A Little Off Piste

Fairly recently, someone who used to be in my circle of friends made a comment to me about my skiing (or lack of it in their opinion) that has prompted me into a bit of a retrospective Blog entry. So, I've looked back over my photos over 5 winters and pulled out the best off piste skiing photos of me. Just two of them definitely do not have me in them, as I was taking the photo, you get the idea!

Anniviers Season Finale

I arrived in Grimentz on the 31st March to be met by Ian, and David (from the Facebook group Anniviers Ski), who had a coffee in our apt but they curiously declined my irresistable offer of helping me unload the car. Ho hum.

April Fools Day was glorious sunshine topped up with a little fresh snow. Great conditions both on and off piste. Called round to say hi to near neighbours Brian and Linda, who were skiing until the weekend.

The next day saw some more fresh snow. Met up with Ian and skied the day on and off piste around the Lona slopes. Visibility was a bit variable, but Ian made the best of the conditions playing in the shrubbery. When the sun finally came out conditions were wonderful. This was the 1st day out with Fritschi Freeride bindings on my Stockli Stormrider AT's. To me they don't feel really any different than regular alpine bindings, and there is certainly no issues for me around the binding feeling sloppy, and needing to raise the DIN setting.

On the Thursday I skied around Bendolla in the morning and missed meeting up with Ian and David for lunch. In the afternoon, the visibility was not too great, so I fitted my skins and got some practice skinning up the side of the piste. My rate of ascent is still um.....slow. More practice needed.

Friday came around and more fresh snow. Took the lift up with Linda who had left Brian in the apt to look after the children. We had a great time skiing the Lona black in amazing bluebird powder conditions.

Of course, Brian was rather keen to get some pow for himself, so Linda returned to their apt and I took a couple of runs with Brian. The powder off piste was quite deep, but very dry, and really good fun. Andy was arriving at lunchtime, so back to our apt for a quick lunch and we ski the afternoon together in lovely conditions.

The weekend arrives and the resort is not too busy thankfully. The sunshine has made the off piste a bit crusty so we stick largely to the marked slopes.

It's the last opening day of the season, and this is the view that greets us.....

Fresh powder, and a big local crowd in the Bendolla restaurant with a band playing. Are all Swiss tone deaf?

The slopes were made more interesting by the pisteurs taking out the marker poles starting in the morning, with low visibility making life interesting. I got the feeling that the lifts closed early, clearly I needed more ski time.

I had planned to do some skinning as I need the practice, but the commune had ploughed a summer road across the piste, so the few skiers that managed to get up the hill somehow, had a hard time crossing this...

Though I would have loved to do some more skiing, in reality I was generally quite busy spending money on the apartment, arranging alterations and catching another Swiss cold!

Dam Crusty

This is the Moiry Dam. It's possible to ski off piste from Corne de Sorebois in Zinal at the top of the ridge, down to Grimentz, by walking across the dam. I took the opportunity to ski this route whilst staying in Grimentz, joining up with JT and his friends. They are all very experienced skiers, and described the snow as quite difficult! I second that.

Though the scenery made up for any problems I was having with the snow conditions!

After a hike across the dam, a quick break, and then the path to Grimentz.

At the time I did'nt realise that I was starting "The Cold", which was to blight my 2nd week in the Anniviers. I had naturally assumed that all of my falling down and tiredness, was lack of fitness and poor skills!

Still, it was breakable crust, and I spent longer in that sort of snow on that day, as there was no other snow to ski on, than at any other time on skis.

I survived :)...still have the cold though......

Chamonix Valley

A quick late season trip to Chamonix, and hopefully to ski the Vallee Blanche, before heading into Switzerland. We started our stay with a warm up day in Vallorcine/Le Tour. Lovely conditions, weather warm and sunny. Skied down to Le Tour village and enjoyed lunch off-piste. The car park at Vallorcine was able to cope with the volume of customers, though the lift queue at Le Tour was quite awful.










4/4. We were booked to ski the Vallee Blanche today, the guide phoned at 8am and said it was not possible due to the weather, so we spent the day in Les Houches.
We had fresh snow to play in, though the visibility was a little poor. The top section of the Kandahar piste was most enjoyable, with uncut snow down to mid station. The evening saw us revisiting the Guides Office AIGMB, to be told that we would not be doing the Vallee Blanche the next day either. Apparently we don't have enough off-piste powder experience.















4/4 Argentiere. The sun was out and so were the crowds. Good snow up high on the Chamois piste and underneath the Herse chair and GM cable car. Pistes had been refreshed with a little fresh snow, but underneath is rock hard. Skied down to Argentiere, which was rather like water skiing. Walk out through the mud to a very large Orangina.









Vallee Blanche...or not.. A couple of weeks before heading out to Chamonix, I booked a private guide for Wednesday 4th April. On the morning the guide phoned and said no go, bad weather. We were told to call at the Bureau that same evening, where we were told that we could not ski well enough in powder and we should go back the next day. We went back yet again, to be told..."conditions are great and we have no guide available for you" So we asked for a refund. To be honest, the prospect of undertaking the run by now was much less appealing on a public holiday. Think of any Theme Park in any country on a Bank Holiday! The bureau kept talking about us doing the Classic Run as well, something which we had specifically advised them that we did not wish to do. I'm not sure I would go back to Chamonix to do the Vallee Blanche. This was to be an early Birthday present, so I'm either €260 better off, or I've missed out on the trip of a lifetime.

A very sunny Good Friday, takes us back to Vallorcine and Le Tour again to try to avoid the crowds.
It was quieter than earlier in the week, and as the sun was very hot, the off-piste had softened up nicely. We spent around 50% of our time away from the pistes, on some very pleasant slopes. Just in case you are wondering, yes, I did jump off the edge, and land it Our next destination is Seez near Bourg St Maurice.