Alpine Climbing & Skiing: Frost Guiding Blog

Last week was the annual Winter Room Haute Route week. The idea of the trip is to complete the classic Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route before the busy season, making the whole thing more challenging and a lot wilder. With a poor forecast and me floored at the last minute by a nasty flu bug, British Guide Ben Bradford stepped in to save the day. Not much Haute Route was possible thanks to weather and conditions, but there was still some great skiing and a true "winter room" adventure! (thanks to Ben Bradford for the photos).

This trip will run again next year - one day, we will succeed!

4 days around Arolla and Evolene over the weekend, with good skiers, better-than-forecast weather, good snow and very few people. It's supposed to be peak holiday week, but the pistes were quiet and the off piste deserted. Superb.

With the Euro in crisis it's perhaps not surprising if Eurozone tourists avoid Switzerland, but after the initial shock at the end of CHF-Euro pegging British Sterling has recovered fast and the exchange rate is now back to last summer's level (in Feb 2014 1£=1.48CHF. It's now 1£=1.46CHF) Switzerland still isn't cheap, but when the skiing is this good it's worth it!

A late blog catch-up for our ice climbing trip to Cogne last week. We stayed at the excellent Ondezana hotel in Lillaz, which is perfectly placed for the walk-in to Valeille and the Lillaz ice climbs. Arriving in Cogne to find lots of fresh snow meant options were limited to start, but a day on the Lillaz Cascade, with a slog up to Loie in the afternoon, made a great warm-up.

Day 2 and another link-up. First, Ibex Gully, a short route with a big approach and a meaty finish in dry conditions! It's just left of the classic Lillaz gully, so we "finished" up that, making a "full" day.

Having walking past it twice, Lau Bij was tempting for day 3. Steep on pitch 1, and "funky" on pitch 2! An Italian couple followed us, giving us a good colloquial Italian lesson on the steep bit!

Yet another link-up on Day 4, tired arms just managing Coyote in the morning sun, before someone suggested doing Tutto Relativo in the afternoon shade...

Cold and snowy in Arolla today but there's plenty of ice. First stop was the reliable classic the Usine Électrique, which is good but seems a bit steeper than last year.

After a well-earned coffee and warm-up at the Hotel de la Tsa we finished the day doing some increasingly steep and technical top-roping on the excellent ice boulder.

For more information on our ice climbing courses see here.