We spent 10 days in the Alps recently, shortly after I submitted a little thesis I had been working on.
The first few days were spent in Chamonix. We bought ski boots, got excited by the amazing range of colours and outdoor kit, skied in awful weather (including rain). We also skied some great off piste, although high winds meant everyone was constricted to lower, shorter slopes. Jo and I also managed to ski a closed run by accident, and half way down, I broke a ski while side stepping up a powder embankment. The ski snapped just behind the heel and was left flapping, making side stepping in powder impossible, and skiing difficult. I am officially not part of the social media generation as I didn’t instantly post about this, and I didn’t even get a photo. Luckily the hire shop didn’t seem surprised, and gave us more ‘robust’ kit, that was more suitable for ski touring…
Anyway, we then met with James (www.jamesthacker-mountaineering.co.uk) for some proper touring. We headed into the Benevolo hut for a night and attempted Punta Galisia, turning back as the mist rolled in and the thought of skiing in the white didn’t appeal. We then headed around to the Rifugio Vittorio Emanuele II and attempted Gran Paradiso, which we were literally blown off at around 3700m. We then had a huge traverse and descent the next day, finally finding some great powder and long descents.
Our trip into the Parco was great fun as it was covered in snow and felt very remote. Would be interesting to return in summer. It was great to be away from the crowds and on mountains again, and we got some great skiing in too.
I’ll let pictures tell the full story (more here and here), and there is a video on the way…
Yellow Van Mountaineering 