Slightly Steeper Week
The "Slightly Steeper" Ski Tours week provided some excellent skiing and some challenging moments as usual - this is a week that does exactly what it says on the tin! With no recent fresh snow, Arolla still had plenty of untracked slopes, and day one started with 600m of fresh tracks off the Mont Rouge.
.jpg "Fresh tracks on Mont Rouge")
Day 2 saw us climbing to the Vignettes hut, and rattling down some surprisingly windblown snow through the spectacular scenery of the Vuibé glacier. Challenging skiing, but a great descent.
.jpg "Great snow in the Vuibé entry")
.jpg "Spectacular scenery lower down the Vuibé, but \"character-building\" snow!")
On day 3 we made the long climb to the Pallanche de la Cretta. The West face is rarely skied, but looked perfect...and it was!
.jpg "West face of the Pallanche, with Pointe de Vouasson behind")
Tired legs and cloudy weather sent us to Nax, where the lift system can take the strain. The shady side of Mont Noble was so good we did 4 laps, each time with a quick 250m skin back into the lift area.
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.jpg "Negotiating rocks on the 4th lap")
.jpg "Fine open slopes, and untracked!")
Good weather again on Thursday so we went to Mont de l'Étoile. The south face had excellent spring snow and had escaped the Foehn-blasting which seemed to have wrecked the higher North faces.
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.jpg "Camera never lies...but it does make things look less steep.")
We finished the week in Evolene with a slightly disappointing ski on Pic d'Artsinol, and a very fine descent of Rionde de Vendes! A fine end to a great week.
.jpg "Evolene, and fresh tracks down the Rionde de Vendes.")
Eagle Ski Club Grimentz Week
This Eagle Ski Club week proved so popular in the past that we decided to run 2 courses a year and it still books up fast. Grimentz and Zinal - the Val d'Anniviers - is increasingly well-known in the ski world yet still manages to provide a unique mix of great lift access with great off-piste and day touring whilst not being too busy. The queues in the Coop are bigger than any you'll find on the mountain, and as usual last week surpassed all expectations!
.jpg "Day 1, run 1...can it get any better? Former Eagle president Pete Lancaster in Orxival")
.jpg "Yes! This is straight off a lift on a Sunday morning!")
.jpg "I like Mondays...Col de Louché")
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.jpg "Our tracks in La Fache, Vallon de Réchy")
On Wednesday we had to deliver a pot of paint to Vercorin...via Rechy and Mont Noble. It's a long story!
.jpg "Back in Réchy, on the way to Mont Noble.")
.jpg "Looking back up the first few turns on Mont Noble")
.jpg "About as good as skiing gets! Mont Noble")
.jpg "Above Moiry dam, on the descent from Basset de Lona")
.jpg "Friday. It hasn't snowed for 6 days yet still no tracks below the Sassenaire")
Val d'Hérens Day Tours
Last weeks Val d'Hérens Ski Tours saw challenging weather at times (although nice by Norwegian standards apparently!) but that meant we had great snow and miles of great ski touring. Not just untracked snow - whole, untracked mountains! We skied at Nax, Arolla, Col des Ignes, Pallanche de la Cretta, Evolene - Pic d'Artsinol, and Col de Bréona, and some days saw more Chamois than skiers...
.jpg "On the way into the Vallon des Ignes")
.jpg "The Ignes gullies")
.jpg "Trail-breaking on the way to the Col des Ignes")
.jpg "Blue-sky powder! Col des Ignes.")
.jpg "Powder in the trees at Évolene")
.jpg "More trees, more powder. Évolene")
.jpg "Looking towards Arolla and the Pallanche de la Cretta from above the Forcla lift")
.jpg "Dent Blanche on the way to the Col de Bréona")
.jpg "Below the Couronne de Bréona")
.jpg "Miles of fresh tracks in Nax")
