Is it Winter or is it Summer?

Sunset from the Trient refuge before climbing the Aiguille du Tour (far Left) the following morning.

The temperatures and weather continues to jump between winter and summer out here in Chamonix on a daily basis.

The 166km Ultra Trail run that circumnavigates Mont Blanc started out last night in pouring rain and with wintery showers forecast all night, was canceled by the time the first competitors reached St Gervais due to dropping temps, mud slides and flooding. Nice!

Moody skies but beautiful colours over the Midi as we descend from the Tete Rousse.

I've just finished a 6 day Mont Blanc course which due to Strong winds high up never got higher than the Tete Rousse refuge.

Via Ferrata day down the valley at Passy.

We still had a great week however with an ascent of the Petite Fourche, the Aig du Tour in perfect condition on a perfect day, a Point Lachenal and a Via Ferrata day down the valley to finish.

I've just sneaked in a couple of days training on my bike, it feels hard again after not riding much but also good in a painful torture endurance kind of way, those who ride know what I mean!

I bumped in to fellow Guide, Jonnie Baird out on the bike yesterday evening, he's trying to get me to enter the local race up the Vaudagne, a hill climb time trial called the Les Houch'ard. The clue is in the title!

We rode it yesterday to try it out, I came in at 18mins 30 and I think the fastest time is closer to 14 mins! Obviously being a big guy, I'm more of a rouleur than a hill climber so I'll put it down to my size (and get out training every moment I get!!)

The time trial is next weekend, but I'm up the hill for the previous 6 days for another Mont Blanc week, this time with Dev Nayak and his brother Kris. Some of you might know Dev from Snowboard courses last winter. The weather is a bit mixed over the first few days with snow forecast down to 2000m but getting better after.

Snow to 2000m at the end of August, what's going on????

It's time to loan out your copy of Al Gore's movie 'The Inconvenient Truth' the World is trying to tell us something.

Following this MB week I am then working for GPM10 on my bike for 3 tours, the first is a Chamonix/Nice ride (which I did last year as a client with Andy Cook), the second is a 'Tour des Grandes Alpes' which takes in all the major Alpine cols and the third is a 'Coast to Coast' tour across the Pyrenees from Biarritz to the Mediterranean

I'll be more of a rouleur/climber after this little lot, shame the Houch'ard race is later!

With the mountains now constantly covered in fresh snow its hard not to start dreaming of hiking out for deep turns oand I'm getting quite excited about the prospect of the coming winter season and especially the new 'Splitboard' courses.

I updated the availability for courses on the web site the other day which caused quite an influx of new bookings so I'll update it again shortly once the new deposits are taken. A few more courses are either full or nearly full so keep an eye on the courses page if you're thinking of joining a course and haven't done so as yet.

Remember! Anyone booked onto a course with me this winter has 15% off any Jones Snowboard through the TSA, to take advantage of this offer contact Ruth for more details stating which board you're interested in and what size!

Ortovox will also be offering their usual deal to McNab clients so if you're looking for a Transceiver, shovel and Probe set up again get in touch and we'll pass on your details.

I also have a few transceivers, shovels and probes available for sale through the goodies page on the web site.

OK enough for now! I'll try to sneak out on the bike in between wintery showers but its not looking so nice out there today.

Even so, all is good in Chamonix!

Neil.