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.