More Mont Blanc - is fast and light the way to go?

I'm back to work now up in the peaks after an easy July where I got to ride my bike a lot and generally enjoy some Chamonix summer time.

I did a couple of Mont Blancs in between some big rides and ended up feeling pretty strong and fit right up until I was about to start work again and got hit by an un-friendly case of the Gastro.

4 days later I emerged over 4 kilo's lighter just ready for my next Mont Blanc work!

Any one looking for a weight loss program the Gastro is like a rage running through the system.
Fast and light? Not so fast but a lot lighter! Not recommended as a training program.

It's taken about a week to recover and in the mean time our youngest daughter Loren (nearly 3) also got it and ended up in the hospital for a few days. Ruth and Manon seem to be immune but Ruth obviously hasn't been in the office for a while.

All is now well, we're all recovered and the office is operational again!

I guided Mont Blanc from the Cosmiques yesterday, it was a bit windy up high and cold with fresh snow blowing about after a storm the previous day.

Mont Blanc du Tacul is getting a bit complicated with a huge crevasse blocking the route quite low down on the face. A ladder has been put in place for the crossing but since it was put in the crevasse seems to have gotten wider and the ladder barely reaches now. I was a little worried that it might not still be there on our return but it was albeit barely so I'm not sure how long this route will be accessible. Without the ladder crossing the crevasse would be a major undertaking and near impossible for most.

Mont Maudit is also quite technical at the moment with about 50 meters of steep ice climbing up towards the top.

The wind was blowing hard from the col du Brenva up to the summit and a big lenticular cloud started to form over the summit as we climbed the final slopes. the wind never got so bad that I felt we'd need to turn around so we climbed on and made the summit albeit in a bit of a white out so the view wasn't amazing!

The cloud came in fully then and we descended back to the Midi in white out conditions which could have gotten interesting but the storm held off until the evening as forecast and we dropped below the cloud half way down the Tacul.

A good ascent and a well earned summit.

I'm back up there after the weekend so I hope someone has taken up a bigger ladder!

A couple of days off now to ride my bike again before Mont Blanc and then a Dolomites trip to guide some via ferrata which should be fun.

The Winter courses are booking up steadily, we now have 5 courses penciled in as full (places are only confirmed with a deposit payment) and quite a lot of the remaining courses are looking pretty busy.

There's probably a couple of bookings per day at the moment so we should be pretty full come the Autumn (which is our normal time to 'start' taking winter bookings!) We've had a Northerly wind stream blowing through the past week bringing some cooler air and mixed weather with fresh snow falls down to about 2700m this morning.

Looking over towards the Dome du Gouter the other day, from the final slopes on Mont Blanc, it looked almost tempting enough to get the Snowboard out!

Almost!

Still cool out at the moment but due to heat up again towards mid week so hopefully it will be good weather for my next MB ascent.

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

Summer and Winter News!

Wow, it's hot over here!

Even the forecast say 'Scorching heat!'

Andy Cook was just out for a few days riding on the bikes. We did some great tours, climbed all the big famous Cols and did a good few hundred K's in 3 days of solid riding.

We rode up the col du Rammaz to watch the Tour de France come past, amazing!

Those guys are pretty quick and whilst suffering in that heat they still maintain a look of absolute calm whilst pushing way beyond their limits. Very Impressive!

Since then, I've been up on the Mont Blanc again but didn't make the top due to strong winds.

I've another week on the bike now and then I have a busy period up in the mountains from the end of July up to the begining of September. Lots of work here and a trip to the Dolomites guiding some Via ferrata which should be fun.

I've quite a bit of writing going too.

I'm writing a monthly piece for Whitelines next winter, the Backcountry intro and info for the TSA catalogue and I'm also working on some ideas for a couple of books. One would be a kind of biog journey to where I am now and the other would be a Backcountry Freeride book.

All ideas at the moment, I'll maybe post a couple of chapters from the Biog on line and see what you think.

Ruth is now busy taking bookings for the winter courses which are looking very busy already.

Just a quick heads up for anyone interested in the Greenland trip, there are only 2 spaces left so get in touch asap if you want to join us.

A lot of the regular courses only have a couple of spaces left available and a few are already provisionally full!

It's great to see that you're all as excited about the coming winter as I am!!

Remember too, that if you book on a course you can get 15% off any of the 'Jones Snowboards' range through the TSA.

Quite a few of you have already taken advantage of this offer so we'll be ripping it up next season!

I'm very excited about riding the Jone Flagship next winter. Imagine riding a board specifically designed for the riding you love! Its going to take everything up to another level!

Ok, I'm going to get off before my mind starts running away with dreams of deep powder turns on my new board.

Arggh, to late!

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

McNab News from Chamonix!

Its a beautiful time of year out here in Chamonix. The weather is now summer hot, clear mornings followed by cumulus cloud growth in the afternoons can make for some pretty big electrical storms come the late afternoon evening, quite nice as it cools and refreshes everything, unless of course you're up in the mountain when its not nice at all.
Its the time of year for early Alpine starts and mid afternoon finishes up amongst the peaks.

I've been busy out on my bike again since my last blog. I did some more riding guiding with the GPM10 cycling crew, big days and good fun.

I also just did my 2nd ever road bike race last Sunday. A 110km circuit with 3 climbs, one of which was the massive Col du Madeleine from the South side which involves 1500m of altitude gain over 20km of switchbacks. (The Tour de France passes over it next week sometime! A damn sight quicker than I did no doubt!)

It was a great experience, well kind of?

The first 50km were tight bunch racing, quite intense and exciting, followed by a medium sized climb, 5 or 6k's where the group gets split and you have to power on to keep with the front group and not get dropped back. Some good down hill were my extra kilo's come into some use and then the second medium climb, this one about 8k's in which I dropped to the 2nd group to conserve energy for the big one to come.

At the foot of the Madeleine its every man for themselves and you just dig in and turn the pedals trying to find a sustainable rhythm. The climb was long, steep and under the heat of the midday sun it felt really hard. At times I felt like I'd not even make the top, everyone seemed to be in the same sh*t state or petty much, but a few Science in Sport Gels got me through and I only got passed by a couple of riders on the climb and even made up quite a few places.

The descent off the top was great and I came in a respectable 26th out of around 400 starters.

I've a long way to go I feel but its getting better everyday. It never seems to get any easier but I guess you always push to your limit what ever that may be.
All good though!

I've a week of riding with Andy Cook coming up before I head up Mont Blanc again next week and we'll ride over to Morzine to see the Tour de France flow through.

On the McNab Snowboarding front things are ticking along nicely. For those of you who didn't see the last news blog the TSA are giving 15% off Jones Snowboards to anyone who has booked a course with us next winter! Get in touch for details.

Also I put a classic BC Freeride course on 24th to 28th Jan last week (its potentially full already but only when deposits are in!)

I took the Lyngen trip off the schedule this year so as to focus on the Greenland expedition and stick to one big trip a season. In place of Norway I might now put on another classic BC freeride course if the demand is there so watch this space.

Ruth is now taking deposits for the courses. Remeber, your space isn't confirmed until your deposit has been paid, so if you've got your name down for something confirm your place asap.

The Tour de France is passing close next weekend as I've already mentioned and there's also a World cup climbing event on in Chamonix center next weekend so plenty to get out and see.

Alan Fielding (regular BC client, Greenland 08, Kashmir 2010) is out in the valley with a friend for some climbing and popped around for some insider info. Condtitions are good so I hope they get some good climbing done, I sent them off with a big list of routes to try.

All is good in Chamonix, hope you're all enjoying the summer!

Neil.

McNab clients get 'Jones Snowboards' discount at TSA!

Ok it's official, anyone booking on a 'McNab Snowboarding' course for this coming winter can get a massive 15% discount off any of the 'JONES Snowboards' range through 'The Snowboard Asylum' on booking their course (contact Ruth for more details).

As most of you will be aware by now, as of next winter I shall be riding for 'JONES Snowboards' as part of the 'Jones Snowboards' European contingent and helping on R&D.

This coming winter 2010/11 I have dedicated three Backcountry Freeride courses to the 'Jones Solution Splitboard' so as to explore the obvious potential that Splitboarding can offer to the BC aficionado. I also have one week of Snowboard Touring scheduled into the calendar and a BC Expedition to the East Coast of Greenland both of which will also run in favor of the 'Jones Splitboard' experience.

When not Touring I shall be riding the 'Jones' Flagship 168W. I rode with Jeremy Jones at the beginning of last season here in Chamonix when he was testing his first Flagship prototypes and they looked awesome. A few tweaks here and there and the end result looks very exciting in deed.

In much the same way as I am with 'McNab Snowboarding', the whole 'Jones Snowboards' range and Jeremy's whole ethos is dedicated to Freeriding and exploring the unlimited potential of Backcountry riding all over the world and I am proud to be part of the new 'Jones Snowboards' revolution.

I'm already very excited about riding the Flagship, a board that is specifically designed for the type of riding that I live for! How amazing will that be? I also think that the future potential for Backcountry riding and exploration offered by the Jones 'Solution' Splitboard might just be the answer to all our prayers when it comes to BC touring here in the Alps.

I'm a hard case to convince when it comes to Splitboarding as in the past I haven't had much success with it. In fact I found the going up to be great but the flex of the board too soft to make the descent worth riding. Jeremy assures me that these new 'splits' are stiffer and more versatile than anything out there and this must come from a man in the know! Also the new 'Spark r&d' bindings are a massive step in the right direction and are reported to increase the performance of the Splitboard by up to 30% from previous. This is a good thing as I found the older raised up binding system to be half of the problem when it came down to the riding performance.

Also as part of the test and development team I'm determined to get a working splitboard on my feet as soon as I can. So what ever it takes!

I was already greatly inspired to try a Splitboard again after touring around the 'Col du Grand St Bernard' with Alistair Davies this last winter. The potential out there is massive but the distances that need covering are just too great for Snowshoeing so all of this couldn't have come at a better time!

Is this the future? Just imagine the possibilities. Those that were out in Kashmir with me in January can only imagine what we could have got up to if we'd had the potential of 'Splitboard' access. Imagine going Heli boarding in Kamchatka but then staying on for a Peninsula crossing on Splitboards!

This just could be the dawning of a new era!

Anyway, you get the picture I'm sure and you can probably tell that I'm quite excited by the prospects of riding for 'Jones snowboards' next winter.

Ruth is now ready to take deposits for next winters courses and will be in touch with all those provisionally booked in to confirm your places.

To conclude then, if anyone booking a course is interested in this amazing discount deal on any of the new 'JONES SNOWBOARDS' range give us a shout and we'll sort it out!

Right back out on the bike, enough Office stuff for this week!

All is good in Chamonix.

Neil.

Loads of snow on Mont Blanc!!

On top of Mont Blanc at 6am the other day!

So last week I cycled around it, this week I went to the top of it!

Yep I'm just down from my first Mont Blanc summit of the summer season. I spent the first half of the week wading around in deep snow in zero visibility following compass bearings through snow blizzards. It snowed down to about 2000m, it finally cleared when we were up at the Trient refuge, (which we navigated to in complete white out, wading through knee deep snow on the Glacier du Trient) and so we climbed the Aiguille du Tour in perfect winter climbing condition and waded through light sparkling powder to both get there and get back down to the valley.

Check out the sparkling fresh snow, amazing riding conditions!

It would have been perfect riding conditions!

The last couple of days the weather was perfect and we did Mont Blanc from the Gouter refuge 3800m. The first day you climb up to the Gouter refuge from the Nid d'Aigle 2372m, some 1400m of climbing the last 600m of it steep rocky scrambling in crampons. The second day we did from the hut to the summit, 1000m of climbing which we did in just over 3 and half hours (which is pretty quick). we were the first teams on the top and had the summit to our selves for the sunrise, perfect conditions but bitterly cold!

Sunrise on the summit of Mont Blanc, the Monta Rosa massif in the background.

Again there was loads of snow and it would have been great for riding instead of wading around in it!

I now have a couple of weeks off to ride my bike some more before a busy August in the mountains. The Tour du France passes through Morzine so I'll cycle over there to see that. Andy Cook who some of you might know from winter courses is coming out to stay so we'll get some rides in and go visit the Tour before I briefly head up MB again mid July.

Winter bookings are going very well, Ruth will start taking deposits very soon and then all these provisional bookings can be confirmed. 2 courses are provisionally full and 3 or 4 others have only 1 or 2 places left! Amazing for this time of year!!

Jeremy Sladen from the TSA has been in touch to offer a 10% discount on 'Jones Splitboards' to anyone who has booked on one of the 'Split board courses'. Anyone interested in taking up this offer should get in touch with me as he only has limited stocks (but can order more if interest is high). I've replied to see if this offer can be extended to all the 'Jone Snowboards' range on all 'McNab snowboarding courses' so watch this space for further news. We'll contact everyone who has booked with news of the offer once deposits have been taken.

I've also been asked to do a monthly BC feature in Whitelines next year so that should be good. If anyone has any specific BC topics they want to see covered let me know and I'll see if I can do something with it.

I'll also be writing something on Off Piste/BC riding on the TSA web site soon, so again whatch this space for further news.

I'm out cycling with the GPM10 team again tomorrow, the weather has finally come good these past few days and it looks like summer has finally hit!

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

The summer season is here!

I just got in from a four day cycling 'Tour du Mont Blanc' on road bikes with GPM10.

I must be getting a little better as Mark (GPM10 boss) finally asked me along as one of his cycling guides. As I mentioned in my last news post, I came 69th in the Time Megeve last weekend but 20th in my age Category so that's not so bad for my first outing, and I feel like I've improved again since then.

I'm never going to be the best uphill (with my size), but I can feel it getting better, the speed and power are increasing and my stamina and sustainability is getting better. Just got to keep working on it and keep pushing on through to the next level. I unfortunately live in a very hilly area for cycling so I'm just going to have to keep working on it!!

It's great to feel and see the gains as you progress. With my rock climbing (and I guess also with Snowboarding) where I've already pushed myself to the highest levels of the sport it feels a bit different. With climbing especially it can be quite frustrating as you're always pushing yourself to try and get back to a level that you have been at in the past. You know what it takes to get to that level, but back then its all you did, your life revolved around it and now you have other commitments that kind of get in the way a little, plus its difficult to keep motivated when you're chasing a level that you've been at and you know the effort it takes to get back to it.

With the cycling its all a big unknown, I've never been at any kind of level in cycling so its all a bit new and quite exciting to see how much I can improve. I've always been more of a power player, (short steep powerful climbs were my cup of tea) and with the cycling I'm having to improve my power endurance and endurance capacities which is interesting. Having to change my bodies performance capabilities and change my muscular make up a little for endurance mileage.

Its taking a while but I'm starting to feel it coming along now and so just can't seem to stop. I think when you know how hard it is to make the gains, you feel like you can't afford any time off or you'll drop the hard fought fitness you've just gained.

Its almost like an addiction but I'm loving it!

Anyway, the last four days have been great!

Chamonix to Champex over the col du Montets and the col du Forclaz then the big climb up to Champex.
Champex to La Thuille over the Col du Grd St Bernard and half way up the Petite St Bernard.
La Thuille to the Col du Saisses over the Petite St Bernard and the Col du Rosalin.
Last day to Chamonix, over the Saisses, the col d' Aravis, the col du Columbia and then up to Chamonix.

I went out this morning and did some power intervals up one of the local climbs so will rest tomorrow (No I'm not an obsessive kind of guy honest!).

I go up Mont Blanc at the end of the week or I at least start a Mont Blanc ascent week at the end of the week.

First I ride around it and then I go up it!

So my mountaineering summer season is just about to kick off, it'll be nice to get back up in the peaks although the weather is a bit unpredictable at the moment so it could be interesting. I'm not going to be acclimatised for the first trip but at least my aerobic capacity should be good.

Provisional bookings for next 'Winter' are going amazingly well, we already have 2 full weeks and 3 more weeks each with only 1 place left on them. I've started work on next years brochure for the ski show but at this rate I might not need it as we could be full before October!

If anyone needs any info or advice with any of the courses just drop us a mail or give us a call.

Ok enough of my waffle.

All is good in Chamonix!

Neil.

News from McNab.

Arrora Borealis as seen from the mess tent, Greenland.

Its starting to get hot out here in Chamonix and the summer season is now just around the corner.

Yesterday I did my first Cyclosportif bike race with the 'Time Megeve' which starts in 'Megeve' (obviously), goes over the 'col du Aravis', down to Thones, up the 'Col du Crois du Fry' (really hard!) down and back over the 'col du Aravis'down to Flumet and then if you're doing the short one (88km - 2000m of climbing) then back to Megeve.

There's a middle and longer distance race at the same time, one at 115km with another 900m of climbing on top and then one at around 150km with around 4000m of climbing!

There's about 3500 cyclists at the start all leaving at the same time en-masse. Its a great feeling and the start is really fast as you head down the valley from Megeve to Flumet before the first big climb of the day.

I rode the short course earlier in the week in 3hrs 20mins so wanted to beat this time and try to get in the first 100. I rode the course in 3hrs 9 mins and came in 69th which I'm happy with, it being my first attempt and I now know how it all works and where to make up time in the future.

I'll ride the courses every now and then this summer and I'm determined to try to knock a good 10 mins off my time, it'll be good to get under 3hrs!

It's meant to be one of the harder courses with some pretty major climbing. I'm more of a 'power sprinter' model and find the climbing hard but as I live in the mountains I'm just going to have to keep working at it. I'm getting there 'slowly'!

Anyway it was all great fun in a hard suffer fest kind of way!

I'm riding with the GPM10 crew at the end of the week for a tour of Mont Blanc which should be good. 4 days, lots of cols, beautiful scenery and some great descents. This will put some miles in my legs and then I'll try the Megeve course again.

After that I have my first Mtn Guiding work with my first Mont Blanc and then the summer takes off and I'll be up in the mountains here and elsewhere. I have a Via ferrata week in the Dolomites coming up which should be good and quite a few winter snowboarders coming out to try their hands at climbing.

The Winter calendar is looking very busy already, it normally looks this busy in November!

Good to see some people early planning and getting excited about snowboarding already. I'm really looking forward to next winters courses. I enjoyed this last winter so much and next years will be better still as I'll have the new 'Jones' boards to ride which look fantastic.

Pure float in deep perfect powder, Winter is on its way, well kind of!!

Imagine the powder turns we'll be getting, Pure float!

Ooooh its going to be good!!

Here are a few more Greenland shots to wet your appetite, enjoy!

Damian takes the local taxi to base camp.

On the way up to climb another virgin peak with all that descent waiting below.

Right now back out on the bike, strong legs, strong legs that's what we need.

Couple of new posts on the Ask McNab Q&A blog too so check them out!

All is good in chamonix!

Neil.