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!

Maurienne Magic 2018

This week I have been back to one of my favourite haunts, the Haute Maurienne, running my annual Steep Coaching & Adventures week for members of the Eagle Ski Club.

Snowfall last weekend set us up for a great start to the week, though the forecast initially looked quite variable for the week. As it turns out we have had mostly really good visibility and snow, with today ranking right up with the best days of all time, with a classic 1300m descent to the road at Bonneval with knee-deep cold powder all the way!

One more day to go and the forecast is good - here's hoping for another great day!

Happy New Year! + Snow conditions report Savoie New Year 2017

As the last few hours of 2016 roll away and we welcome in 2017 its time to wish all offpisteskiing blog readers a Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2017 is full of cold powder and perfect spring snow...

Further to the last post, I have just finished 3 days in the Haute Tarentaise & Haute Maurienne working alongside IFMGA Guide Andy Nelson and BASI Instructor Dave Meyer with the assembled Chapatte/Schneider clans. With the weather set firmly to 'blue sky' we were able to maximise the potential available with a bit of skinning from Le Fornet, finding some great areas of creamy snow right down to 2200m.

Plenty of snow out towards the Col des Fours:

It was Sam's 30th birthday so we sneaked a bottle of champagne into my rucksack for a surprise party/picnic at the Fond des Fours hut, here Sam is attempting to 'sabre' the champagne with an ice axe - a more traditional opening was eventually used...

A fox hole (or possibly a fox had dug out a shallow marmot hole?) - first time I have seen one of these out in the middle of nowhere:

Good snow in the Montet valley:

Taxi!

Bird's eye view of the Haute Tarentaise:

To sum up current conditions for the French Alps - head for the border ridge, one or two valleys further in and you will find much less snow! Fingers are crossed that 2017 will bring a change to the current weather patterns...

Off Piste Improvers - Val D'Anniviers

Last week I made my yearly pilgrimage to the Val D'Anniviers for the offpisteskiing.com Off Piste Improvers course. I have been coming to the Val D'Anniviers for around 15 years now and despite it regularly appearing in '10 best off-piste resorts you've never heard of' style articles for most of that time it is still very much an 'under-the-radar' sort of place. With very cold (-19C) temperatures on the first 2 days we spent alot of time skiing down low in the trees, and as the week wore on the temperatures rose, visibility improved, and we were able to make full use of the terrain. Despite the Chamois and 'middle' bowls being completely unskiable due to massive avalanches the week previous we were still skiing fresh tracks on the Friday! (Snow/conditions report follows the photos).

A big thank you to Chas, Kate, Peter F, Judy, Malcolm and Pete D for a great week - it was very rewarding to see the progress made by all throughout the week. Great to catch up with IFMGA guides Nick P, Nigel S and the legendary Serge Lambert through the week too!

Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday:

Friday:

Snow conditions:

Grimentz: All the 'close in' off piste is in good shape. Orzival was well-skied by most lines on Friday, but still with loads of space for fresh tracks. Good cover down to St Jean.

Zinal: The frontside off piste has great cover, a little patchier in the 'meadows' below the cable car station. Moiry dam run is OK once you navigate the very wind-stripped top 30m. A slab had gone in the first gully left of the normal route on Thursday, and reports were of a bigger slab which had released (or been triggered) in the next gully left by the time Nick went down on Friday!
Chamois and middle bowls are unskiable as the whole lot has released and is either back to a thin covering over rock, or avalanche debris lower down.

Winter 15/16 preview

Snow is starting to fall on the high peaks of the Vanoise, so after a very busy summer (hence the lack of bloggage) it feels like ski time is very close at hand again!
The summer has been incredibly busy, juggling rope access and rescue training, dusting off my UIMLA badge for some trek guiding in the Gran Paradiso (see the picture below), 2 very energetic offspring to deal with along with trying to organise the winter...

Tom enjoying a 'natural infinity pool' during our Gran Paradiso trek.

Winter 15/16 is shaping up to be a very busy one once again here at offpisteskiing HQ, with the diary almost full before June was through! Coming up this winter, the usual range of courses, from Off Piste Introduction through to the now-legendary Steep Vanoise weeks and (of course) a 4th spring in Lofoten, with 2 separate weeks on offer. Spaces are few and far between on these courses, but if you are interested take a look at the website and get in touch!

Thoughts are already turning to winter 16/17, with Japan, a return to Kyrgyzstan, a boat-assisted Lofoten trip and possibly Iceland all in the mix... let's see what comes to fruition!

Winter 14/15 slideshow

I have finally got round to putting together a slideshow of the best photos form last winter!

Going through all the photos reminded me of how many good days there were and how much great snow we skied, despite general perception of a 'poor' winter (and it certainly wasn't a vintage year by any means...). Just goes to show that if you stay flexible there is almost always good snow to be found somewhere...

Offpisteskiing.com Winter 1415 Slideshow from Simon Christy on Vimeo.