Powder Skiing vs Grand Mont Touring

Having checked about a hundred weather forecasts, in the hope of finding some good news, we went to bed thinking that we'd have a bit of a rest day today, given the gloomy forecast. It had been raining heavily during dinner, but one last look outside before sleep, revealed that the rain had turned to heavy snow - it was belting it down!



Imagine our surprise then, to wake up and find that, despite all the forecasts to the contrary, the skies had cleared! And there was tonnes of fresh snow! We scrambled out of bed as fast as we could and packed our touring gear, hoping to make an ascent of the Grand Mont.

However, on realising just how much snow had fallen (knee deep!), we spent the morning, using the lifts to ski as much of it as we could.



It's hard to explain how good it feels to ski such snow. It's totally silent, smooth and slow. Pure magic.



We skied pitch after pitch, letting the lifts take the strain, before catching the one to the top of the Areche area, to start an ascent of the Grand Mont.



We skinned over to the Col de Forclaz, but our luck ran out about here. The clouds rolled in...



The visibility soon diminished and we stopped to take stock of the situation.



Heavy snow started to fall and it all too soon became clear that continuing upwards would be foolhardy. It was time to take the skins off our skis and get into downhill mode. The summit would still be there another day.



Not for the first time on this trip, we were stood in a white out...

It was a short but cautious descent to get back to the ski area, in a major snow storm. On arrival at the pistes, the visibility was all but non-existent; I skied straight off a rather high wall of snow, landing an metre or so below, hard on the piste. I barley had time to ascertain that I was uninjured, went propelled by momentum, I fell off the other (unseen) side of the piste, but this time into deep powder!

We cautiously made it back out of the clouds and an hour or so later, we got some views back!



The trees were laden with fresh snow - so much was falling that we were now putting fresh tracks up the drag lifts!



Later in the afternoon, we found somewhere for a rest in the sunshine. As you can see, even though it's Easter weekend, it's hardly busy here! The sunshine felt great.



With some hot chocolate, coffee and chips inside us, we continued down and around the hillside to our village, as another bank of clouds rolled in.



We arrived back at the Refuge des Marmottes, just as the snowflakes started falling again. Looks like there might be more fresh tracks to be had in the morning...

Ghost Town Skiing

The day dawned bright and clear, prompting us to drag ourselves from our cosy chalet and get out onto the slopes first thing. No race to get the first lift was required though, and once again we had the mountain to ourselves.

With more snow and low visibility forecast for after lunch, we decided to play it safe and not set out on one of the many tours in the area. Instead, we hoped to make the most of the power skiing from the lifts. Colder temperatures, however, had turned the powder to mostly crusty snow though, so we had to mainly stay on the pistes. Usually this would have been a bit of a shame, but as there still seemed to be no other skiers about, we made the most of having a private ski resort, putting tracks all over the well groomed slopes.

At least we had views of the alps today, which were as stunning as ever.

I took this photo to show what I mean about it being like a ghost town - No-one on the chair lift and no-one skiing! Just us.

We were certainly not complaining though as we zoomed around 60km or so of terrain, descending nearly 7000m of height!

Miles and miles of skiing to be had. In the end, the skies stayed mostly clear until much later in the day.

However, the wind did pick up after midday. You can see a plume of snow blowing off the left hand summit in the photo below, making us feel at least that a tour up a peak might not have been so pleasant.

Once things started to get a bit cold on the lifts, we decided to call it a day.

After getting changed, ventured down to the cool little town of Beaufort to get to the supermarket after skiing. There's not a lot going on around here and it was strange to drive down the hillside, out of winter and into spring. Nice little town though...

On Skis around Le Planay, Beaufortain

Well, there's no shortage of snow around here! The village of Le Planay, where we are based, is virtually buried with metres of snow. Our little chalet is about a minutes walk from the main village ski lift, so we've spent the last couple of days trying to get to know the local area.

There is also plenty of fresh snow for skiing, but what is most amazing is that we are virtually the only skiers in the entire resort! Fresh tracks - even on the piste - are available here even on the last run of the day! It's literally like having a private resort! 

The weather has been the only concern so far - maybe that's put everyone off? It's been pretty overcast since we arrived and every now and then, a thick bank of cloud puts the visibility right down to nothing and we've be forced to travel using feeling and instinct!

We've been trying to stay up at the highest levels, where the snow is best and every now and then we are above the clouds or at least get a peak of them.

Right now, it's not really good conditions to be setting off into the misty mountains on a ski tour, so we've enjoyed using the lifts and exploring between our village of Le Planay and nearby Areche, which is linked by a long ski run. I've been enjoying using my new ski pack from Lowe Alpine too.

One of the best things about our cosy little 'Refuge des Marmottes' is that it's close enough to the skiing to pop back for lunch or a snack when we get a little tired! How luxurious!

It even has it's own little balcony outside the front door, which we've used for some apres ski drinks.

And inside, it's all rather comfy when we fancy an afternoon coffee and pastry between ski runs. 

Things seem to be clearing up this evening, so hopefully tomorrow we can actually see where we're skiing and find some more fresh snow to go at...

Refuge des Marmottes, Beaufortain - French Alps

Well, after spending a fantastic spring weekend climbing and surfing on the island of Anglesey, the weather has taken a turn for the worse in North Wales. Time for us to move on to pastures new. Got packed up once again, but this time with ski kit. It seemed a bit strange to have had a glimpse of sunny spring weather and then return to The Cottage to pull out the winter gear back out of the stores. In a whirlwind haze of packing and travel, we left Wales with a minimalist rucksack each and a set of skis; alpine bound...

To be honest, details of the journey are best forgotten. A smooth exit from the UK, ended in a long and slow journey from Geneva, after a few road closures and some dubious sat nav decisions. Having crawled through rush hour traffic in lake side Geneva, we found ourselves not on the main road, but instead, crossing several (very nervously) snow bound mountain passes before finally reaching the beautiful Refuge des Marmottes, at the end of the road in the Beaufortain Massif. Huge sighs of relief all round as we moved in and collapsed into bed.

The tiny refuge looked perfect for a couple of ski tourers. The only problem was that it had been empty for a while, so was freezing cold. There was a pretty techo looking thermostat on the wall, which we fiddled with enough to wake up several hours later, parched, dehydrated, sweating and splendidly warm! Underfloor heating! Yeah!!

Rock Climbing at Rhoscolyn

It's turned into a stunning weekend, with plenty of blue skies, but still a cold breeze. With the whole of Snowdonia and a range of activities to choose from, we opted to head back over to the Island and see if we could find some warm, sheltered rock to climb. Starting from the Church in Rhoscolyn, we enjoyed a beautiful walk out to the cliff tops.

The main crags were quite busy and we soon realised that not only was it a Sunday, but also the start of the Easter holidays for a lot of people. Rather than fit in amongst the other climbers, we fancied a bit of solitude, so continued around the coast to a different cliff (Sea Cave Zawn) that was deserted of people and drenched in sun. A short abseil, got us easily to the base of the climbs, just above the lapping sea.

The climb we chose was super steep (overhanging!). Not our usual style, but the hand holds were all big, so there was plenty to hang onto. It did feel rather wild though, for our first rock climb in a while!

The buzz and the sun warmed us on the top.

Nestled in amongst the rocks, we were hidden from both the world and the wind. In a nest of ropes and jackets, we fell fast asleep!

After our impromptu nap, we decided to go down and climb another route as the day was far too sunny and nice to leave yet.

This time, Clare did the hard work, pulling over the steep overlaps, while I paid out the ropes.

Walking back along the cliff tops, we stopped again to admire the views across to the Lleyn peninsular.

Over towards the mountains, fluffy white clouds were just clipping the top of Snowdon. 

A great day to be out. Tired and happy.

Rhoscloyn - Sea Cave Zawn:

- Fan Fare, HVS (4c)*

- Hi Jack! VS (4b)