Summer Snow!

Just down in the Valley from another successful Mont Blanc summit (via the Cosmiques 3 summits route). Again conditions were interesting as we fitted in the ascent via a 1 day weather window that opened up the possibility of reaching the summit during an otherwise pretty unstable week of rain in the valley and lots of Snow up high.

We left the Cosmiques at 1:30am after the usual 1am breakfast. It had cleared during the night and a beautiful starlit sky illuminated by a crescent moon (complete with meteor shower) cast the heavens. At least 30cm of new snow lay on the ground and the steep slopes needed some caution due to an unusually high (for the summer) Avalanche risk.

With so much snow trail breaking was going to be tough so, using experience, we stalled a little on departure and let a few teams take the lead to plough a good track up the Tacul. I was pleased to see a new bigger ladder in place (see previous news) across the huge crevasse that now splits, near enough, the whole face of the Tacul in two and with a good track infront we made good swift progress up and over to Mont Maudit.

Here we unfortunately caught up with and passed the last of the trail blazers and so I ended up ploughing a furrow from here up to the fixed lines (which where now buried) on the head wall and onwards to the summit. Moderately strong winds kept the temperatures down and filled the air with skin freezing freshly blown snow (good for the exfoliation of the skin, which is obviously what keeps me looking so young and healthy looking).

The summit was a little windy but sunny with perfect views in all directions.

The descent was pretty straight forwards, 2 full rope length raps on the Maudit headwall, the ladder still in place on the Tacul and then the long hard slog over the Midi Plateau and up to the lift for the return to Chamonix.

Another well earned and satisfactory Mont Blanc ascent (only 2 more to go this summer!)

I've not been out on my bike as much as I'd have hoped for recently due to my previous illness and bad weather. although I did sneak a quick ride up to Flaine the other day which involves a 20km climb up to the Col above the resort. I head off to the Dolomites on Sunday for a week of Via Ferratta Guiding and so will try to get out for a ride before hand and will maybe take my bike with me just to keep my legs in condition for after this busy Mtn Guiding period.

Ruth now tells me we have 5 McNab Snowboarding weeks provisionally full this coming winter and a fair few of the others nearly full!

I still have a week free in at the end of March/beginning of April with the possibility of either running a classic BC Freeride course, something for a Private group or if there is demand we could possibly sneak in a Russian Heli trip to Kamchatka (this is a £5000+ trip so if anyone is seriously interested they should let us know asap. I'd only run this trip if there is a full group of 6 interested).

Otherwise I'll take the week off and go ride!

There have been a lot of calls from people asking about which course they should do. Some people seem a little confused by the progression and I think quite a few people don't opt for the Clinics as they feel the level might be too low and they won't be stretched enough physically and Technically.

The basic run down goes like this.

The Tech clinic is about Technical perfection! For me it is the one course that everyone, no matter how much riding they've done, should do and I have seen many good riders come through and become great riders from attending this course (some returning for the same course more than once!). The week is about breaking down and rebuilding your riding so that you understand what you're doing, why you need to do it and when you need to do it in order to ride efficiently and effectively anywhere on the mountain. The Tech clinics go from Piste to Off Piste and build the foundations you need for everything you do on your board. This is not a low level course and often I find that those that have been riding the longest have the most to learn!

If you want to progress to the upper levels of the sport this is definitely the course to choose!

Ok, so then we have the Off Piste performance Clinic!

This runs on a simillar program to the Tech clinic, (being a Technical learning course) but focuses more on the line you take and your flow with the mountains natural terrain. The Off Piste clinic is the perfect progression from the Tech clinic as the previous technical understanding gained on the Tech clinic would be very beneficial. However, on the first day we will break down and run through the how's and why's of perfect snowboard technique and so those without the previous experience of the Tech clinic will get an accelerated learning progression thrown in for good measure. The Off Piste clinic takes you from Piste to Off Piste to easy access Backcountry and explores how you look at and flow with the natural terrain of the mountain.

Again this is a technique based course offering you some great high level riding whilst breaking down and rebuilding your riding and above all else exploring how you look at and ride the mountain. Riding Off Piste is all about the line you take, controlling your speed to flow with the terrain through the line you ride. Once you have the correct technique and technical understanding of how Snowboarding works this course will help you develop how you look at and use the mountains terrain.

The Backcountry courses are all 'beyond Technique' designed for those that are happy with their riding and feel ready to take the next step out beyond the boundaries of the patrolled area to explore the amazing potential of the untracked high mountains.

The Backcountry Intro is not a lower level course than the BC Freeride course but is simply the first in our progression as it introduces the safety aspects involved with riding and hiking in this high mountain environment and covers, Avalanche search and rescue, terrain analysis, crevasse rescue and glacier travel and BC access techniques.

The BC Freeride course offers the same style course but for those that have already covered the safety techniques previously mentioned and already know what to expect when it comes to getting out and about in the Backcountry.

Our other BC courses specialize in different aspects of riding in the Backcountry or explore new regions or new possibilities.

On all our courses we will cover Avalanche safety and rescue drills and you will be issued with an Ortovox Avalanche transceiver.

Hope this helps clear things up?

All this snow is getting me excited about riding, maybe we should do a pre season week in Les 2 Alpes again? I hear its going to open for a week in late October, anyone interested??

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.