.1 on the toponeige scale it doesn't often feel like it quite deserves the grade, but is a fantastic ski anyway!

Off Piste Introduction day 6

Last day of the Off Piste Introduction course today, run by offpisteskiing.com and Jagged Globe.

Words probably won't do the day justice so best to sum it up with 2 pictures...

Thanks to Aiko, Ben, Rich, Nick and Jack for an entertaining week - the banter was as good as the skiing progression!

More adventures in the Vanoise

Day 4 of our week of off piste adventures, location: Val D'Isere...

The team putting the effort in to find some good turns:



Duly rewarded:



Who says there's no powder about?



Top lunching in the sun:



East face of the Charvet, anyone??




Day 5, Val Thorens

A flyby from the "Patrouille de France" (French Red Arrows):



Jack in the Caron South East couloir:



The team let rip on the wide open slopes below:



Nice chalky bumps on the Bouchet North face:



A short skin up the Mt de Peclet:



Mike R, Mike W and Nick on the summit:



Good heavy powder on the way down:



Day 6, back to Val D'Isere for a tour over the Pointe des Fours.

Skins go on at the Pont des Neiges:



Great views into the Haute Maurienne, we managed to lose the company with a cunning diversion to the Pointe des Fours instead of the standard Col route...



The team 'au complet' on the summit:



One short narrow section:



Then great spring snow all the way to the valley floor:



Approaching the Fond des Fours hut:




Thanks to Mike, Mike, Nick & Jack for the great company and for being willing to see "whats round the next corner" all week!!