Alpine Climbing & Skiing: Frost Guiding Blog

Fantastic 4 pitch route, 45 mins walk, bolted descent, no-one else around. Excellent day!

Back to cold weather this weekend. The warm spell stripped lots of the lower icefalls but conditions are excellent a bit higher up.

This is today, somewhere in Switzerland...

There's a lot of snow here but still some good ice climbing. There aren't many folk out climbing - in the last 4 days we've seen 2 other pairs of climbers. This means extra effort making tracks, but we've had routes to ourselves.

The snow and warm temperatures means plenty of running water, and with the return of cold weather tomorrow conditions should soon be excellent. 

A fantastic day at Arolla, with blue skies, boot deep powder and no-one else around. The lifts open here this weekend and the ski season is off to a great start with snow depth in the Swiss alps around double the average for this time of year - http://www.slf.ch/lawineninfo/schneeinfo/hsm/index_EN

Blue skies, knee deep and 4 other skiers - fantastic early season skiing in Evolene today. Still no lifts - they open here the weekend before Christmas - but the skiing is so good it's well worth the uphill. It's 1200m vertical drop from the top - powder all the way to the car.

First ice routes of the year today in Arolla. Very good conditions on L'Usine Électrique and Cascade de la Fenetre at Arolla. There were climbers at La Gouille too, and all the other routes are building up fast, so things look good for the climbing season and there's more cold - but not too cold - weather forecast!

Blue sky, powder and no-one in sight, a great morning at Evolene. No lifts yet, so it's a long tour up but worth it for the skiing. Lots of piste preparation and snow making going on up there, although the lifts here arent due to open for a month. There's more snow forecast for the weekend...

 The snow has been great - especially remembering it's still november. 

The Tseina Reifien north face was fantastic last week - boot deep powder! This is the face up and left when approaching the Pas de Chevre. You can skin up the lower thirds, but then it's skis off and booting up to reach the ridge - which took some time in deep snow. 

Today saw a return to blue skies after yesterday's storm - 24 hours of snow and wind. Touring above Arolla today there is a lot of new snow, but there's been a lot of wind too - lots of windslab, and some challenging skiing! Back in the trees near the village the snow's still good though.

Altogether a good start to the ski season - plenty of snow in late November, and more on the way tonight

Early season skiing - no lifts yet so plenty of uphill, but boot-deep powder, blue skies and no-one around. There is already quite good cover - skiable all the way from Col Collon to Arolla 2 days ago - and the main piste area at Arolla is great fun - skin for an hour and a half, then fresh tracks next to yesterday's track...

I've been telemarking for the first time in 8 years. Well, it's still harder work uphill compared to Alpine Dynafit touring. Kick turns are still harder too. Downhill is harder...technically and physically. But it's great! Perfect snow and tele turns feel good - I wanted to go straight back up, but legs had other ideas.

 A week of cold snowy weather and it's definitely winter now, with snow forecast down to 1200m next week. A good time for a look back at the guiding season, or the "Summery Summary"

-Mont Blanc: 5 attempts, 2 summits, 1 via Gouter, 1 via 3 Monts route. The failures all due to the awful june weather.

-Left Edge route on Tacul in great condition

-Traverse of Pointe Lachenal

-Cosmiques Arete, 3 times(?)

-Kufner (Frontier) Ridge. Great conditions to the summit

-Dent du Géant Normal route, mixed weather so only 2 teams on the mountain

-Grandes Jorasses Normal Route

-Gran Paradiso North Face, only team on route. Good ice conditions in summer!

-Mont Blanc de Cheilon normal route, 4 times!

-La Luette twice

-Pigne d'Arolla traverse twice from Dix, twice from Vignettes

-Dent Blanche South Ridge twice, once from the winter room, only team on the hill

-Pointe Marcel Kurz north face - a great little ice route from the Bouquetins bivvy

-Breithorn, Castor, Pollux and attempt Monta Rosa, a great few days in Zermatt.

-Weishorn Traverse

-Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route. Very mixed weather meant deserted hills.

So, a great season, plenty of good routes, no long periods of bad weather...and still some energy left for climbing "just for fun"

3 days of sunny rock climbing, 3 crags, 28 pitches. Toes just recovered from the Matterhorn are now thoroughly battered!

First  "Follomi" at Sanetsch, 8 pitches up to 6b+ on perfect limestone.

Then "l'Ecureil" at Evolene - the first 3 pitches have recently been rebolted, but the superb finish is still strangely on old bolts. Quality climbing on great rock, 30 seconds from the car.

We drove over to Grimsel in the evening and slept in a lay by. The next morning we found the Grimsel car park full of mattresses - the Hospice is closed for refurbishmnent and the beds are stored in the car park! The autumn is the ideal time to climb at El Dorado - in the sun the temperature is perfect. We did Metal Hurlant, 15 pitches and 15 holds! Sustained slab and corner climbing.

After a report of good conditions on the Schmidt route I headed over to Zermatt with Stu McAleese and Rich Cross. Time was a bit tight - Stu and Rich had flights to catch...The next morning with perfect weather and good nevé we made fast progress to the end of the ramp - then found several pitches of delicate mixed climbing which slowed things down a bit...this section can bank out, but in dry conditions there are several pitches of bold Scottish VI on typical Matterhorn rock.

Above this the climbing is easier but there is still a lot of it. We reached summit in time for a spectacular sunset, but hopes of catching flights were fading with the light. 

We had each done the Hornli ridge several times, but even knowing the way the descent by headtorch in snowy conditions took ages. We spent a chilly night in the Solvay hut, then headed down in the morning - a memorable way to spend my 38th birthday!

Thanks to Stu McAleese and Rich Cross - well worth missing your flights!

The South Ridge is a good choice in snowy conditions - it clears quickly, but parts of it are better with snow anyway. Walking up we met a couple who'd spent night at the hut - they said 5 Italians had set off that morning to climb, so we were sure to find a good track.

In the hut at 4.00pm, 5 sets of Italian kit, but no Italians. Finally at 10pm they returned, a bit tired! Apparently, battling deep snow and "winter" conditions had led to a 17 hour epic...

We left at 5.00am. The route starts right from the hut with good scrambling on dry rock,  a short glacier, then more scrambling leads to a fine snow ridge. This was very corniced, with an impressive Italian track very near the edge.

Above, the couloir was in good condition on firm snow, followed by excellent climbing on dry rock...another fantastic end of season day when we were - again - the only team on the mountain.

More perfect weather here so we went over to the Dix hut to climb Mont Blanc de Cheilon. There's still a lot of fresh snow around, but ridges and south faces are in good condition. Its been very cold, so north facing slope are still deep soft snow - about 40cm at 3600m. It was the last night of the season at the hut, with about 25 walkers but only 2 of us climbing - again, we were the only people on the mountain.

Compare this to the summit 3 weeks ago here

I've been helping with some research on the Haut Glacier d'Arolla, investigating melting rates. We drilled some holes 50cm into the ice and set up measuring poles, then marked the ice surface level. I then set off to walk the Haute Route.

Returning yesterday to collect the poles after a week of cold snowy weather I expected to see very little change, but....

The black line shows the surface level 10 days ago, with a change of 10cm. So 1cm/day in a period of cold snowy weather - there was 5 cm of fresh snow here the previous night.

Back from 7 days on the Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route - a bit of an adventure with very mixed weather and very few people in the mountains.

Day 1 up to the Albert Premier hut was wet at first, but ended in a beautiful inversion. There were only 8 people in the hut!

Day 2 was wild, with heavy snow and poor visibility. We made it across to the Orny hut with some careful navigation. and saw no-one, not even a track.

Day 3 we used http://www.taxi-des-combins.ch/ from Champex to Mauvoisin - a brilliant service, thanks Jean-Yves! The weather cleared as we walked to Chanrion, but it could easily have been summer in Scotland. There were just the 5 of us in the hut...

Day 4 started cold and windy with more snow, but soon cleared to give fantastic views. The "3 cols" to the Dix hut is an amazing route, more so for being deserted. Pam declared this her best day ever in the mountains!

Day 5 was a semi-rest, walking to Arolla and the excellent Hotel du Glacier. http://www.hotelduglacier.ch/

Day 6 uphill all day to the Bertol hut, where we were the only guests...

Day 7 up the Tete Blanche - stunning views and a great finale to the week, we were (again) the only people on the mountain, with not a track to be seen. The fresh snow was calf deep, and with no track and increasing cloud we decided to return to Arolla instead of descending the Stockji glacier.

So, a week spent on possibly the most famous long distance walk in the Alps where on 3 days we saw...no-one. In 3 huts we were the only visitors! The Alps in July and August can be over-crowded, but now in mid September they are empty...

The mountains are deserted now the holidays period is over. Tuesday/Wednesday over the Pas de Chevre to the Dix hut then up Mont Blanc de Cheilon when we saw no-one.

Recent fresh snow and strong winds have made thin bridges over the late season crevasses - the traverse of the Pigne yesterday was very different to Monday, with the descent to the Dix hut now a smooth white slope. More crevasse "action" then the rest of the summer...

Good scrambling at the Pas de Chevre yesterday. This route is a great thing to do on the way to the Dix hut.

Now we're into September the Alps are quiet, only 12 people in the hut last night! A spectacular thunderstorm cleared to leave a starry morning, but quickly clouded over and soon we could easily have been in the Cairngorms....

Luckily the cloud cleared and we got good views from the top...then more cloud.

a great day yesterday on the Kufner Route (Frontier Ridge) on Mont Maudit. We left the Torino hut at 2.30am and were first on the route in bright moonlight - no torch needed! The route is in very good condition with firm snow allowing fast progress. One of the best ridges in the Alps! More photos on aspirant guide Rob Jarvis' excellent blog

The weather has been a bit unsettled, cold with some more snow. A strange August, but it has created some great conditions on icy faces. In Arolla the North Face of Point Marcel Kurz on Mont Brulé is in good condition, a great short ice route at low altitude.

Next, we did the Left Edge route on the Tacul Triangle in perfect nevé.

After a rest, we headed off to the Gran Paradiso. Good conditions again on the north face, and we were the only team on the route. The face is mostly ice so hard on the calves!

2 contrasting days, starting with the SE flank route on the Grandes Jorasses. This is the normal route, but is a long complex AD climb. We had windy, cold cloudy conditions so no view but at least the snow stayed good for the descent.

Today, total contrast climbing Au Bord Du Vide at Sanetsch. Perfect rock, 6 pitches in a great setting.

Thursday's attempt on the Zinal Rothorn "Rotgrat" failed in bad weather - snow and ominous clouds, and very warm on the glacier approach. 

On Friday, with bad weather forecast for the afternoon, we drove up the track to Bréona and climbed the Couronne de Bréona. This would be a 3 1/2 hour walk-in from La Forclaz, but the track is driveable - just! - to within an hour of the route. Park carefully and ask the farmer. You could also approach from Moiry dam. The ridge is loose to start, but soon becomes solid, with great knife-edge ridge scrambling and fantastic views. 

A busy few days around Arolla, with ascents of the Mont Blanc de Cheilon, Pigne d'Arolla, Pointe de Mourti and Dent Blanche. The weather has been mainly good, but with afternoon storms adding a bit of snow and ice.

Another Mont Blanc success! Tuesday was cold and windy, but starting from the Tete Rousse hut at 1.30am we made the top at about 10 o'clock.  Good snow conditions meant a fast descent and we were back at the Gouter 2 hours later for lunch, 2 hours down to Tete Rousse, then down for the train and a slow tired drive back to a huge meal in Evolene.  

A good end to the week, great conditions on this fantastic traverse. Firm snow, dry rock, and not too cold!

3 great days out of Arolla. We spent a night at the newly refurbished Vignettes hut, then traversed the Pigne d'Arolla over both summits. The south top is on a fine snowy ridge, well worth the effort.

         After a night at the Dix hut we climbed Mont Blanc de Cheilon which must be one of the best PD routes around. A great mix of snow and rock with a knife edge ridge to finish.

The good weather continues!

This week started at the Torino hut with a traverse of the Aiguille d'Entreves.

A sleepless night thanks to some amazing Japanese snoring meant the next day was hard to start, but worth it to reach the Dent du Géant. Only 1 other pair on the route, and the clouds cleared as we summited.

A great week with - at last - settled weather. We started in Zermatt, staying at the excellent Alpenhof hotel http://www.alpenhofhotel.com/ , and climbed the Breithorn, Castor and Pollux.

Feeling fit and acclimatised, we moved over to Chamonix and climbed the Cosmiques route on Mont Blanc - a great end to the week. Conditions are good now on Mont Blanc, with the recent snow consolidated into good firm surface.

There is still a huge amount of snow above 3000m. Pics here of the Grandes Jorasses and Tacul from the Aiguille du Midi.

While this means the high mountains are in poor condition, we found great conditions on Pointe Lachenal,

We then went over to the Cosmiques Arete, and arrived just as the Spanish Army took over!

This is the first abseil. After the second, there are plenty over options for overtaking. Here's British guide Jonny Baird following us up the chimney left of the normal aid pitch.

Just back from a Mont Blanc week with very snowy conditions. Only five teams left the hut, and we were trail breaking through fresh snow right from the door. A couple of teams reached the top earlier this week, but we turned back at the Vallot hut in deep snow and cold winds - still a great day out, with so few people on the mountain.

In snowy conditions the ridge below the Cosmiques hut is a good climb, finishing on the hut terrace. Worth doing as a start to the Cosmiques arete.

The unsettled spell continues with strong winds and more snow above 3000m. The Foehn wind is carrying Saharan sand, so there's a strange layer of brown snow, and sandy rime on the Cosmique Arete yesterday.

This is climbable in most conditions, but felt more Aviemore than Alpine yesterday - rime, thick clouds and 80km/hour gusts - but no-one else on the route!

A good overnight trip to the Aiguille Rouge hut. There's no guardian at the moment, but the winter room is really good. The hills are deserted, snow above 2800m, and fantastic views of the higher mountains. The recent unsettled weather has left of fresh snow above 3200m, so still good ski-touring conditions.

Just back from a week in Chamonix, where end of season conditions were great. There's good snow cover so the skiing is good, but it's warm enough to climb rock in the sun. 

We traversed the Aiguille d'Entreves, which is a quality rocky PD ridge. Approaching on skis from the Aiguille du Midi, we skied out down the Vallée Blanche

Another day climbing perfect rock on the Midi south face. Ideal climbing temperature, and we had the crag to ourselves for the Rébuffat route, about British HVS. This route is easily approached in 5 mins on foot from the lift, and finshes with a short abseil back in to the lift station. Bolt belays, but you need a small rack too.

A week of mixed weather - some great skiing with some anxious times in thick cloud! The last day was spent in cloud as far as the Col de Valpeline, where we emerged to blue skies, views of the Matterhorn and powder fresh tracks to Zermatt. A great end to the trip.

Well it started badly with awful weather - the Oberland Traverse was abandoned in zero vis, high wind and 50cm of fresh snow. We moved across the valley to Chandolin and stayed in the Illhorn hut, and were rewarded with blue skies, perfect snow and deserted hills! This was the last weekend of the season in Val d'Anniviers - a shame to see the lifts closing with such good conditions.

Then off to the Moiry hut  from the Grimentz lifts - and the whole valley to ourselves. The next day over the Col de Bréona to Evolene, then 2 days skiing powder around Arolla - endless untracked snow - the only other skiers around at the moment  are lycra clad teams training for next weeks Patrouille des Glaciers. The Col des Ignes was untracked powder from 3200m to the road at Satarma, 1800m.

With the recent big snowfalls the end of season sliing is in great condition. Skiing and touring around Chamonix, St Bernard and the Aiguille du Midi has been fantastic this week. More snow forecast for today...

Off to do the Traverse of the West Oberland tomorrow.

Just back from a fantastic week touring and off piste skiing in Grimentz. The best snow of the winter, fresh tracks all week. The lift area has great off piste, and with a little touring the area is huge.

With 40cm of fresh snow on friday the end of season is looking very good.

It's been a week of wild weather with lots of snow, cloud and wind. Some great skiing too, making the most of the sunny spells. Arolla has been deserted, so fresh powder tracks every day of the week. Last run on Wednesday was untracked from la Forcla to Arolla. The picture is yesterday below the col des Ignes, blue skies at last!

A short tour today to the excitingly named Pt 2959. This is a short ski and a 20 minute climb from the top cafe of Arolla lift system, and gives 1100m vertical descent on north facing slopes to la Gouille. Still good powder today, although the last 5 minutes to the road had been in the sun and was deep slush!

Ski tour up to the Col des Vignettes today. The work at the hut is still going on, with the opening date rapidly approaching...

Great snow on the descent, even a few powder turns. The rest has turned into perfect firm piste snow.

Just back from a week in Cogne - perfect weather and good ice climbing conditions.

A change of scene today on the via ferrata at Nax. This was warm and sunny, and a welcome rest for tired frontpointing calves!

The fantastic weather continues, stable high pressure for the next week...

Climbing this week at la Gouille, Arolla (Usine Électrique) and the Tunnel routes. La Gouille left hand is thin now, but the others are all good.

Great conditions today on Cascade des Ignes. This is ice climbing in a brilliant mountain setting, and no-one else in sight - well worth the approach walk. Noticeably more ice than last time, but it was hard work on the calves. Snow shoes or skis help for the approach.

The hot sunny weather continues! Today, a trip up the Mont Rouges above Arolla ski area. This is a great intro day tour, and also gives access to some steep skiing in couloirs on the NE face - the stuff you look at from the ski area café.

Warm and sunny touring today, on Pic d'Artsinol above the Evolene ski area. This is a great intro to touring, using the lifts then skinning for 1.5 hours to a great summit with superb views - Mont Blanc to the Matterhorn. The ski down back in to the Evolene area is 1600m vertical drop!

Beautiful weather, snowfall all day yesterday, perfect ski conditions today! The view from the front door this morning, north face of the Pigne D'Arolla...

Although, by mid afternoon there was a southerly gale blowing, 100mph gusts at 3000m, and the Pigne disappeared in a cloud of spindrift..

At last, cold and a little fresh snow. With more forecast for the next few days, maybe it's the end of the amazingly warm weather. Hopefully the warm spell actually did some good, settling the unstable windblown snowpack from the early winter.

Great tracks appearing all over the place today at Arolla. Here's Janine's "first powder turns" smile

Well, the Giette pillar collapsed today. Sorry, no "action" shots!

Great conditions yesterday on the Cascade de Veisivi - This gets no sun at all, and is getting fatter by the day. Scottish ex-pat Graeme Ettle here on pitch 2

In Kandersteg today there was good, wet ice with teams on several classic routes. It's warm though - Holes are appearing, and colder weather would be nice! 

Warm weather and lots of snow melt have had a dramatic effect on the Giette freestanding pitch!

Compare this to this, only a week ago.

Still, ice is still good higher in the valley and lots of new snow high up is great news for the ski season. Conditions have been good the last few days at Arolla, Evolene, Thyons and Super St Bernard.

A trip round to Zinal today. Loads of snow there too,so skis or snowshoes are useful. Good ice on le Livre, 3/4,  Pistes de Fond area.  2 pitches to a bolt belay below the final short pitch. This is steep and harder than the rest of the route, so maybe best to abseil from the belay (There is a tree up  and left of the finish if you do this last pitch)

Great piste snow at Evolene yesterday, but strong winds overnight moved loads of snow - drifting over the road to Arolla. Lots of new windslab, so pick routes carefully!

Still, good ice again today at the Cascade de l'Usine Électrique, Arolla. The first pitch is getting shorter each time as more snow drifts in!

Cascade des Glacons de la Giette was hard work today with a covering of fresh snow. Still good ice though, and only a short walk from the road - you can see it when driving past la Tour to les Hauderes. 2 pitches, WI4 then 5. 50m ropes reach the ground in 1 abseil from the trees.

Blue skies and 50-60cm of fresh snow today at Arolla - great skiing! Better still, skiing at Arolla is half price till the end of Jan, a bargain at 16.50CHF per day.

Great ice conditions today on the Cascade de Veisivi, les Hauderes. Fantasic steep climbing in a great situation. Three   long pitches, WI 3, 5+, 5. The approach from les Hauderes is easy at the moment with quite hard snow, but the climb funnels huge avalanches from the Dents de Veisivi, so not a place to be after a big snowfall!

cold, sunny day. The ice has survived the last 2 days of warm weather. Good climbing on a quick visit to La Gouille.

woken this morning by the sound of rain on the roof...

Still plenty of ice around at the moment. The Evolene "Coop" icefall was good yesterday, but the forecast is warm wet and windy all week, oh dear.

A lot of areas have been a bit too dry for ice formation, so hopefully a wet week followed by a freeze will sort things out

Good conditions on la cascade des glacons de la Giette. This is visible from the road, opposite la Tour. Walk from here or from les Hauderes. 2 pitches, first a "cauliflower" grade 4, then a steep free standing 5. Walk left then abseil from a tree.

Great ice this morning on the Cascade d'Evolene. This is the icefall you can see from the road, directly above the Coop!

2 pitches of WI4, with a short free standing pillar on pitch 1. You can avoid this by going left, which makes the route a bit easier. Abseil off from old bolts(!) or trees, or walk but this is much longer.