Puking snow at the Grand Montets Bon Annee

Minging in town today but by the time we made it up to Grand Montets the snow was still falling heavy then it started to clear. A good load of snowfall from yesterday (50cm+) with the addition of todays dumping found us faceplanting big piles of the fresh white stuff

Carl enjoying the powder from the Herse

Courmayeur

20th - Le Tour (as below)

21st - Work

22nd - Work

23rd-26th - UK

27th - Work

28th - Work (sense the pattern!)

29th - Courmayeur

I was driving yesterday and took some clients over to Courmayeur. Anyway, this gave Tom and I a great excuse to grab a few hours skiing. It was raining in Chamonix but snowing in Courmayeur, yes it was wet snow and the 'powder' was heavy but best under the lifts and in the trees. Absolutely spent after a few hours!

Just making some final preperations for the up and coming Scotland trip where I will be taking a university group out for 6 days winter skills courses followed by a cheeky weekend of climbing.

No pics....need a new camera!

Ciao

Pow Le Tour

Still a few tufts of heather kicking around to send you off course....

Fresh tracks near the pistes still going in the afternoon!

Didn't have to venture far today to find the fresh stuff. The best days skiing so far i'd say. VERY cold though!

Chamonix Opening

16th - Ski Grand Montets, reasonable snow covering but really hanging on a big dump. I think this is because I am getting fussy!

17th - Work

18th - Work

19th - Ski Brevent & Flegere, today was the first lift opening (80% of Cham) so Carl and I got the first bin of the season up to the top and enjoyed the first tracks. About 15-20cm of fresh snow on an icy layer was fun and there were some deep patches. Snow very light and fluffy so nice start to the year!

No action shots yet as not got camera sorted but here sis one from the balcony this morning. Town is looking snowy and al the decorations up...let it snow!

We were going to go have a look at Cogne today for some ice climbing but not great reports just yet. Just aiming at getting those ski legs sorted!

Scotland / Chamonix

Tower Gully

(photo from Byron)

As I was on my way out to Chamonix for 10 days or so, a good friend Byron sent me a wee email with some snaps of his weekend in Scotland.

Looks great up there. Since then, I have been out skiing at the Grand Montets (yesterday) which was pretty nice. The snow covering is good but there are still a few areas that need more snow and at least some fresh stuff. Ice is shaping up relatively slowly by the looks of things.

Here is a pic of Scotland for now, might get out to Courmayeur by the end of the week. Busy working!

Goodbye Beach > Psyched for Snow...Lets go Skiing

Wow, so it has been a year since I started this blog! That went quite quickly... it has been an amazing year with great times had with great mates in and out of the mountains.

This year sees Jen and I heading back to Chamonix for the winter, really please to have some good mates there who are really up for getting out ski touring and climbing.

I am just getting mentally prepared for the action by watching steep and getting pretty excited about this coming season.

As its the time of year to fashion a christmas list together (which does just happen to consist of big wall climbing handbooks!), I have been spending a bit more time on a bit of a winter wish list around Chamonix. Like last year I will be keeping a blog on events and uploading a few photos of the adventures, please feel free to make comments and let me know how you are getting on with conditions around the Cham valley.

Some routes I am thinking about..... (excluding valley ice)

Climbing

Aiguille Verte - Nant Blanc Face, Y Couloir

Aiguille du Midi - Eugster Direct

Monch - NW Buttress, Lauper Route (N Face)

Supercouloir - Tacul

Migot Spur - Chardonnet

Cosmiques Icefall

Aiguille Blanche de Peuterey - N Face

Modica Noury etc - Tacul

Skiing

Breche Puiseux

Col du Passon (never got round to it last year!)

Cosmiques Couloir

Ski Mont Blanc

Aiguille Argentiere from the valley from an early start

Loads of repeats from last year.....

maybe need some more inspiration here (Mont Dolent Ski)

As usual this tends to change as I actually read what the route consists of!!!

See you in Chamonix :)

Trekking in the Solokhumbu, Nepal

A quick update. We are in Kathmandu right now after a little trip up the Solokhumbu area of Nepal. Home of the famous Everest base camp trek and the alternative trek to Gokyo Peak that we chose.

Stunning weather with some snow to add to the fun and scenery. Happily off the Dhaal Bhat and onto Chips and Beer now before we head out to Borderlands Resort for a couple of days.

The view from Gokyo Peak (5260m) Everest on the left and Cholatse on the right.

Jen getting beaten by spindrift on our approach to Gokyo

The beautiful Cholatse

Back to India next for a spot of motorcycling, cricket, curry and trains.

the 'Abode of Snows' here we come!

Doh.....

Forgot to get our Visa's sorted for India (had other things on our mind). So spent this week arranging our trip and going to Birmingham to get a Visa. Expensive game!

Anyway, I guess it is a good thing because now we know what we are doing and have some kind of agenda.

It is going to be a knackering trip!

> Manchester to Delhi, chill out here for a bit.
> Overland Delhi to Kathmandu, an adventure in itself!
> Flying to Lukla airstrip
> Going trekking around the Khumbu region. No specific goals here.
> Walking back to Jiri and the bus to Kathmandu
> Explore Kathmandu
> Fly to Bengalore (South India) and Explore
> Train (Sleeper) to Goa and Chill by the Beach
> Train (Sleeper) to Mumbai
> Watch the India vs Sri Lanka Test Cricket
> Train (Sleeper) to Delhi and Agra to the Taj Mahal
> Relax back in Delhi at the end of our manic trip!

Back in time to get an MOT on the van then drive it out to Chamonix!

MIA Assessment week

Well, a tough week but a great outcome. Passed!

Just a quick message to say thanks to everyone who has lent a hand over the last month during my personal training for this.

So pleased its all over....until the next one!

Having a week off now then flying out to India with Jen :)

Teaching Climbing & Rain

Just a little update, have been doing a load of climbing and scrambling days in and around North Wales this month. Bit of teaching trad climbing. All is well, my MIA assessment starts today which should be fun..... :S. Feel 25% prepared!

(Above: Zora leading the top pitch of BooBoo Slab, Tremadog)