Just back from my Splitboard trip to the Lyngen Alps, Norway…

This was my 2nd trip to the Lyngen Lodge, the first time I went a little later, the first week of May in 2009. The weather was amazing everyday but the snow had definitely turned towards spring riding rather than cold winter powder. We were on Snowshoes back then, I broke trail everyday in knee deep spring melt for 4 to 5 hours everyday. It was an amazing trip but I remember thinking it would be a great place to ride if the access wasn't so hard…Back then, even with all my past negative experiences of Splitboarding, I thought it would be a great place to return to with a group of Splitboarders.

Fast forward a few years and things have changed rapidly!

2 years ago I rode with a certain Mr Jeremy Jones, who convinced me to give Splitboarding another try. His new Brand 'Jones snowboards' was about to be released on the market, he was at the time riding one of the first prototype Flagships, and we spoke about board design and the direction Freeride Snowboarding was heading and how Splitboarding was to be a big part of the next step in Freeride evolution.

I'd recently come back from a hard BC Freeride session at the Col de Grand St Bernard where I'd spent the week wading around, breaking trail in knee deep snow (yet again) whilst ski tourers whistled past, barely breaking the surface, and I'd pretty much already decided that I'd have to give Splitboarding another try…

These 2 experiences were perfectly timed and I was pleased to find that Splitboard technology had advanced a making the experience a little more pleasurable and successful than I'd found it in the past.

Fast forward to the present and last weeks Lyngen trip was my 16th week of Splitboarding this season!!!

Splitboarding has now become a massive part of the Freeride evolution and with the way equipment is advancing it can only get better and better.

Last year in 2011 I ran my first 'Splitboard' expedition to the middle of nowhere in Greenland, it was the perfect trip.

This year I fancied another try at the Lyngen Alps in Norway, a location as mystical as Greenland but with easier access and luxurious accommodation at the 'Lyngen Lodge'.

We flew in to Tromso located some 350km within the Arctic circle to perfect weather and amazing looking Snow conditions, I could see groups skiing fresh powder as we flew in and could feel the excitement build as we drove the 3 hours from Tromoso to the Lyngen Fjord and installed ourselves at the lodge.

As we unloaded the kit from the van outside the lodge I was scoping out the terrain up behind the lodge. From the nearest peak there looked to be the perfect warm up hike and ride, a beautiful looking descent, perfectly NW facing so keeping good cold snow with steep open faces and features around rocky outcrops. It definitely looked like a good place to start the trip and with an early start the next morning, some 1200m of hiking from the sea to the summit and an amazing powder run down, day 1 was in the bag!



Hiking above the lodge on day 1.

A lot of the mountains here look foreshortened from the bottom, or from half way up, the tree line stops at about 300m and from there the tops always look quite near. If you look at the other side of the fjord though and see what remains above the tree line over there it becomes obvious that you still have a fair way to go with a lot of false summits along the way. Like wise though on the descent the open fields of powder are a lot longer than they at first look and the terrain is epic.





First taster tracks in Lyngen on day 1.

Most of the hikes take around 3 to 4 hours and most of the summits are around 1200m. You can really feel that you're at sea level hiking and once you get into it a 1200m ascent will be completed in around 3 hours (an hour less than back in Chamonix at a good pace!) and the riding is anything from open powder fields to steep lines through rocky outcrops…really nice riding!



 From the beach...

 
 to the summit...



 back to the beach...Alastair charges his line!

Day 2 we took the 'Spirit of Lyngen' (the lyngen lodge boat) up the fjord to one of the near by islands. From the beach we hiked through perfect powder for about 4 hours to the highest point on the Island. From here we called back the boat and descended via a huge rolling gully with windlips, banks and drops all the way back to the beach. Not so bad!

Day 3 we used a skidoo to access a deep valley a little way down the coast. From here another 4 hour hike took us to another 1200m peak with some of the best snow and terrain so far. Steep chutes into numerous steep powder fields and some proper deep crystal powder. Another great day!

Day 4 we hiked to another 1200m peak to ride a steep North facing slope visible from the lodge. A long hike ticked off in 3 and half hours and another epic descent…the days are just getting better and better!




Paul charges out of the steep North face on day 4 (just liked this shot with all the boulders covered below!)

Day 5 saw us take a trip up the fjord with the boat again, this time to access a hidden glacier way up on the Lyngen Peninsula. The day had a super remote feel to it as we were properly out there with no other sign of life.


 An isolated Glacial valley...

 
 Hiking to the col above!


Team Lyngen 2012 on the isolated Col deep in the heart of the Lyngen Alps.

An isolated valley leads up to a steep gully to the hidden Glacial valley above, the snow is good, crystal cold powder and the temperature drops rapidly as we move up and onto the shaded Glacial slopes above. Finally we reach the col above and can gaze on the vista of mountains and the fjords over the other side of the Lyngen Peninusla. The descent is wide open and fast, my only advice to the group is to leave no space untracked. Everyone takes their own line and rips it to the valley below. The steep gully is great to ride, banks on the left and right to slash and play on. We re group on the beach and await our take home, another great day in the bag!

Day 6…the last day in Lyngen! I have spied a steep North face, visible from the Lodge. the snow looks great and it has numerous rocky features, chutes and drops. Another 1200m hike, this time in record time, we're getting much quicker now, the whole group are on the top in under 3 hours and that is with a stop en route for Paul to get his photo shoot in!

As we ascend it become apparent that the slopes to the right of our climb are maybe even better than the North Face that I had intended us to ride. At the top we have a group vote on which slopes to ride, there looks to be more on offer over to the right, more room for everyone, great snow and lots of features, it's slightly less steep but looks super fun and the decision in made…the North face will have to wait till another year!

Again, the only rule is to leave no space untracked and everyone charges their own line towards the valley and the sea. It's another amazing descent, super long and fantastic riding and a great finish to a perfect week.
We're back at the lodge for about 1:30 and spend the afternoon relaxing in the hot tub, recovering in the Sauna and tucking into a BBQ on the terrace.

Late in the evening we're treated to a wildlife show as 3 sea otters play along the coastline below, I walk down to check them out as a Sea eagle flies overhead…

This really is a quite mystical place!!!
Videos available from the trip at http://www.youtube.com/user/mcnabsnowsports?feature=mhee

Spring powder sessions week 3...

Another busy Splitboard touring week passes by. Perfect weather on day one saw us take the opportunity for a quick tour over the Col des Autannes before a mixed forecast was scheduled to make planning the weeks schedule an ever changing process.

With mixed weather on Tuesday we headed up to the Col de grand St Bernard for a couple of days, hiking to the Col de Barrasson on the first day with a brief spell of good vis, before a calming night up at the monastery.

Nearing the col de Barrasson.

The next morning unfortunately the weather was taking a serious turn for the worse with zero vis and strong winds. We headed back down to the Van and made an escape to Champex where we rode some seriously heavy wet snow through steep trees for the rest of the day. Champex has some great terrain and will be fantastic on a powder day, we had great fun charging steep soggy lines through the trees whilst looking at the amazing potential for future escapades.

This was followed by heavy snowfall over night and a great bad vis powder riding day off the top lift at the Grandes Montets on Thursday, check out the video below!



With a continuing bad forecast I had planned a possible tour to the Col d'Argentiere for Friday, a col that I have only once managed to reach with one of my Advanced BC groups. The snow conditions would be great, all we would need would be some good vis to make the tour possible. It snowed heavily over night at altitude, rain in the valley, an I awoke to clearing calm skies. The sun started to clear the remaining clouds from the valley, this could mean only one thing for outlast day and so I made a quick call around the guys and booked a mid morning heli flight up to the Trient plateau. On the way up the pilot, who had just made one drop off previous to ours said he had not seen such good conditions up there since early season and this quickly became apparent as we flew up over some seriously good looking steep and deep untracked powder.

Amazing conditions on the Trient plateau.

All alone and deep in it again!

After the customary hike across to the Aiguille du Tour we began the descent with perfect conditions, blue skies, great snow and no tracks (the three skiers before us having traversed way out left missing out on the best riding for some unknown ski reasoning).



The riding was perfect for about 1500m vertical of the 2100m descent, the lower half being temperature affected with some soft crust followed by spring corn making it an epic last days riding in the Chamonix massif both for the guys and for me (for a few weeks) as I now head off Splitboarding in Norway's Lyngen Alps for this years 'Voyager trip'. Following this after a week of acclimatising to sea level I'm back to Chamonix for this years Mont Blanc trip.

First though I have a few days off to get things ready, this of course means leaving everything until the last possible minute whilst riding my bike as much as possible in order to gain some form for the coming cycling season for which I'm badly lagging in fitness.

With this said I am now going to head out for a ride…

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

Another week in paradise?

Sprint training at the Velodrome in geneva today, first track session for ages and it felt super hard. Someone told me that pain is just weakness leaving the body but I have to say I don't feel much stronger! Enjoyed it in a punishing kind of way, but then that seems to be the attraction of cycling?

Another really good splitboard touring week last week. Blue skies everyday, warm temps and stable conditions opened the doors for some great touring possibilities.

We warmed up with a quick tour from Brevent to Lac Noire and then up to the col du lac Noire and down the Lachenal bowl which surprisingly gave up some good snow and nice fresh turns. Most of the guys hadn't splitboarded before so this was a real warm up and training day which saw some interesting variations on the classic ski touring kick turn, not all of which worked to well. The riding was good but touring wise, things could only get better!

The next morning we headed off to the Col du Grand St Bernard, the easy tour up towards the monastery, where we were booked in for the night brought everything together and by the time we approached the Col the team were moving like Pro's.

High above the Monastery is the North facing peak of the ominously named Mont Mort! From its lofty peak untouched fields of cold undulating powder reach down into the valley, visible to anyone approaching the monastery but seemingly tantalisingly out of reach. After a quick stop en route to the Col we made a group decision (ok I might have swayed it somewhat) to go the distance and carry on past the col and climb Mont Mort for some fresh powder turns.

Hiking up above the monastry (seen below).

Great snow!

Andy carves a nice windlip!

A good few hours later we dropped in for an epic untracked descent and the pains of the long ascent were a distant memory. An amazing run, great terrain with rollers, windlips and spines…Nice but shame i forgot the Go Pro!

A peaceful night sharing a dorm with 15 blokes and up and ready for another days adventure. The guys were really getting into the Splitboard touring as we set off up towards the col d en haut for a trip around the Drone. On seeing the fresh powder the other side of the first Col the group decided (without my input this time) to add a little extra hiking onto the trip and get in an extra descent down the valley that leads to La Fouley.

The access couloir!

After a mellow descent in good snow we hiked back up to our original position and then continued our original route up towards the Drone. A steep couloir, climbed with crampons gave us access to the col above were we had lunch and prepared for the descent. The previous day (and the week before) I had spotted a steep untracked face descending from the top over to the left. It looked a little tricky to get into so I shot across to have a look, only to discover 2 perfect untracked powder filled couloirs leading down into a huge powder field which in turn led back in to a steepening with another couple of couloirs opening out into the big valley below. I dropped in to check it out, it was even better than it looked and the whoops from behind told me that I wasn't the only one enjoying the run.

Nice lines in great snow!

Thursday we ventured up and over the Col des Autannes for some more fresh cold snow, making good time allowed us to make a descent down onto Glacier de Bron which we then hiked to the top of for a 2nd descent in perfect cold fresh powder (I had the Go Pro with me so you can see some of the footage in the clip below).

Friday, we had the Heli booked for a Splitboard heli day. On the way up I spied a great line off the Petoudes glacier variant from the Heli, which I managed to find on the way down. A new McNab secret spot gave us an amazing descent down a beautiful steep couloir in perfect snow. Check out the video below to see the footage.



After 2 weeks of touring I had a rest day on Saturday before heading off to the track today. I've just finished setting up all the boards for tomorrow and have another week of touring set up for this coming week. Looks like the weather might be changing a little bit, it would be nice to get some more fresh snow to ride, fill in all the tracks and give us some more glory turns.

I'll get the camera ready!

Not so bad!

Neil.

Splitboard touring week and more fresh snow!!!

Great Splitboard touring course last week with fresh snowfall on Sunday night running through Monday setting things up nicely for another week of tracking out fresh lines.

Mondays video



After a riding day on the Grandes Montets on Monday we got stuck into a splitboard initiation day for those new to this art of travel. Unfortunately the word was out that the place to ride was top tickets Grandes Montets (probably partly due to the fact that I posted my Video of Mondays riding on the Chamonix Facebook page which saw it get 1200 views in the evening) and so we didn't get the early start that we needed and spent 2 hours in the queues trying to get to the top. We didn't get to start out for the Col du Tour Noire until 11:30 and so had to cut the tour short half way up the Glacier des Amethyste. The ride down, however, wasn't so bad.

Video of Tuesdays trip.



On Wednesday, with a good forecast we set out for a 2 day touring trip around the Col du Grand St Bernard. Perfect conditions saw us hike up to the col west de Barrason with a superb ride down on the first day, a night in the Hospice, followed by the fantastic tour of the Drone on day two.

Col des Barrason on day 1.

Tour du Drone day 2.

Near the top of the Drone day 2.

A great ride down follows!

Unfortunately I forgot to take the video camera but got a few nice shots with my phone!

Friday we headed out for a local tour with the Col des Autannes. Happily surprised to find deep cold fresh snow over the other side of the Col and some proper deep turns awaiting. Again, gutted I forgot the camera but wasn't expecting it to be so good!!

Hiking to the col des Autannes.

Freshies await on the other side!

The snow was very good!

everyone gets the goods!

The weather is now warm and stable, proper spring conditions and great cycling weather so on Saturday I headed out on the road bike for my 3rd ride of the year. Quite a big outing with a couple of friends who have obviously secretly been hard at it on the turbo's all winter and a proper besting for me. Managed to keep up, the top of the hill came just in time and it kind of felt good to dig into the physical torment of cycling again starngely making me want it more and more.

Another splitboard touring week coming up, a warm up day tomorrow and then off for a couple of 2 day trips so all good. The weather looks good for the week so looking forward to it…

Until the next time, take it easy!! (unless you're on my Mont Blanc trip later in the season in which case get training!!!!

More news from Chamonix winter season 2012

It's full on Spring conditions here in Chamonix this week, blue skies, sunshine, high temps and spring corn snow…It's definitely got that playtime sort of feel to it up on the hill, slushy bumps and jumps all over the place and a totally jib style of riding on the cards.

I have a 3 day tech clinic this week so have been playing around Le Tour yesterday, Brevent and Flegere today and will hit up the Grandes Montets tomorrow, should be fun!

Last week I had an Off Piste clinic running. To help things along it snowed at the weekend and on the first day, so gave us some great riding conditions as you can see in this quick clip from Tuesday on the Rognons Glacier.



I didn't film much as I we were to busy riding and making the most of the fresh snow, the day got better and better and we finished with a superb line down through the crevasses on the left side of the Face from top tickets in super deep and untracked snow. I forgot I had the Camera otherwise I'd have got some great footage for sure.

We also had a great run off the Aiguille du midi, not really my usual outing for an Off Piste clinic, but the snow up high was so good that we had to make exceptions and it was well worth the effort.

Anyway, it was a fun week which we finished off with a quick slack country hike around from Col Cornu to the Col above the lac Noire.

Hiking to the col du lac noire

As it had been warm all week and its an easy tour I'd not expected anything special and thought it would be pretty tracked out. After breaking trail on foot through some deep cold fresh snow though I started to think that maybe we'd be about to strike gold. The descent had about 20 ski tracks down it, all of the skiers had stayed out right and the whole of the left was untracked and super smooth. I initially thought that maybe it was just dust on crust on that side and that there would be a good reason that everyone had avoided it but thought I'd just give it a quick look see.

It turned out to be perfect powder so I just kept on going and could hear the guys (girls) whooping it up behind me.

A nice touch and a great finish to the week!

The week preceding this I had a BC intro course running.

Conditions were a bit trickier for this week and the fresh snow was harder to find.

The snowpack had had a big freeze thaw running through it at the weekend with lots of serious avalanche activity taking place. It had since re frozen and the air had cooled with a Northerly wind running though the valley. Not the best conditions, a spring snowpack but the air not yet spring enough to melt out the corn snow conditions. It to a little while to get to grips with it but it soon became apparent that up high the snow was still cold and in some places fresh and so we ventured up the top of the Grandes Montets and spent time up high riding the Glaciers up there.

The Aiguille du Midi also turned up the goods, the snow cold and untracked down my special variant before a 'planned' crevasse rescue session down on the Mer du Glace. We also toured up the Argentiere Glacier towards the Col du Tour Noire but had to turn around before the top as we ran out of time. I'd not been up that way at all this season so it was nice to get up there and check out the conditions, I love being up that way surrounded by the big North faces of the Droites and the Courtes, it feels like you're properly deep in the mountains, yet you're only an hours hike away from the Rognons descent off top tickets.

Anyway, all in all another its been a great couple of weeks!

I managed to get out on my road bike at the weekend for my first ride of the season. I bumped into a couple of friends and so my easy first ride turned into a little bit of an uphill besting session. My legs felt ok and I was quite surprised to find my form wasn't as bad as I thought it would be having not touched my bike for nearly 2 months (except for a track session a couple of weeks ago). I have 4 days off the snow after tomorrow (a 3 day course this week), my first rest period since November so I'll try to get out on my bike again if this weather holds out.

After this week I have 3 Splitboard touring weeks coming up, this should be great as I'm up for a bit of an explore and so will try to get out to some new areas if the conditions allow. I'll be getting the maps out this weekend and having a look at where to go and what to do.

3 weeks touring, then Lyngen and then Mont Blanc so a big hit now on the Splitboard! Infact tomorrow might be my last day of riding on my regular set up so I'm going to take the Hovercraft 160 out for its last spring ride!

I've been ridding the regular Flagship 164 the last couple of weeks, it's stiffer this year than last year and I've had a great time on it!

Also pleased to report that after 3 weeks of abuse, my impression of the 'Sweet' outerwear is still as good as it ever was, this kit simply rocks!!

Until the next time…

All is good in Chamonix!

That just maybe was my best week yet???

So another week passes by but what a week it has been!

The Advanced BC course with a 1-3 ratio is always one of my favourite weeks to guide and this year was to be no exception.

With some fresh snow over the weekendI grabbed the guys on Monday morning and we headed straight up the Aiguile du Midi for a morning run down the Envers. It had snowed a lot more than I had expected and we enjoyed fresh lines all the way down the Petite Envers with a nice variation out towards the Vrai Valley Blanche.

A great first run and back in the valley for midday and straight up to the top of Brevent for a quick one down the Chamonix classic Extreme descents, the famous ENSA couloir.

Video of day 1:

With a fresh top of snow on the hidden North faces it was time to get the Splitboards out and get out amongst it. Day 2 saw us make a perfect tour up and over the superb Col du Beaugean with amazing conditions both up and down.

Video of day 2:

After an excellent day over the Beaugean there really could only be one place to top the lot so an early morning heli pick up at 8:45 saw us heading up towards the Trient plateau in order to put some lines into the completely untracked Glacier des grandees with a Glacier des Petoudes variant. This was an amazing descent, another contender for 'my best descent of the season' with over 2000m vertical of fresh powder!

Video of day 3:

Having flown over the Grandes Autannes on the way up the previous day and seen it still completely untouched there really could only be one choice of descent for Thursday and so we skinned up above Le Tour before starting the long stair master challenge of putting a boot pack all the way up the Autannes Couloir. Conditions were pretty tricky and the crampons were put to good use on some frozen mixed terrain. Putting tracks in on the way up normally means only one thing for the descent and as we rode out of the exit couloir with big grins on our faces, the 4 lines down from the summit lay like signatures of our days effort.

Video of day 4:

Having hiked the last 3 days would it be time to ease off for the final day of the week? With 3 fit guys hungry for adventure and fresh lines I now wanted to finish the week with something a bit special, something I'd never done before but often looked up at and so at 6am with stars overhead I picked up the guys for an early start for the long climb up Mont Buet!

Early morning starts like this are always a struggle until you get started. Thinking about getting up and getting out hiking at this sort of time is always worse than it actually is and I normally find that once you're up and at it it's actually a beautiful time of day to be out there. The climb up Mont Buet from Le Buet is normally a 6 hour hike. After the long flat of the Berarde valley we started the long scent to the summit. The day started to warm up as sun hit the peaks and 5 hours after leaving the van we were standing on the summit. The snowpack was by now seriously warming and the avalanche risk rising so we made a swift descent down the famous Creux au Vaches with some great cold fresh snow high up and slushy spring conditions low down.
At 2pm we were back down in the valley, tired legs and big grins after another amazing week of great Backcountry adventure.

Unfortunately I was to busy hiking and riding to film any of this final day but the previous videos will give you some idea of the quality of riding covered through out the week an again on this final day.

That's 6 back to back weeks of Backcountry riding so far this season! 6 weeks on my Splitboard hiking out amongst the high peaks and some of the best riding I've had for years here in the Chamonix!

A quick recovery over the weekend (a ski with my girls) and tomorrow back at it with another BC Intro course.

Conditions have seemingly switched to spring over the past few days with clear skies and warmer temps. After such a cold winter up until now the sudden change has made the avalanche risk increase massively. A couple of good melt freeze cycles are needed to transform and stabilise things and then, with a great forecast for the coming week, we can get stuck into some good spring riding conditions.

Other news…I'm pleased to report that the 'Sweet protection' outerwear is as good as it looks. Zero G here in Chamonix are offering all McNab clients a 20% off deal on all the range (if you don't see what you want on the Zero G website, you can send us your order and they'll get it shipped direct) as with all our deals (Ortovox, SiS, Jones) simply let us know what you're interested in and we'll put you in contact with the dealer.

All courses for this season are now full and interest is already high for next winter. As usual I'll be putting the dates on line towards the end of May but if any of you have got a group together and want to book particular dates you'll need to let us know before I finalise the calendar.

You might think its a bit early to start thinking about next winter already, but the interest in next seasons courses is starting to increase week by week.

And Finally…I've started putting some plans together for a, long time promised, South America 'Chile Road trip' for this coming September. I know a lot of you have been asking for this one so just thought I'd give you the heads up that its looking like a go.

Anyone interested should get in touch - 10 days (2 week trip) early September.

All is good!

Neil.

pure Sweetness!!!

Sweet, sweet sweet!

And so its happened! Just when I thought it was time to cut my losses and actually go and buy some 'Sweet protection outerwear' things came up trumps and they sent me a load of kit!!

Not only is this great for me but it's also great for you as:

1. you get to ride with me in my new sweet kit! (possibly not as exciting for you as for me!)

2. You now get 20% off the best outerwear products on the market through Zero G here in Chamonix and through their on-line store!!

I've been drooling over the 'Sweet protection' kit for the last few years, trying to get my clothing sponsors to mimic it and produce kit as similar to it as possible but to no avail and so just when I was seriously thinking about buying some, this new deal came through!!

As most of you know, I'm pretty demanding on equipment and kit and so if something works I don't hesitate in giving it my full support, likewise, if something doesn't work I'll make no qualms about giving it a bit of a slagging!

There's not much kit gets the 'full McNab seal of approval' and not since I started riding for 'Jones' have I been personally so excited about a Snowboarding product.

The outerwear is perfectly suited to Backcountry riding, super lightweight, packable Gore-tex shell jots. Pants with room for movement and plenty of vents, all very well made and made to last. We're talking a high end product here built for the type of riding we love with a high sense of fashion built in.

20% off gives you a 'better than Pro deal' through Zero G too so check out the products and get some kit you'll be stoked to ride in!!

My personal fav's are the 'Crusader jkt', the 'Supernaut jkt' and the 'Nutshell insulated jkt'. For Snow Pants, check out the 'Supernaut' and 'Renegade'.

Well nice!

If you're interested in taking up this offer check out the products and give Ruth a shout with what you want and we'll pass you onto those in the know!

Ok, so you can see I'm pretty excited about that development, it's been a while coming…very happy!

Well, apart from this I've also been busy running another Splitboard Freeride course and another week has flown on by!

A great start to the week at Le Tour with a hike up and ride down the couloir left of the point du Van finishing in Trient. Nice lines and some great snow down there last week.

The team en route for the Beaugean

Tuesday we got stuck straight into a big day with my first Col du Beaugean of the winter, infact the first for a few years I think.

Paul nears the top of the Beaugean

This is a great day out, as interesting on the way up as the way down with a big day touring, a short rock scramble and an abseil off the top before some seriously good deep untracked powder to finish…Nice!

Wednesday the weather was a bit mixed with cloud and a little snow, we started with a run off the mid station of the Aiguille du Midi, the snow was a bit blown out and the riding very tech! Once back in the valley we jumped back in the van and headed over to Courmayeur where we hiked over to Mont Fortain in the sunshine and scored a great ride down into the Val Veni.

Hiking to Mt Fortain.

Thursday was supposed to be a bit of an easier tour as we headed down off Brevent towards the Lac du brevet for a tour up and over the Aiguiette des Houches for a run down the Vogealle couloir.


Thursday started out with this!

On the first descent we hit some great powder but rode too low and had to hike back up and out above a rock buttress. Unfortunately, one of the guys, Euan, slid down a couloir and over the rock buttress carried by the fresh snow and dropped/slid over some rocks about 20m to the snow below. Not one to complain much he said his leg hurt but he would be ok to carry on, after about half an hour of skinning, it wasn't getting an better and so we got him evacuated by Heli. It turned out he'd broken his ankle pretty badly! I had asked him how much it hurt on a scale of 1 to 10 to which he answered about a 7. Makes you wonder what Euan would have to do for a 10? 'Made of girders' as the saying goes!!

Euan moments before detonation!

Once Euan was safely out of there we carried on with the tour, the cloud had now come down and time was ticking…We skipped the Vogealle couloir and dropped directly down to coupe, dropping under the cloud layer and scoring some very nice turns in good untracked fresh.

Not the easy touring day I'd planned on, more of a problem solving day with a mostly satisfying conclusion…Euan has now had an op on his ankle and we wish him a speedy recovery!

So onto Friday, cloudy in the valley but clear up top with no wind so we headed up the Aiguille du Midi and rode down the Petite Envers, taking a variant by the Petite Rognon and scoring some pretty nice fresh lines.

We then started to skin up the Periades but the snowpack was icy and the Glacier pretty open so half way up we turned around and rode back down the way we had come, quitting while we were ahead, scoring a great day out and scoring a fitting end to another 'almost' perfect week!

I've now been Splitboard touring constantly for 5 weeks and haven't touched my bike in about a month! Today however, with an airport pick up in Geneva to do, I made a slight diversion back to the Velodrome in order to check out how my legs are doing.

After about an hour of riding around in circles I am pleased to report that they were 'not so bad'! I had a great session, very tempting to try to get back into it and get some weekly sessions in again but I still have about 8 weeks of Splitboarding to go so need to pace myself and not get burned out. Very tempting though… I must control my compulsive addictive tendencies!!

I have an Advanced BC week this week, got some good interesting plans so we'll see what the conditions bring. Col du Beaugean is calling again, might try to get a lap in on the ENSA couloir, maybe the Rectalin and if its in good condition Glacier Brenva which I have never done!!

Hmmm…sounds good, lets see what the condition bring!

All is good,

Neil