~ Friday 20th April 2012
The Imperial Haute Route is the classic Val d'Anniviers tour. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side. Day 1, after a long wait for the lifts in St luc to open, saw us battling poor visibility and delicate avalanche conditions to reach the Turtmann hut. Day 2 was worse, and we spent the day snowed at in the hut. Rewarded by clear skies on day 3 we set off for Tracuit, a perfect day with stunning views at last.
The descent from Tacuit was a clear winner in the worst snow of the winter competition - 1300 vertical metres of breaking crust in poor visibility. Hmmm. Abandoning plans to head up to Grand Mountet we were happy to find great skiing yesterday in the Zinal and Grimentz areas, a nice end to the week.
