Valley De La Manche 2012
Not an epic day out in terms of loads of hiking or insanely steep or difficult terrain but still one of the most special routes in the whole of the Portes du Soleil as far as I’m concerned.
People out for a weeks holiday are often hesitant about off piste for a variety of reasons, they don’t want to ‘waste’ a day hiking, the cost of a guide and avalanche equipment, or they mistakenly think they aren’t good enough. I would definitely recommend anyone who has a chance to get a guide and give this route a go, it’s a 20min traverse round from a lift so no height to gain and as long as you’ve played around on the side of the piste a bit before you’ll be fine putting your turns in.
Col Du Grand St Bernard 2012
At the end of the season in 2010 we headed up to the monastery in the col between Italy and Switzerland. We had such a fantastic time we vowed to return but with the snow not being so good last season the conditions were never quite right to head up.
The Col is one of, if not the oldest route through the Western Alps with evidence of use as far back as the Bronze ages. The pass is appears in history around 390BC and is well documented by the time of Julius Ceaser around 60BC. Napolean also famously crossed the pass in May 1800 with 6000 men and there’s a staue at the top to commemorate the feat.
This season a rare gap at the end of January allowed us to take our 4 staff, Danny, Carla, Liv and Chris all over to Switzerland and trek up to stay the night.
The guys at All Mountain Rental very kindly lent me an Atomic Poacher split board to test out which also meant I could take Kates board as she was 3 months pregnant!
I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, if you ever get the chance to visit the refuge, even if it’s just in the summer when you can drive up it’s well worth the detour.
Atomic Poacher Split Board
Weather conditions settled down and we had brilliant blue skies the whole way up. First time hiking for Liv and Chris and the first ever time off piste for Danny and Carla!
Pack Horse and Kate!
General Faffing and Taking Photos
Glorious Randonee Weather
The Crew at The Top
Danny Man of The Mountain!
Backyard snowboarding
Firstly Happy Christmas to all of our friends and guests past and present, it’s been a great start to the season and the snow has been epic.
With snow right down to village level and to Mountain Spaces HQ we decided it was time to make the most of what’s on out doorstep, quite literally. With a deep enough base down over the hills in the village we made our way to the top on snow shoes checking out the snow depth and some lines on the way.
Just outside our front door, snow-shoed up and ready to roll
Not quite a husky but he still follows us up the hill!
Mountain Spaces HQ
At the top
Picking out lines on the way down
It doesn’t always have to be on the lifts and getting out away from the crowds can be amazing, only 1 run but well worth the effort.
Col Du Grand St Bernard
With the lifts about to shut for the season we headed over to the Col du Grand St Bernard between Switzerland and Italy for a night in the refuge.
The Col is one of, if not the oldest route through the Western Alps with evidence of use as far back as the Bronze ages. The pass is appears in history around 390BC and is well documented by the time of Julius Ceaser around 60BC. Napolean also famously crossed the pass in May 1800 with 6000 men and there’s a staue at the top to commemorate the feat.
More recently the Hospice and the Col has become synonymous with the image of the St Bernard dog with the barrel of brandy round it’s neck. The legend is that the brandy was to rejuvenate victims of avalanches or hypothermia until they could be rescued by the monks who acted as mountain guides.
The barrel of brandy appears to be part truth part legend but the dogs were certainly used by the monks, to clear paths in the snow following the scent of a trail buried in up to a metre of fresh snow and sniffing then digging out victims of avalanches, one dog is reported to have saved 40 lives, on finding the 41st victim the dog was stabbed by the victim who thought he was being attacked by a bear. The victim escaped from the snow and followed the blood trail left by the St Bernard back to the safety of the hospice where the dog later died. Sucks for the dog!
Not intending to die in an avalanche or stab anything a group of 3 of us set of early to hike up to the hospice, drop off some kit then head over to the Italian side to find some nice spring snow, leaving the rest of the group to come up later and meet us for dinner.
Parked at the bottom of the Col, in the summer there’s a road up to the top, this is as far as you can get until about July. Left about 9.30am for the hike up
Heading up with Craig and James, split boards have got to be the way forward, carrying boards is hard work!
Looking up the last part of the route to the Hospice, is a bit steeper than the first part as it doesn’t follow the road. About an hour into the climb by now and starting to get pretty hot.
The top, well the hospice/refuge anyway. 2500m above sea level and a well earned 15min break to drop off some overnight kit we didn’t need to carry any further. Whole climb took about 1hr30. Jamie blitzed it later in the day in 1hr12 but we can’t all be whippets.
Looking back from the Italian side at the statue of Napolean, the frozen lake and the Hospice in the distance, the mountains aren’t wonky in Italy it was just really hot and couldn’t see anything on the camera display as it was so bright.
We’re going up where? There?
Once we dropped down into the valley on the Italian side we traversed round to a non-south facing slope as there were signs of recent avalanche activity on the sun facing slopes. We picked a route up the North facing side of a gully and set off with boards on backs and Craig skinning up, and yes it is as steep as it looks.
It was now seriously hot as my sunburned forehead will testify to! The climb took us another hour or so with the going getting harder near the top as the sun degraded the snow even more until snow shoes were sinking in on the deeper snow on the top ridges. We stopped just short of the top (10m or so) as the snow was almost impossible to walk up by now and we’d run out of time to traverse round any further.
At the top and in serious need of a sit down!
Craig and James set off first in the slush, having seen how soft it was I opted for one mahoosive toe side turn down the main face really letting go as the snow was slowing things down a bit. The climb back up to the hospice nearly killed me!
The best looking refuge ever! Complete with comfy beds, electricity, hot water and an awesome room.
The others including Kate, joined us later in the evening as we got to sit down to veggie soup, pasta and tuna salad and apple compote, none of us lasted very long before hitting the hay.
The next day was pretty cloudy higher up and spoilt the plan to re-climb the same route as the day before and then drop off the back, back down to the car park. Still didn’t spoil a good group photo.
Heading back down after a fantastic couple of days. One of the best places I have ever visited without a doubt.
Pointe De La Vorlaz
Pepsi Max run from the top of the Pointe De La Vorlaz 2346m. Superb off-piste run but the climb is not for the faint hearted!
Started out with a couple of runs through the trees of to the side of the Stash before heading up Le Choucas lift and playing around on the SnowCross for a bit to warm up.
The SnowCross is basically an area that is not pisted but is patrolled, monitored and avalanche controlled, basically off piste but with more of the risks removed.
All limbered up and ready to go we headed to the top of the Cubore ‘up and over’ lift to start the traverse round the South face of the peak from about 2200m.
At the end of the traverse on the South side getting packed away ready for the climb up the face. Was pretty bare as the wind had removed a lot of the snow leaving ice and really hard clumps of grass, excellent climbing conditions!
Once you come off the face at a small col by the satellite station you turn left up onto the ridge for the last couple of hundred metres.
About halfway it gets pretty narrow and exposed although the footholds are better than on the face.
The last section of the ridge leading up to the summit.
The top! And no it’s not trick photography and I’m not a midget, Craig is huge. The descent is all down a North face back towards the Lindaret bowl. No pictures as I was far to busy enjoying all the fantastic snow.
New Year’s Eve Snow
Headed up behind Avoriaz to the Snow Cross area for a quick session on New Year’s eve with some of the guysfrom All Mountain Rental.
Really good snow and still some bits of powder that only had a couple of tracks if any, not bad for such a busy week. The temperature has really dropped again after a slightly warmer week in the village and as I’m writing this it’s snowing hard down to at least 600m.
Overlooking Avoriaz
Tracked out on this side but still fresh of to the right
Setting up for jumps of a nice windlip
Some of the fresh stuff!!
Avoriaz Hike
Drove up to Avoriaz today to hike to the top before the lifts open next weekend! Harder to get to the top but then fresh tracks on the way down as there weren’t many people around.
Some of the lower piste was bashed making it a bit easier but the top was all fresh snow, fortunately we had borrowed some snow shoes from All Mountain Rental to make the going a bit easier while the skiers skinned up.
On the way down from Avoriaz
Looking back to Les Haute Fortes
From Avoriaz centre
Catered and Self Catered Mountain Holidays
Ski and Backcountry Hire in Morzine
Mountain Spaces
Catered and Self Catered Mountain Holidays
Even More Luxury
Feeling the midweek ache after a couple of days on the slopes or want to unwind when you arrive? This year we will be offering massage and beauty treatments in the comfort of the chalet or the spa room courtesy of Pamper Off Piste.
They offer a whole range of treatments aimed at men and women to ease sore muscles or just help you chill out. Discounts are available if groups book a 3hr session, maybe a good midweek idea as the legs start to burn!
Visit www.pamperoffpiste.com or take a look at our extra special bits to find out more.
Mountain Spaces
Catered, Self Catered and Adventure Holidays
The French Alps
Blue Skies and Powder Days
A selection of pics from some of the powder days this year so far, little bit of hiking goes a long way when it comes to finding the fresh stuff.
Mountain Spaces
Catered, Self Catered and Adventure Holidays
The French Alps
