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.
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.
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
It’s Snowing in the Village
After waiting for a series of high pressure systems to move from Northern Europe in early November the temperatures have well and truly dropped and it’s snowing heavily down to about 700m with a really good base layer being built up on the slopes.
We’ve already hiked a couple of routes in Avoriaz and will go again later in the week once the weather has calmed down.
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
I got up this morning….
….and the world looked like this! It would appear we had some snow last night, i would love to write more but I’m going snowboarding
Mountain Spaces
Catered, Self Catered and Adventure Holidays
The French Alps
Snow Shoeing!
Before the lifts are open for the winter season proper there’s still loads to do. This is us with friends and family snowshoe trekking on the col de L’Encrenaz overlooking the Roc D’Enfer. You can see how much snow there is already, some of the lifts are already open at teh weekend and parts of Avoriaz are already bashed and ready to run.
Coming down was fun in the powder, kind of a cross between floating and running. The snowshoes are really easy to use, they look like they could be a complete nightmare but once you get into a strid and adjust to them it really is as easy as walking normally. Making your own tracks helps a lot as there aren’t patches of compacted snow to make the shoe sit unevenly.
Our guide very kindly brought vin chaud along with him, some had more than others!
Snap
Motley crew, me and Kate are sitting down becasue we can’t figure out how to stand back up whilst wearing the snow shoes!
Later on that evening, more powder and the lifts only open at the weekend!! Must buy split snowboard and skins for next season!
Mountain Spaces
Catered, Self Catered and Adventure Holidays
The French Alps
