It continues to snow out here, as it has done for the last three weeks – but fresh snow means fresh powder – so we made the most of it skiing along the Haute Route last week.  Thanks to Rob, Jon and Nige for an entertaining time – look forward to skiing with you again!

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We invited Clive along on his years annual adventure with the old lags – Seb, Nick, Andy and myself – our objective being the Tirol High Level Route.  For the uninitiated, this is an Austrian version of the Haute Route – on steroids - ie 1500-2000m skinning days and the final day climbing the highest mountain in Austria – ie quite a challenge.

Day one we drove over from Innsbruck and headed up to the Essener Rostocker Hut, then Seb, Nick and me snook off for a quick pre dinner sortie up Rostocker Eck.  Reaching the top just 25 mins before dinner was due to be served mean’t a quick descent was in order – so we linked together several great long powder pitches in order to get back in time for tea.

Day two’s objective was the Grosser Geiger, en route to the Johanisshutte – a long steady skin before a final climb in crampons carrying skis to the summit in order to ski off the top.  We spent a while on top as the views were excellent, before taking the steep drop down onto the glacier and a long traverse across to a col which gave access to the next valley east.  The hut wasn’t far away, but a long way down – down a big couloir in fact, on lovely spring snow.  The beer was good too, relaxing in the sunshine and the evening meal excellent..

Day three and another big summit, the Grossvenediger which is the 4th highest peak in Austria.  Despite the continuing clear weather, this was a very windy day, but in eased off enough by the top of the climb to comfortably reach the summit and enjoy one of the best views in the whole of the Alps – followed by one of the best ski descents in Austria right down to the Matreier Tauernhaus.

Day four is the really big day, starting with a 1300m climb followed by a good steep descent then another 600m climb which turned out to be very hot now the wind had dropped to zero again.  Having booked into the quieter Lucknerhaus rather than the somewhat busy Rudolfshutte, we till had a long way to go – first down a great big descent, followed by a long flat (ie endless) valley, then a gorge, a then tunnel and finally a taxi ride before we arrived glad of a good meal and a comfortable hotel room for the night.

Day five, with the Grossglockner in sight, the weather changed – bringing rising winds and lowering clouds as we skinned up to the Studlhutte for the night – like all Austrian huts this is a comfortable affair, but the food was truly excellent.

Day six – after a night being constantly awoken by the hut vibrating, it didn’t look too good outside – with 130km winds up on the summit and not much less outside the hut – so we bailed to valley, which was quite a deal in itself.  Oh well, it’s still there for next time… Thanks to Toni from the local Kals Bergfuhrers Buro and Hans the owner of the Kucknerhaus for the lift down to town – both super nice guys and worth looking up if you’re ever in the area.

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Where to start? – two guides, two great teams and tons of fresh powder!  This years Stubai tour certainly wasn’t short of great snow, after 70cm of it fell on the second day.  Amounts like this require a lot of care in the backcountry, so we booked in a couple of extra valley nights and lapped up acres of deep the deep stuff around the Stubai Gletscher (someone’s got to do it!) till it calmed down a bit and we were able to head in to the Amberger Hut – taking in a valley full of untracked lines en route.

Next day we headed over to the Franz Senn Hut, with a section of boot tracking and a steep roped descent at the top of the glacier.  This gave access to more fresh powder and a great ski on down to the hut - just in time for afternoon drinks and plenty of chilling in the sunshine.

On the final day we skinned up Kraulscharte, before the obligatory pefect powder run and a short hop over a shoulder to set up for the final big drop to the valley.  I wasn’t sure what to expect down here, as it was getting pretty warm by now –  but the slope kept on giving and the snow remained fun and skiable all the way to the bottom – so all in all an excellent week.

Another great week on the Albula Alps Ski Tour this year – great snow, super quiet huts and lovely scenery.

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Day one, we skinned up the the Jenatsch hut in a bit of cloud and windy weather - but after that it cleared up for 5 days of blue skies and light winds with loads on untouched powder each day.

After an entertaining evening in Bergun on day two, we took the uplift out of town and skied sublime powder into the Backcountry, before the long climb and traverse over to the Es-Cha hut where we were the only visitors that night.

Day four and an early morning skin up to the short roped climb up to the Porta Kesch.  After that, we skinned up to the ski depot below Piz Kesch, then had the obligatory powder descent plus another afternoon lap for those still keen.

Day five took in an extra summit above the hut, to line up for a brilliant descent to lunch.  Then two climbs split by another series of great powdwer pitches got us across to the remote Grialetch hut.

Finally day six, we skinned and climbed Piz Sarsura before the massive 1700m descent down to the road near Zernez.  This proved to be a ski touring descent par excellence – with plenty of open powder pitches high up, then a steepening, narrowing valley leading to spring snow lower down and the obligatory crazy tree skiing down to the valley.

All in all a super memorable week, not least for the great company  – but not forgetting the snow, the mountains, the weather, the remoteness of this special region – it’s simply brilliant!

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Just back from a great weeks ski touring in Andorra, so time for a quick roundup of what we did plus a few photos:

Day one didn’t start exactly as planned, when my ABS bag got set off whilst pulling rucsacs out of the boot of the car at Grau Roig – Oops!  After deflating that, we went for a skin out above the resort and down into some quiet back bowls for a lovely lunch by a frozen lake – karma restored, we headed back through the system in the afternoon, taking various drops between the runs.

Day two we headed up Cometa del Forn.  This turned into a hot skin in rising temperatures – but we caught it just right for a brilliant spring snow descent on long, untracked SW facing slopes in the early afternoon.

Given the fine weather, we opted for a north facing option the following day – skinning up Pedrons before climbing on foot to the summit and taking a steep couloir descent to lunch.  In the afternoon we headed up to investigate an other couloir, finding some great old settled powder, before skiing spring snow down to the car.

Gary from Pyrenees Haven joined us on Day 4, for an ascent of Serrero – one of the classic ski peaks of the region.  Skiing the huge open slopes of the south face was a real highlight, with the good snow continuing right down to the valley.

Day 5 we got an early start for a drop off at 2400m on the Col de Envalira (thanks Debbie!) in order to traverse over from Andorra into France.  This turned into a huge day crossing passes and ridges, including one steep climb on foot and finally a full on ‘ski de combat’ mission down to the bar at Hospitalet.

On the final day, we woke up to overcast skies and fresh snow - so cracked the map, compass and altimeter out in order to nav up a nice little summit above Ransas.  A shorter tour, but great skiing on fresh powder down through the woods to finish off an excellent week.

Thanks to Gary and Debbie at Pyrenees Haven for their warm hospitality and the excellent food – a real home-from-home experience – and to Tony, Jon, Jim, Mark, Graham and Seb for the great crack and good company on the hill.

Many many thanks to Chris and Rich for being great company this week, ski touring in the Queyras and round La Grave - and especially for lugging a heavy SLR up lots of big hills and taking amazing photos!  A real week of losing ourselves in the woods amongst the birdsong – woodpeckers drilling, finches gathering pine nuts – and plenty of lovely snow.

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A quick roundup on the Haute Ubaye ski touring week, where we enjoyed some great powder skiing in the back of beyond with hardly anyone around – meeting just two other groups of ski tourers all week.

Sunday morning didn’t start too auspiciously, when another group leaving the hotel in La Grave walked off with my bags by mistake (think maps, guidebooks, all my planning,  computer, passport – the lot..)  Luckily we had another map so were able to set off anyway, reaching the Gite after a long snowy drive to enjoy a half day tour right from the door, with some lovely powder turns down through the woods.  That evening, the compulsory food overload began, with our host urging us to finish every last bit of a massive meal – pointing out we’d need it for the week ahead..

Next day was overcast, so we skied from the Gite again up to the Col Sans Nom, with lunch and a transceiver training session en route.  Above the tree line the snow was very variable and wind affected, so tricky to ski in flat light, but lovely again down in the trees – so the message was clear – don’t go too far above the woods!

Overnight it started to snow, so a low vis ascent of L’Aiguillon ensued - followed by brilliant deep powder skiing down through the woods a 1000m to the valley floor.  Then it was just a case of skinning back up to the Gite in the afternoon - ready for hot chocolate, beer and more mountains of food.

After the previous days snowfall we decided on a lift assisted day over at St Anne – skiing fresh tracks and deep powder all day under full blue skies.  You never get this much fresh snow in a big resort, so we were able to enjoy it to the very last run.

With temperatures dropping to minus 17, the van took longer to start each morning - but next we headed over to Larche for another blue skies day tour with great views up on the Tete de Plat Longe and more lovely powder on the descent.

By now the road up to the Gite had lost some of it’s terror, despite still being covered in snow - but nevertheless we headed part way back to La Grave before turning off to Argentiere Le Besse in order for a long last tour up the Crete Seyche, enjoying unfolding views of the Ecrins and Queyras massifs before the obligatory final 1300m powder run back to the van.  All in all an excellent week, with everything we’d come looking for – solitude, adventure, great food and superb powder skiing.

A few pics taken yesterday up on the Aiguille du Midi on our Chamonix Backcountry Skiing Week.  We had a one metre dump last Friday - so stacks of snow - but there’s been a lot of misty weather this week in Cham.  Plenty of fresh tracks and powder over the last few days, with a nice day tour up the Bel Oiseau over in Switzerland to finish today – everyone was suitably whacked and happy by the end of the week, which is all you can ask for as a guide!

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