Mountain Skiing Blog

It’s early in coming, but a welcome relief after the deep freeze earlier this month.

This weekend brought the mid-term holiday crowds back out to Chamonix and they’ve not been disappointed.  Afternoon snow Sunday coated the valley floor. And today, blue skies and a dusting of that light, gentle snow on top of our February crust meant spring-like conditions not even a week past our -25 deep freeze.

Soft turns, sun tans, and with binoculars out at our sandwich stop today, we watched a steady line of tourers snake their way up the Col des Crochues above the Flegere range. Even with some wind up high, without doubt one of the finest days for touring we’ve had all season here in Chamonix.

Our ski mountaineering and off-piste courses here next week should be prepared for some stunning conditions.

Here’s the start of the weekend for the Off Piste Improvers with Simon Christy:

600 meters of sunny couloir skiing.

And then some creamy powder practice.

Espace Killy. Photos by Simon Christy.

Its a bit of a mission tracking Andy Owen down most days. Somewhat the international man of mystery, he’s typically off radar sans phone, gps, even carrier pidgeon contact until the moment he rocks up in town with a bag of oranges and raisin pastry as if he’d only just darted out for a grocery run.

So earlier this season when the lifts shut down in the Alps due to storm #251, in walked Andy with stories to tell. Then, stories swapped, just as quickly he was out like a flash. Bouldering gym open once more.

Autumn Update: Andy Owen gets competitive

Yosemite, USA. Sunshine, palm trees.

So Andy, wanna tell us where you’ve been?

A: Let’s see. Not much to report. Ah well, I did win a bouldering competition!

At?

A: Kendall. The home front.

Any young kids there giving you a challenge?

A: Okay fine. Won the veterans as well as the overall.

Old man strength. Was it a fierce fight?

A: The people who were truly strong didn’t show. Or am I supposted to say that fierce competition inspires me enormously? Ha!

And how did you train for the big event?

A: I didn’t. I was still tired from coming back from Yosemite. Well that and the constant bouldering of the past year. I don’t think there was any point in 2011 where I had a break of more than three days. Oh, apart from the Haute Route on skis. Thanks ladies!

And what’s up next after  the early winter Cogne ice?

A: Ah, I’m excited about the Queyras (maps and guide books now take over the kitchen table)

Tell us more.

A: Where is it? In the high Alps just south of Briancon on the border with Italy. Its something of a circle in my ski mountaineering because its very close to where I first ever put ski touring skis on. Worked as a night club barman for a season in Mont Genevre.

Back 24th March. Not long now…..

Queyras uphill. Image: Jim Blyth

With Cupids arrows launching through the skies this week, the Piolets d’Or committee celebrated with the announcement of their short list of the greatest Alpine climbs of 2011. Something akin to the Oscars of the climbing world, here are the lines and the climbers on the sharpest of sharp ends the last 12 months:

http://www.climbmagazine.com/news/2012/02/piolets-dor-2012

Off piste safety training

Finished off yesterday with avalanche transceiver training. A relief to each that everyone else found their targets. There is an avalanche training park in Tignes le Lac, which sets each search against the clock. It is also possible to practise the recovery of single or multiple victims of an avalanche.

Worthwhile training even for those who only occasionally nip off piste, as a large porportion of avalanche casualties & fatalities occur within 100 m of the pistes! The proximity of the pistes might give a sense of safety but a transceiver, shovel, probe & good training in their use, will be the only things that make a difference!

All in preparation for more excellent conditions today

A very short warm up on piste, then zoom off to the pow. About 10 cm on old firm snow, giving consistent conditions to deal with on any one aspect; just leaving us to work consistent turns.

The traverses were silky-smooth and ran silent under our skis, till we pumped our legs to break for our first turns to head down the slopes.

Some early light photos thanks to Phil.

And then post-lunch. Chris about to head off Tour du Charvet:

Latest lunch report:

It’s snowing over here in Tignes. Started yesterday afternoon and continued this morning. Vis was bad first thing, so skiing blind down the first run needed balance – all things we rely on when off piste. So excellent training. Made better with some precision training exercises to get us turning regularly: constant rhythm constant pace as the master would say. Does say, even now we are focusing on steering skis between trees as we do our best to avoid their trunks!

Lunch finished, everyone is suiting and booting ready for the off – must go, my master calls!

First day out in the three valleys, as reported in from Simon:

Fantastic! A few runs down the reds into Val Claret, to check everything working, then off we went. With several inches of fresh snow overlying a firmer base, the skiing was glorious.

After an initial check run off piste, we broke away from the red runs progressively higher and traversed out ever further to find fresher, steeper lines. Not easy skiing by any means but with the odd fall from each of us, everyone was coping – the skiing and the team gelling well.

Then just before the final ascent for the last off piste run of the day, I made a mistake on a blue run and thumped my head into it’s hard-pact surface. As I couldn’t remember who I was skiing with or how I had arrived in Tignes, I surrendered myself to spend the late afternoon in the med centre rather than do the run. My great thanks therefore to the piste patrol, the ambulance team, and the med centre staff for their superb care and for the all-clear.  Apologies to the team, on the other hand, for blowing them out of a final off piste run. Thanks to Simon Christy too for sorting me out and the others for helping me get up.

Special thanks to Paul who laboured overnight to put my lenses back into my goggles. But, I have to come clean; they’d been busted for weeks and, try as I might, I couldn’t get the lenses all the way back in. Like me, they’re now as good as new. And that’s now quite a few rounds of drinks I owe!

We have had 4 days of blue skies and super cold slopes. Great snow overall, with soft snow off piste, but well tracked in general.

Today has been cloudy, and we expect snow overnight and perhaps stretching into next week.There was some light snow falling this morning, which added to the fun to be had off piste. Because of poor visibility up high, we skied from the lifts in the Courchevel area, but taking in lots of off piste lines down gullies where the fresh snow added a layer of interest to the older soft snow underneath. Whilst things remained “interesting” and occasionally “challenging”, everyone had a great time with legs pumping hard to make turns down the tight corridors.The great thing about using the lifts is that you can have a great off piste workout, doing laps up and down in quick succession, taking in lots of descents with minimal time in between. What’s needed after all that is a long, slow beer!

All work and no play.

Our only message in from Simon, playing hookie from the office this week:

Any leads on floaty skis for sale? Minimum 90 mm underfoot.

(c) Brides les Bains Tourism Office

Welcome to powder world, Captain Lowe.

“Yet another awesome day here, climbed Patri left and right, perfect featured ice on the harder right branch, beautiful climbing up sculpted ice, even an ice chimney/tube, a joy to climb”.

Crisp clear days and, from the sounds of things, beer filled recovery nights. We’ll try for a catch up before Mario starts serving the pints this evening at the Chaumiere.