Fresh snow on the Grandes Autannes and a Beaugean.

Alistair riding the Grd Autannes with great cold powder!

After a great few days at the Grd St Bernard pass we headed back to Chamonix, pausing at the col du Forclaz to scope out the fantastic looking classic descent off the Grd Autannes. Relatively untracked and with great looking cold snow this had to be on the cards for our next sortie.

Alistair making quick work of the climb up the Grd Autannes.

The bootpack was in great condition and with crampons on we headed straight up getting to the top in just over and hour and a half (which is pretty quick, I've know it take twice as long!). It was a perfect day and from the top we looked out on the Midi des Grandes Glacier (which looked like it might have had a bit of wind effect) and the Bron (which looked amazing!). Quite a few people had headed down the back following the sunny slopes down towards the Glacier du trient exit but we descended of the summit and rode across to the classic descent down into the couloir that runs down from the col du Balm. From the very first turn I knew it was going to be good and a big smile spread across my face as my board slid and carved on fresh cold deep silk like powder. We headed across to the top of the main face and looked down on endless untracked powder! I dropped in and melted as I dug deep and entered the white room as the powder filled the air on every turn. Amazing to find this 4 days after the storm during the busy Easter week and with the temperatures getting so high at the moment. A fantastic day made even better due to the fact that we'd dropped the van off right at the bottom in the morning and so rode right to our ride home.

En route to the Col du Baeugean with Alistair and Tammy.

Mixed weather the following day so we decided, rather than scrape around looking for possibilities we'd have a rest day and then hit the Col du Beaugean in the morning. Clear skies welcomed us, myself and Alistair joined for the day by my friend Tammy (who runs Mint in Morzine). A good freeze under clear night skies made the going easier and we made good time up to the start of the rocky climb up to the Col.

The rocky climb up to the Col du Beaugean.

With good snow the other side we didn't need to do the usual rappel and rode straight from the top finding good cold snow on the North Face the other side. A little lower down the snow was still a little frozen but super smooth and so we got some carving on spring snow down into the Berard Valley.

On our descent we skirted to the right of the big slope that had avalanched at the start of the week (claiming the lives of 3 ski tourers). The slope had slid leaving a crown wall from the slab release that must have spread across the slope for about 150m sliding on a very icy smooth layer, obviously undetectable and highly unstable but right on the convexity of the slope.

The warning signs, fresh snow, strong winds and big temperature rises were all in evidence at the start of the week and during our adventure at the Grd St Bernard we'd had to be on our best behaviour and take our lead from the mountains conditions.

There were many Avalanche casualties during the days straight after the last storm and it is a strong reminder for us to heed the warnings laid down by the mountains and the weather. Today there is a tendency for us all to go rushing out there as soon as it clears and dive on in in the rush to get first tracks but we must listen to the mountain and heed the warnings!

A couple of hot days and good freeze thaw cycles like we've just had should start to stabilize things and give us some good spring corn conditions, although more snow is forecast for early next week!

I've got my first week off now since December and so today I had a quick outing on the bike (my second of the winter). It felt hard but good and I'm keen to get out a bit more if the weather holds out.

Following this, I have 2 three day courses back to back and then the piece de resistance, the Mont Blanc Summits week. There are quite a few tracks down Mont Blanc today (we've just had 2 perfect days of clear warm weather and no wind up high) and conditions appear to be good. I'm hoping to get started on the Grand Paradiso in Italy first and then follow up with Mont Blanc so it should be a great final week of the winter.

I've also made some progress with my idea for a split board touring week and so I'll be posting more info on that and also info on next years calendar later this week.

Keep checking back!

All is good,

Neil.