The winter season of 2016/7 has been the busiest season to date for ski touring on both a professional and personal level including over 35,000 vertical metres of ascent and thanks to some lift accessed routes, more than 40,000 vertical metres of skiing! This season saw 8 clients ski tour for their first time, exploring a number of incredible summits in Valais including the Tête de Barasson, Tête de Ferret, Mont Fourchon, and Mont Telliers to name a few. Each and every trip did not disappoint rewarding hard efforts on the ascents with either fresh powder or perfect spring snow on the descents. Aside from the great skiing, my groups were blown away by the isolated scenery we explored, and the unique venues we stayed in such as the Grand St Bernard Hospice. This season’s groups have promised to return and explore new terrain, but I hope to show more of you my favourite routes whether it’s your first outing or you’re a seasoned pro! I was determined this season to continue discovering new routes and summits and was lucky to complete a number of projects with Jack Lawson, Will Evans, Tom Crothall, Harry Steel, Ben Proudlove and Terry Ralphs. This mixture of guides, ski instructors, and a ski shop manager have all played a huge part in these trips from planning, to navigating and managing objective hazards on the mountain, belaying over technical terrain, and cutting a skinning track on those fresh snow days. All super fit and each with a unique sense of humour, they have been invaluable partners. As unsettled weather approached in early May, it was time to make the most of an opportunity to ski outside of the alps and so joined by Will, Harry, and Jack, we headed to Iceland. Having landed in Keflavik on the southwest corner of Iceland, we travelled by car to the Troll Peninsula on the north coast where we had organised an Air bnb in the small town of Siglufjördur at 66°N (a stone’s throw from the Arctic Circle…sort of). Having spent all winter in the Alps meticulously planning projects, pouring over guide books and www.camptocamp.org to find new routes, monitoring the weather and avalanche risk thanks to the SLF White Risk App and my network of guide friends, it was a stark contrast to jump in the car and drive around looking for peaks to climb and lines to ski by sight alone. It was a refreshing change and delivered a real sense of adventure. Thursday 4th May +/- 2014mEither 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. Loki - Summit 1 - 674m Sif - Summit 2 - 810m Ran - Summit 3 - 690m Heoinn - Summit 4 - 810m Friday 5th +/- 2200mSlightly 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. Hákambar (832m) Illvlörishnjúkur (895m) Hádegisfjall (595m) Blekkill (776m) 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. Saturday 6th +/- 1500m, Sunday 7th +/- 1500m, Monday 8th +/- 800mSummit 9 - 834m Summit 10 - 830m 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. Left to right: Harry Steel, Will Evans, and Jack lawson 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
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