The skis have now finally been put away, but the focus is already on next winter, and what we can put together for you.
 
As ever the early season is the best time to work on personal performance with quiet pistes and no queuing!  Many of you took advantage of a long weekend last season for some intensive training to get rid of bad habits and set yourself up for your next trip.  This year will be no different as we continue to offer these bespoke camps throughout Valais including Verbier, Crans Montana, Zermatt, and Saas Fee.

We are also delighted to continue to organise bespoke family breaks throughout the season.  Working again with accommodation partners such as Ski Armadillo in Verbier, and Meriski in Meribel, we can handle every step of your holiday so that you can relax and enjoy the skiing.

The third and final strand will of course be our popular off-piste and ski touring adventures.  Whether its a day exploring Verbier's world renowned freeride terrain or ski touring in untouched valleys, we'll make the best of conditions and deliver an unforgettable experience for first timers or seasoned pros alike.
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Send us an email or pick up the phone and we can start planning your 2017/8 on snow!  In the meantime, here is a little teaser with some clips from last season...

​Either we had a good eye for it, or got lucky because on day one we nailed it finding a mixture of wide open faces for some high speed turns and some tight technical couloirs.  Rather excited by our apparent beginner’s luck for route finding in Iceland we went on to summit 4 peaks ascending and descending over 2000m.  Although a long day, it was certainly a little easier putting in this effort at sea level as opposed to the 4000m+ high alpine objectives from the preceding weeks.

​Slightly sore from our first day, we loaded up on Will’s porridge and headed out for more of the same, exploring a region slightly further to the west.  The initial summit provided a couple of good options with all of us taking slightly different routes.  Having reached the bottom we headed up another and while Will, Harry and I refuelled after Jack’s furious pace setting, he had already down climbed a few metres and stumbled across a perfect north facing couloir.  The snow was a bit firmer and provided a great descent towards the sea.  Having re-climbed the same peak, this time from the north side, we spotted an awesome looking couloir on a peak at the end of a remote valley.  Having already climbed 1500m and feeling a little jaded, we decided to ski down to the car, drive up the valley, and “have a think about it…”  Getting out of the car it took a little while to find the energy but before we knew it, we had kitted up again and began the long walk in.  It was definitely worth it and brought the total vertical for the day to 2250m.

​By day three the snow had transformed and become slightly heavier, and with increasingly weary bodies we shortened our day to a mere 1500m of up and down on both day 3 and 4. 

​On day 5 the weather finally cracked as the huge high pressure system we had been enjoying was interrupted by the arrival of a low pressure system from the west.  Despite the changing weather we managed to break through the cloud and enjoy one last peak in yet another area.  That night the rain/snow started and we realised just how lucky we had been with our weather for the trip.

On the way back to the airport we stayed a night near to the Þingvellir National Park, visiting the rift valley between the North American and Eurasian Plates as well as the geothermal activity at Geysir and the picturesque Gullfoss Falls.  It was great to see some of Iceland’s infamous sights, but what we all took away with us was the magic of the Troll Peninsula.  It is an endless expanse of accessible ski touring terrain with lines for everyone from mellow valleys to steep couloirs.  Without the objective hazards of crevasses and serac fall to worry about,  and with the thick sea level oxygen levels, you are able to travel light and fast achieving so much within a day.  We’re not about to give up living in the alps, but I will be 100% be returning to this region in the future both for my own skiing, and to show my clients this ski touring mecca!
 
That’s not it for skiing though!  I will be in the UK for a month for a number of sailing projects but from the 11th June, it will be back to the high mountains to attempt a number of high alpine peaks.  On the list is the Grand Combin (4314m), Mont Blanc (4810m), and Monte Rosa (4634m) to name a few.  Stay tuned to find out how we get on, as long as the weather is on our side!

​Olly

December was a great mix of private clients and race training for local schools.  As ever it was a pleasure to see so many regulars return and continue to develop their performance both on and off the piste.  Keen to get the ski touring legs back after 6 months of sailing, I headed off to the Breithorn (4164m) in the Monte Rosa Massif with Ben Proudlove and Johanna Obermoser.  The combination of a heavy bag and climbing at an altitude of more than 4000m was the perfect way to start our preparations for the long list of spring projects I had in mind!

January, aside from one corporate group with Kando Events (www.kandoverbierevents.com), was reserved for long weekends of coaching with groups from the UK.  It's the quietest period of the season with low temperatures and great snow, and with the kids back at school it's the perfect time to come and work on your technique, away from the distractions of a family ski holiday.  The progress of each group was immense and I'm looking forward to welcoming them back in 2018.

February was as hectic as ever with a total of 27 days of coaching and a 2000m+ ski tour in fresh powder with Tom Crothall on my day off.  Once again it was a great mix of one-on-one coaching, group lessons with amazing kids, and off piste guiding.  A definite highlight was my week coaching the Freeride World Tour Club.  The video below shows the incredible level of talent these kids have.

It was business as usual as March and April arrived, but with warmer weather and a more stable snowpack, ski touring became the main focus with both clients and friends.  A number of clients enjoyed their first ski tours ranging from introductory day tours to multiday trips in the high mountains.

There was plenty of time for some of my own projects this season with a mixture of long sustained routes, technical couloirs, and 4000m+ high alpine peaks.  I've put together a series of short videos that offer an insight into these days.  I was lucky enough to share these adventures with Jack Lawson, Tom Crothall, and Will Evans and look forward to many projects in the future.

Verbier may have now closed but we're not done skiing yet!  While we wait for the fresh snow to transform and consolidate to open up more technical and high altitude routes, we are off to Iceland!  The plan at the moment is to fly to Reykjavík and then head to Siglufjörður to explore the Troll Peninsular.  It will be a chance to explore a new part of the world and do some reconnaissance for an expedition in 2018 with clients.  Follow our Facebook and Instagram to see how we get on!

Fresh from a week in Iceland I'll be heading back to the UK for some sailing with my regulars as well as running some coaching for Sailing Logic (www.sailinglogic.co.uk) before returning home to Verbier in June for some more high altitude skiing and an attempt on the Matterhorn with Stanislav Beremski.

We had been expecting Spring conditions so were a little surprised to find light powder for our descent to the base of the glacier.  Whilst we enjoyed some of Jack's rice, banana, and apricot jam snack (don't knock it until you have tried it) we discussed whether to go for a beer at the Lämmerenhutte or head back to Verbier.  After a moments reflection, I then suggested that given how ahead of schedule we were, why not get another summit in!  With this in mind we had a quick look at the map and decided on the 546m ascent to the Steghorn (3146m).  We knew the risk of wet spring avalanches would increase later in the afternoon but agreed if we moved quick enough we could achieve a second summit in safety.  Challenge accepted, we put the skins back on and set off again at speed.  Half way up the physical effort was starting to take its toll, so I had to make a brief stop to eat some more of Jack's magic rice.  Just over an hour after starting we had summited the Steghorn by 1400.  The second ski was a contrast to the first.  The south facing aspect combined with two more hours of solar radiation had transformed the face into true spring snow, and we enjoyed a great ski back down to the Lämmerenboden.  The final skin across the flat back to the Gemmi pass turned out to be the hardest effort of the day.  We had only provisioned for enough water to cover the first summit so suffering from dehydration and glycogen depletion, the conversation stopped and the headaches arrived.  It was one of those rare occasions touring when you wish someone had put a ski lift in!  We arrived back at the Gemmi pass at 1530 and demolished what was left behind the counters in the self service restaurant before the taking the lift back to the car.  It was very successful day out in a beautiful region that feels removed from the chaos of the opposite side of the Rhône Valley.  The possibilities are endless and I will certainly return before the season comes to a close.  See below our route and some video highlights from the day

The above itinerary is only example, it is possible to spend more days climbing and even complete the sailing passages at night for a different experience altogether.  If conditions allow, we will approach the rock from the yacht/tender.

Get in touch and find out more about this unique experience.

Tom eyeing up the fresh snow at 0600

Within the first 20 minutes it was clear that our objective would not be a walk in the park as we struggled to find the Rote Chumme that wold take us up to our first summit.  We underestimated the effect of the fresh snow and bad visibility on our rate of ascent, and on two occasions started climbing too early before having to descend again.  Eventually we located the right area and reached the plateau to the south of the Rote Totx.  As dawn broke it was much easier to navigate despite the still poor visibility, but more importantly we felt more comfortable assessing and managing the avalanche risk given the freshly fallen snow.  We made our way up the southern shoulder before following the eastern arête to the summit.  Despite the delicate conditions we were happy that we had found a safe route to our first objective.

Olly breaks trail en route to the summit of the Rote Totx (2848m) visible in the background

Having reached our first summit, we laid eyes on our second objective the Steghorn.  Having wasted time with navigation errors early on in the dark, and having underestimated the extra effort of cutting trail in the heavy humid snow, we were behind schedule and looking up at the steghorn, we joked that it looked more like K2!

Tom's nervous laughter when we set eyes on the Steghorn

Before we could consider our second summit we first had to ski off the first.  Our research on the route had suggested it was a simple traverse to the next col, but we were in fact faced with a very bare rocky arête.  We swapped the skis for boot crampons and ice axes and began to down climb.  As we got lower, the exposure increased, so to be on the safe side we built an anchor and rappelled the rest pleased that we had packed the rope!  By now we were well behind schedule so decided to pull the plug on K2 (or the Steghorn if you prefer) and ski down the Lämmerental and go straight for the Wildstrubel.

Olly abseiling off the the Rote Totx

At the base of the Lämmerental on our way to the Wildstrubel

Tom doing his bit on the front

Once we reached the base of the Wildstrubel Gletscher, we roped up and continued our push towards the summit.  Despite our increase in altitude the snow remained heavy and after 7 hours of skinning, our highly technical mathematical calculations revealed the simple truth; we didn't have enough time to summit and return to the Gemmi Pass for the last lift. We made the painful decision that any experienced alpinist will understand, to give up on our summit bid and run for home.

We set out to tick off 3 summits and only managed one.  It was however an incredible learning experience for us both.  We were tested on all fronts from managing avalanche risk and poor visibility, to nutrition and hydration during 8 hours of physical exertion.  It's days like these that help us develop as alpinists far more than the spring bluebird days where you follow an old skinning track to summit glory!  

The Wildstrube remains on 'La Liste' and i'll be back there soon with Tom if he'll put up with me again!

Last Wednesday I was joined by Tom Crothall, Ben Proudlove, and Stefan Nilsen for a trip to the Tête de Barasson in the Grand St Bernard region on the border with Italy.  Either side of the summit are two cols marked on the map as Col Est and Col Ouest.  Not sure how the snow conditions would be, we set off from the car at the entrance to the Grand St Bernard tunnel with an open mind as to whether we would summit or just reach one of the cols, the west one being a little less steep than the east.

The route initially follows the road to the Grand St Bernard Hospice until the marked altitude at 2256m at Les Tronchets where you then continue climbing through the Combe de Barasson.  The picture below is taken looking back down this Combe as the others make their way up our fresh skinning track!

Satisfied with the stability of the snow pack we opted to skin up the east col and then follow the eastern arête to the summit pictured below behind Tom Crothall.

The next picture shows Ben Proudlove and Stefan Nilsen on their way up from the east col to the summit.

After a quick team shot on the summit, we followed the ridge back the col before the long ski back to the car.  We enjoyed fresh tracks throughout the 800m vertical descent.  

Olly, Stefan, Tom, and Ben