A White Christmas in the Alps

After the huge falls of snow in the Alps in the last few weeks we now have bright blue sunny skies and fantastic snow.

Last week our group of early season skiers were enjoying the fantastic conditions in Ste. Foy and the surrounding resorts. Lead by Bryan Hogg they honed their off piste skills in the powder and the group all come on leaps and bounds by the end of the week.

Nick was out leading a Ski Touring Skills Weekend in St. Gervais, their first day was spent skiing around Les Contamines and practising some avalanche search and rescue techniques. The following day they did a lovely day ski tour around the Petit Croise Baulet and on Sunday they enjoyed a ski descent of the Vallee Blanche.

Over Christmas and New Year we have our Off Piste Performance Foundation and Plus courses running in Chamonix, they will be heading out and around the mountains under the astute eyes of Mark Gear and Olly Allen.

I have been out for a ski in Chamonix this morning and the conditions on and off piste are excellent, with the sun out and not a cloud in the sky, Stuart and myself enjoyed a few runs on the deserted pistes before heading across from Brevent to Flegere, skiing some nice powdery snow in the Combe Lachenal. Before heading for lunch we skied one of the steep couloirs under the top cable car, this astatically pleasing line in Couloir Bellin was an excellent ski and after 500m of jump turning our tired legs just about carried us to the bottom.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we look forward to seeing you out with Mountain Tracks in 2009, please do give us a call to check availability on our courses.