Kicking off 2014

The first Off Piste course of 2014 kicks off this evening here in the 3 Valleys, it will be interesting to see how the snow is after a week of warmer temperatures (I have been 'down-valley' doing some consultancy work for Petzl this week).

Last day off for a while for me so time to kick off the next generation - Offpisteskiing Junior took to skis for the first time today:

The forecast is for some light snowfall on Mon/Tues this week, so fingers are crossed it will put down a reasonable layer. 'Red(-ish) sky in the morning, shepherds warning':

Off Piste Introduction

This week was the first Off Piste Introduction of the winter, run jointly by offpisteskiing.com and Jagged Globe.

Tricky conditions off piste have proved great for testing the team's developing skills. Yesterday we hiked into Les Avals and found some reasonable snow in places, along with particularly fine Diots & Crozets at the Refuge du Grand Plan!

Hiking up to the shoulder:



The team:



Variable snow on the South side:



The reward: diots & crozets at Lionel's.



1 more day to go, and with snow forecast for tonight it might be a powdery finish!