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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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Back from our Greenland Ski Expedition and another brilliant trip – arctic powder skiing this year and a great team – it doesn’t get much better, thanks everyone!  It’s been a hard call editing photos (too many to choose from), but these are my faves.

A quick report on the trip:  we had an unusually snowy April this year in Greenland (all the fine weather in the Uk pushed things further north!) so had some unsettled weather to start with, making day tours around Kumuuit, before the weather cleared and we were able to head in.

The flip side of this mean’t we then enjoyed brilliant north facing powder skiing on high peaks and glaciers during the main part of the trip, so it proved to be a real bonus.

Heading back out to Kumuuit and onto Kulusuk by boat/dogsled we finished off with some great spring snow skiing at lower altitudes on the islands along the coast – the views around here were fantastic…

As ever, i’m keen to do a return trip in a year or two’s time – possibly heading further north to a more remote area, before skiing out to civilisation – so if you’re interested, then let me know and we’ll stay in touch.

Al P

Final week of the season for me in the alps – skiing with the family in Gressoney.  Deserted pistes and good spring  snow, the kids are getting pretty good now – skiing black runs and starting to venture off piste – I wish I’d been able to do that when I was six!

There’s nice off piste skiing in the mornings on spring snow and enough here to finish off the season, unlike most of France and much of western Switzerland - so if you’re desperately seeking the white stuff, Gressoney is a pretty good bet at the moment.

An important note on current avalanche conditions – last week the hot weather brought a lot of avalanche activity, particularly on steeper north facing slopes - with full depth wet slides sloughing off all over the place on a couple of hot afternoons.  If you are out touring or off piste skiing, then you need to be especially careful this season with route planning and timings throughout the day, as there have been a lot of accidents recently.

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