Another epic couple of weeks!

Another couple of weeks passes by, another great couple of weeks I have to add…

A Splitboard Intro course followed by a BC Freeride with some of the best conditions I've seen in the valley in at least 10 years!!

The Splitboard week was great fun… (see last news)

After a sunny start on the first day the weather came which made touring harder but snow conditions epic!

I was keen to try a Col d'Encrenaz descent so on Tuesday we set of for Lac Blanc in light snow with the forecast better for the afternoon. Unfortunately the brighter conditions didn't materialise and by midday when we arrived at the Lac Blanc refuge we were plagued by some serious snowfall and worsening visibility. We turned back after a brief snack stop and caught a rare sunny break for the excellent ride back to the lower lift at Flegere down the big Off piste area known locally as the fairway. No tracks and excellent snow made the decision to turn back bearable!
On Wednesday we again headed out to try to complete the tour, again the conditions were a little mixed with light snowfall but better vis than the day before. This time we continued our tour, breaking trail for some 4 hours around towards the Col.

After so many, 'it's just around the next rock ridge' that even I was starting to not believe a word of it we came around the last rock ridge and there it was…

After 4 hours of breaking trail through perfect powder you'd kind of expect the descent to be in pretty good condition and it was! We rode straight down the central couloir all the way to the Col du Montets in perfect powder but with the light a little flat. At this time of year the flat light is quite common on these big slopes that don't get any sun and the amazing snow conditions more than made up for this slight imperfection.

This was my, ever changing, new best run of the winter!

Check out the video clip here!




We had a riding day to recover in Courmayeur with a couple of laps in the Val Veni..very nice! Before, to finish the week on a super high we then hit the classic Glacier des Grandes from the Trient Heli drop for another amazing descent.

Conditions on the Grandes have been getting better every week, for this descent they weren't quite at their peak but were definitely getting there…

check out the video of the descent here!



A great week of riding with a super cool crew…nice!


Ok so then last week things stepped up even further with more snowfall and this time no wind!!!

Condtions just suddenly went off and I knew I could coax the guys into doing something good. Slight mixed weather at the start of the week but great conditions for a Pas de Chevre warm up day followed by an amazing snowy day riding the trees in Courmayeur.

Check out the tree riding video clip here!



Towards the end of the day the weather cleared and I got a brief view of Glacier Toule which looked amazing! Clear skies the next morning made it an easy decision and we hit a couple of laps of glacier Toule off the Helbronner with the second descent taking us all the way down to the tunnel…epic powder all the way for a 2000m vertical descent!!

Video clip to follow….(check my McNab Snowboarding Facebook or youtube pages for the latest clips)

Having not hiked anywhere yet I was getting a bit keen to get out and score some big descent and new the conditions would be now amazing. Thursday we hiked up to Col du Passon in deep powder all the way. With only one ski group ahead, I knew we'd be on for something good but hadn't expected it to be as good as it was!!

I hadn't seen the Passon this good for over 10 years, no wind effect on the snowpack and silken powder from top to bottom…A new favourite run of the season in the bag…

check out the video clip here!



So how to top that?

There could be only one solution, 'the Grandes' so I called the heli in for an early morning drop up on the Trient plateau. Very cold conditions kept the Verbier jet set away and we had the mountains to our selves. Again I found myself breaking trail through deep light powder, something that can only mean great things are in store for the descent!

The Glacier des Grandes was now present in all its glory, conditions had changed and it now had on its perfect powder cloak from top to bottom!

At last a full speed descent was applicable!!!!

A new best run of the season…Video clip to follow shortly!

And so ended another fantastic course…but unfortunately for me not the end of my working week with a private guiding booking on my day off again!!!

What was going to be a simple days guiding on the Grandes Montets, quickly got urned into another Heli drop on the Trient plateau, this time with the intentions of riding a new line that I'd been keeping an eye on from the heli each time we'd flown over.

Another cold clear day up in the mountains, perfect conditions everywhere as we flew up over the Grandes now sporting 7 super nice lines down it from our descent the day before. I checked out my new line, it looked great, a little sporty in one section through the glacier to get into it but fantastic terrain and amazing snow all the way.

The usual quick hike across to the Aiguille du Tour and then the drop in…the Glacier Petouds variant.

Another amazing descent and again a 'New best run of the winter!'….

Check out the video clip here!



Busy, busy, busy…but if you have to work on your day off this might as well be what you do?

More Splitboarding coming up this week and lots of possibilities, the hardest bit now is deciding which run to do!


Bit of a nightmare with our phone and internet at the moment, our house phone line is out of action and they can't dig up the road to put in a new one because of the snow! This makes updates etc a little harder but Ruth is keeping on top of the bookings and contacts as best she can but if you're waiting for a reply from either Ruth or myself just have a little patience and we'll be in touch asap.

All in all not a bad couple of weeks!!

Neil.