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...

2015 course dates

So finally, after much child- and work-induced delay, the 2015 off piste coaching calendar is finally coming online.

We have the usual range of course available, from Off Piste Introduction courses through to Freeride weeks and (of course) a return to the magical Lofoten Islands in Arctic Norway.

Check out the course calendar and don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like more details or to request private bookings.

See you in the snow soon!

Summer break

OK, it's been radio silence here for some time due to a variety of reasons - work (& lots of it), moving house, preparing for the imminent arrival of Offpisteskiing Jr, lots of family visits and 3 weeks without internet in the new house...
Sadly with all this going on there has been little time to get out in the mountains, particularly frustrating as there was a good window last week, with a few folks sneaking in a descent of the NW face of the Bionassay.

Preparations are well under way for 2012 - check out our course schedule here and don't hesitate to get in touch if you don't see the dates you want or would like to discuss some private guiding.

Kyrgistan 2012: The big project for February 2012 is a week of ski mountaineering based in a yurt in the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgistan - there are still a couple of spaces left on this exciting trip for strong ski mountaineers with a sense of adventure!

For those of you in the UK a date for your diary is the weekend of the 10/11 December - the 4th British Ski Mountaineering Symposium is happening based at Plas y Brenin in N Wales, and I will be giving a presentation and also delivering practical sessions as part of this. There is a great line-up of speakers for this weekend so put the dates in your diary now!!

And finally... Sweetgrass Productions have just released the trailer for their latest film: Solitaire - looks great, and if their previous offering 'Signatures' was anything to go by, it will be well worth seeking this out at a Film Festival near you this autumn (more of that later...).

SOLITAIRE: A Backcountry Skiing, Snowboarding, and Telemark Film from Sweetgrass Productions on Vimeo.