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.
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
Lessons With ESF
We’ve linked up with ESF for this coming winter so we can now take ESF booking for our guests directly. That means we can have your lesson card waiting for you on arrival.
We’re also able to offer ESF’s snowboarding and skiing beginners packages.
6 full day group lessons plus 6 day Les Gets Morinze lift pass €319.70 €266.00
6 half day group lessons plus 6 day Les Gets Morzine lift pass €272.90 €219.00
With free lift pass collection, your lesson card waiting for you and 10% off ski and snowboard hire with All Mountain Rental delivered to the chalet getting straight out on the slopes on your first day will be easier than ever!
ESF lessons on Mountain Spaces
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
