Maurienne Off Piste Improvers 2019

The first week of February saw this year's Off Piste Improvers course running in the Maurienne valley.

After a cloudy and snowy start hiding in the trees on day 1, day 2 gave us this:

Powder & sun? Why not...

The rest of the week continued in a very similar vein:

Many thanks to Peter & Kate, Malcolm & Judy, Ann and Sarah for a great week - see you next winter!

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.

Winter 17/18 slideshow

The first dusting of snow hit the summits here in the Vanoise earlier this week, which spurred me into action to put together a little slideshow form last winter (only about 4 months behind schedule !). Are you in there? (And if not why not! :-) ).

offpisteskiing.com Winter 1718 Slideshow from Simon Christy on Vimeo.

Mid-January round-up: snow, snow, snow...

It has been 3 weeks weeks since my last post and some planned posts have fallen by the wayside temporarily - work and family oblige...

As most people are probably aware we are experiencing a one-in-20 year at the moment snowfall-wise, with huge depths of snow up in the mountains - the Courchevel couloirs are more filled in and banked out than I have seen them in 19 winters working here, and more snow is falling today (though the rain/snow limit is quite high :-(

2018 kicked off in good style, with a couple of days coaching Mike and Sarah (back from a knee injury last winter!), then it was straight over to Chamonix for my regular week with Tim, John and Phil:

This week I have been back in Courchevel with one of my longest-standing groups of clients - the weather has been pretty wild but there are few better places to be when it is like this as there is lots of sheltered tree skiing and even some high quality 'bus runs' if the lifts aren't working...

A quick, high quality tree run on the way home:

More trees:

And powder:

More powder:

Ewan exploring the boundaries of balance:

The Magic Line

A quick blast down the 'Magic Line' yesterday.

I have been skiing this line for a good few years now and still have yet to see another set of tracks in here (that should jinx it now I've said that...) particularly since my ski buddy and esoterica-explorer-in-chief Will passed away a few years ago, although I have started taking the precaution of skinning 5 minutes to get in rather than taking the gravity-assisted route to avoid 'track-followers'!

Magic Line 28 12 2017 from Simon Christy on Vimeo.

This is a perfect line for bad weather days - trees all the way for visibility, far enough away from the main ridges to reduce worry of wind loading at the top, though still steep enough that care is needed - perfect spacing in the clearing as long as no more than 4 or 5 people are skiing it...

It is currently quite cold (-10/-15C) keeping the powder nice and fluffy, and with more snow on the way the next week or two should be great!

Early season turns

I should have been in the office this morning, but somehow got side-tracked...

Now its all systems go tying up some loose ends of admin and packing for a work trip back to the UK: Baffin Island slideshow tomorrow night (7pm at The Plough in Hathersage for anyone near the Peak District / Sheffield), then on to the Kendal Mountain Festival for my usual stint on the main presenting team. Looking forward to seeing Jeremie Heitz and lots of other exciting speakers and films!

The fun continues... off piste intro day 5

Day 5 of the Off Piste Introduction course today. Despite early flurries of snow the cloud gradually lifted through the day allowing us to put in a good run down to Le Raffort in slightly variable powder, followed by a good session in and around the Courchevel couloirs.

Rocher de L'Ombre:

Entry to Emile Allais a bit rocky at the moment but fine if you pick a cautious line in:

Rich giving it some:

Ben styling it up:

Today was my first full day on the Carbonlite Ranger skis kindly provided by Whitedot Skis this winter. I am suitably impressed - having had a few hours skiing soft powder a week or two ago - today was an interesting test as in the morning we were travelling a bit slower, and despite reports that the Ranger CLs needed to be driven hard I found them very easy to ski at slow speeds too (perhaps symptomatic of the general skiing public's inability to properly steer/smear a turn these days). A full report will follow shortly - I will be interested to compare to my old favourites the Volkl Gotamas tomorrow...

Merry Christmas!

Its been a busy start to the season here at Offpisteskiing - off piste coaching in Chamonix and Val D'Isere last week with some fantastic early season snow conditions, but also high avalanche risk needing careful and considered management - more on this later.

I am currently enjoying a few days downtime before work kicks off again after Christmas - though sadly rain to a high level put paid to a lot of powdery plans for today...

Here are a couple of videos from Bjarne Sahlen of Endlessflow featuring Andreas Fransson - I had the pleisure of introducing these guys along with Mike Douglas at the Kendal Mountain Festival Snowsports Session this November when they were presenting the film 'Tempting Fear'. These 2 videos are from Andreas and Bjarne's adventures this summer in Patagonia, and feature one of the most exposed steep lines I have ever seen - respect!

Reaching My Limit Episode 1 from Bjarne Salén on Vimeo.

Reaching My Limit Eisode 2 from Bjarne Salén on Vimeo.

But back to avalanches - there have been an awful lot of incidents this winter so far - despite the snowpack being quite clearly unstable on many aspects skiers have been venturing onto steep slopes regardless. It is always easy to look back with hindsight and say "Yes, of course you wouldn't have caught me going in there today" but it does seem like a lot of 'red flag' warning signs are being ignored. There has been a lot of research done on 'Heuristic Traps' - the social factors which can influence our decision making and make us ignore obvious warning signs - I am a firm believer that this plays a huge part in the creation of avalanche incidents and will try to summarise the main points in the next week or so... stay tuned.

Busy times!

Well, I have just landed in Zermatt for 6 days work running a BASI Mountain Safety course. Forecast is clear for tomorrow, then snow, snow, snow and more snow - looks like winter is well on the way.

November has been busy here at 'offpisteskiing towers' - early in the month I was in Zermatt for the BASI Trainers conference - 5 days of interesting workshops making sure our courses and standards are properly aligned for the coming winter, and a great talk from Sir Steve Redgrave - new BASI President, and no mean skier.

2 quick days at home, then a very useful Outdoor First Aid course with React First in Chamonix- highly recommended, lots of activity and good reinforcement of accident protocols. Early the next day i was airport bound for my annual stint as a main presenter at the Kendal Mountain Festival. - 4 days of films, speakers, socialising, and the odd pint of Mountain Rescue Team ale. Highlights for me this year included the film Light Line, Jim Blyths great 1 hour whirlwind tour of ski touring on 7 continents, 2 great short films - one about hound-trailing and the other about Rab Carringtons time in Argentina and the beginnings of his down business.



But of course the main highlight was the Snowsports Session which this year I was MCing - guest speakers Andreas Fransson, Bjarne Sahlen and Mike Douglas were on hand to present their film Tempting Fear, but the surprise crowd pleaser was Kenny Biggin and John Sutherlands Hidden Gully, with reality and a human touch far outweighing any lack of slick production - link to follow as soon as the full version is online.

Meanwhile, out in the Alps the steep season is underway, with an impressive ascent and descent of the Mallory on the Midi (sans cable car) from Luca Rolli & the Italian crew - 2700m of D+ !, and a day or two after, the first descent of the Migot Spur on the Chardonnet by Kilian Jornet and Vivian Bruchez - an impressive and serious descent...

68º North wins in Fort William!

News just in... 68º North, Ridestyle Productions film of first ski descents in Greenland, has just been announced as winner of the 'Best Scottish Film' award at the Fort William Mountain Film Festival. This yearly event boasts a great line-up of films and guest speakers, as well as daytime workshops and activities. Check out the FWMFF website for more details.

This is the first award for one of my films, and hopefully will provide a stepping stone to bigger and better projects...

A trailer for the film is online here.

More powder!

Despite dodgy forecasts the last 2 days have continued to provide awesome conditions with fresh snow overnight and clear skies by day. Here the British Spinal Study Group get some fresh tracks down towards St Martin:

Powder!

More powder again over the last 2 days...yesterday we put first tracks down the Canyon in Les Avals:



Perhaps this might restore some faith in European skiing (which the press did their best to destroy last year - despite the fact we were skiing powder this time last year too!)

Today we were putting in freshies in a secret spot in Val Thorens...super-deep, light, and noone else around...perfect!





Reports are excellent from across the French Alps, with contacts in Chamonix, Val D'Isere and the Southern Alps all reporting bumper conditions, with more snow forecast!

Great conditions across the Alps!

Great reports are coming in from all across the Alps, with most areas getting a good share of the early snowfalls. Here in the Savoie the sun is out and the slopes are still quiet. the last few days have been very cold which has kept the snow in perfect condition with nice 'squeaky' snow on piste and soft and fluffy powder off piste. Over in Chamonix conditions sound awesome, Jonny, Kenton and Guy all reporting great snow in the Marbrees couloir on the Italian side of the range.

In Courchevel all the Saulire couloirs have been skied despite the cable car being temporarily out of action, and the Suisses bowl is very well filled in for so early in the Season. Long may it continue...

Gigi takes to the air:




Al cruising some easy-angle powder:


Al warming up with a small drop off the edge of 'Big Bertha' in the Suisses area:


Gigi in the Rocher de L'Ombre bowl: