The skiing is a bit boney at the moment.. We desperately need more snow in the alps but that being said its always worth going out and enjoying the good weather! Thanks to Ross Hewitt, Johnny Collinson and Griffin Post for a sweet day.
Whet Your Arpettetite
Its been awesome to kick the winter off out here in the best way we can with what we have. Here’s some shots from our sweet little tour up the Arpette valley in Switzerland. Not loads of snow but super fun skiing none the less and a great little day tour. Well worth the slog up to ski the lines up there. Thanks Ross for another great day.
We could do with some more snow for sure but I’m hoping for more of this kind of stuff throughout this winter!
Pictures speak a 1000 words. Click one to see them in Chronological order in Gallery view.
Some Extra Info
We took the lift up Champex which cost us 14CHF each one way to the top.
Total Height gain for the day was about 1500m
Here’s a handy map I made for the area so you can get to grips with it.
[googlemaps https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=zErP5VMh2GsA.khWA6sv6zYaA&w=720&h=580]
Weekend Bliss And Suffering.
I’m really digging having an extra day off a week. This weekend was a good mix between sublime autumnal adventures and purgatory suffering, topped off with great weather and alright company. I guess.
Friday
Psyche was high and the weather was good. The plan was to meet up with fellow Salomon athlete (ahem) Philipp Brugger for some easy mixed cragging on the Triangle du Tacul. I haven’t swung tools in what feels like a year so I was glad for an easy re-introduction into mixed climbing. We climbed most of the German gully then finished up the Cosmiques Arete.
Conclusions: Mixed climbing is in fact like riding a bike. Even if you never do it, you still remember how its done. Got cold toes and fingers but I remembered how to suffer. Drank 6 pints to try and forget the pain.
Saturday
Woke up with inevitable hangover as Midnight Express was shut and we couldn’t buy cheep burgers to absorb the beer. Drove to Italy (where the weather is always nicer) with Ally, Ross and Tom (who seemed less hungover than me (perhaps not Tom)). Flailed about on some rock climbs that I shouldn’t have been flailing on. Enjoyed the sunshine and amazing scenery of the Valgrisenche. Ate pizza, drove home.
Conclusions: Beer is bad, especially for my guts. 6b+ is hard. Italy is beautiful.
Sunday
When the alarm went off at 6.45 I thought it was a bad joke. Driving to the Midi my psyche was low but the can of red bull helped a lot. The plan was to climb the Eugster Direct on the North Face, again with Phillip. Stumbled over the moraine to the bottom and got to the Bergshrund in good time. Spin-drift hell was pouring down the gully and we decided it wasn’t for us. We ummed and arrred about what to do and took a look at another entry to the face to the right (about 150m to the right). It went and we were soon (but not that soon) in the gully. The crux pitches looked kinda dry and we didn’t want to sleep in the toilets (we have jobs don’t you know) so we bailed up the Diagonal instead. I was feeling the burn in the top half but we made alright time. Cheese burgers at Macky D’s afterwards.. Cus we are true athletes.
Conclusions: 4h 30m on the stair-master-3842 is tiring. Weekends are great. Water is overrated.
When It Comes…
If your a fan of reading Chamonix based blogs it’s likely that you’ve not been reading mine very much recently! But why would you? I’ve not written anything for a while and there are surely some better options for you out there right now. First off I’d like to apologise to anyone who genuinely cares what I’ve been up to (Mum and Dad?!) and say that I’ll try harder to put some content up on here for you. What follows is a wingey paragraph of why I’ve not done much and why I haven’t blogged. Feel free to skip to the one after.
Its been a tough winter to get out skiing and climbing. The weather has been all over the place, the snow has been weird and I’ve dealt with some tough emotions due to the loss of friends and changing circumstances. After a reasonable successful period in January and February, March has been a slightly frustrating month. I’ve started a new job For EpicTv.com which despite being an awesome job (ski reviewing!) its taken a lot of energy out of me. When I have had days off it’s either been poor weather or I’ve been feeling clapped out! BLAH BLAH BLAH…What a winger, geez.
I started with epictv back in Feb and was originally taken on as there web master for climbing and skiing content. After a few weeks they asked me to do a screen test for being the ski reviewer for their online shop. Somehow I got it and a few days later I was out on the hill skiing, shooting and reviewing skis for them. This gig should last for at least a few more weeks and its been awesome to have the chance to test so many different pairs of skis and get paid to do it! Sometimes skiing chairlifts can get a bit dull (I cant really help the fact I’m used to more excitement than that) but on the whole its been great fun and certainly the best work I’ve ever had!
When the stars align and I get a day off with good weather, snow and energy I feel pretty lucky that I have some super stoked friends and one of the best ski lifts in the world to harness my lust for big mountain skiing. Sometimes I think I’ll never forget the feeling of blasting fall line on some big skis in steep powder but it felt like a almost new sensation yesterday. Grinning ear to ear as I pushed down on the tips of my skis with my toes to give myself another face-full of cold snow.
Nothing new went down and it was really just another Midi powder day but it felt so so good to be out skiing for myself and with a pesky layer of cloud sat around 3000m it felt pretty adventurous navigating 20 or so lost freeriders back to the mid station after the first lap ;-).
More of the same soon please!! 🙂
Italian Fun Times
Ones of those days of endless laps, good snow, and happy faces. Why don’t I spend my winters in Courmayeur? We headed through the tunnel this morning with low expectations and came back through feeling happy with what we had packed in. After a few quick tree runs we skied one lap of the Marbree Couloir from Hellbroner and finished off the day at Courmayeur launching pillows in the trees. The perfect ski day. I’d never been to the Marbree before and I can thoroughly recommend it. The light wasn’t perfect but it was still enough to see what you were doing an the snow was still light and fluffy in places even at midday.
Take Two….Gliere SE Couloir
Today we succeeded We succeeded in our goal of skiing this little known yet handsome SE Couloir of the Gliere. This, unlike most of the lines I have skied in the Aiguilles Rouges is actually reasonably involved with a few pitches of steep “no fall” skiing near the top. This was a great place to find my bindings weren’t properly set up and occasionally I would land a jump turn free-heel. Scary. We had been up to this couloir two days previously but found there was too much fresh snow and quickly realized we should be tree skiing. We turned back after three turns and ran back to the resort. Ross still got a few photo’s here….
Today was different. We had a clear view of where to go and how to get there (today I’m working so technically this was done on my lunch break!) and with the track already in from the top of the Cornu chair in Brevent we were up and starting to ski in no time. The snow was very firm at the top but got better the further down we got. Still it was an awesome line and well worth the effort. Here are some shots….
My Biggest Day this Winter.
Its been a slow few weeks mountains wise. Lots of snow has been falling and lots of leaving party’s to go to. Productivity has been low and therefor stuff to write about has been few and far between. Two days ago the clouds parted and the promise of good conditions saw me getting ready for a big day off the Midi. With my knee feeling good I was very psyched to get up and have a productive day. I meet my Friend Ross Hewitt and Si Christy. Continue reading
General Update
So what have I been up too over the last few weeks….. hmmmmm. This and that you know, rock climbing, working, etc. Me and ally walked up to the bottom of the Dru to get on the North Coulior only to find that the glacier to the base of the route wasn’t having any of it and had decided to put a large gnarly crevasse in our way. Still as always its a good place to bivy and we were treated to an amazing sunset but the access is a no go for this autumn. Apart from that I’ve been rock climbing with my mate’s Ross Hewitt, Sandy Simpson, and Ally. We enjoyed two days of granite sport climbing up at the Getroz and Bouchy…. heres some photo’s…..
Contrary to popular belief British climbers CAN Ski.
Here are some picy’s of me and a mate Ross Hewitt Skiing the north east face of the Aiguille Du L’Amone.
This was the best days skiing I have ever had. Fact. I’m not sure why its Fact but it was damn good.