Change of Season, new activities!

So, winter is finally giving way to spring, it's official, the crocuses are pushing up, the garden is at least brown if not green and we're wearing shorts!

It's been a fantastic winter season in many ways, although the last weeks were particularly dangerous and there were almost daily avalanche ski fatalities which put a damper on things.

We enjoyed a great week exploring the Val d'Anniviers region - a wonderful area for snowshoeing that I will certainly be going back to.

Unfortunately the unsettled weather prevented us getting to grips with the Val d'Hérens but that will be for next year.

As usual the Easter week was beautiful - fresh snow fell the first weekend giving the summits and slopes a fresh coat of white. Conditions were excellent and we had some great walks, always with Mont Blanc as a backdrop, seen from all angles - Switzerland, the French Aravis and the Italian Val Ferret.

My favourite dog, Skip, joined us for our final day when we went up above the Italian Val Ferret for what has to be the best views ever!!

So now it's time to relax, regroup and enjoy some spring downtime.

But summer is just around the corner and there are some great treks to sign up for - notably the Chamonix Zermatt Walker's Route, the new Tour of the Grand Muveran, and the classic Tour of Mont Blanc.

Fun in the sun!

We've had sun - a lot of it! By last week the temperatures had risen so much that the snow in the valleys was melting fast, giving way to grassy slopes and primroses!

The snow higher up was good on the pistes, but off piste was generally a risky affair on snowshoes, usually involving much falling into holes, some rather bigger than others. On the other hand, for the skiers it was even worse, being almost impossible to ski.

But walking in T shirts, picnicking in hot sun, enjoying fabulous views.....not really something to complain about!!

Of course just as we thought spring had come it's now all changed - blizzards, snowy roads, deep snow warnings......back to the thermals - and hopefully some more mega snowshoeing days!!

What a difference a week makes!

Last week I was complaining the snow was too deep! Not this week - the snow in this area of the French Alps is fairly hard and compact. Now this makes it really easy to go uphill, but coming down is not so good - you don't sink but you surely do slide around. It requires a fast leg turnover to keep yourself on a good descent trajectory and to not end up legs akimbo.

One of my group said to me, you really need different snowshoes for different conditions. And he's right. In the deep stuff you want enormous shoes, especially to make the trail uphill. But in this harder snow it's very difficult to descend on big shoes, especially if they are long at the back, because you need to be able to dig the heel of the shoe into the snow to descend without sliding. Personally today I took out shoes which are made for children and they were perfect!

The forest tracks are packed down hard and icy and it's tempting to think you don't need snowshoes at all. But at your peril! Our snowshoes have great traction, being liberally supplied with crampons and other spiky bits, and these are proving to be awfully useful for descending these footpaths. We took our shoes off today a tad too early but five minutes later, seeing my group sprawled ignominously across the track I quickly issued a "put the shoes back on" advisory before injuries occured.

Pretty damn useful these raquettes!

But the upside of these conditions is that the views are to die for, it's warm enough to linger on the summits at lunchtime and the avalanche risk is diminishing by the day!

Staying safe.

It's been a week of very varying conditions. Over in the Aosta Valley in Italy, where I was with my group, there was extremely heavy snowfall last weekend and consequently lots of deep snow and a high risk of avalanche. Making the track on snowshoes proved to be quite a challenge some days - where are all the other people when you need them? Most days we didn't get to say "Buongiorno" to anyone!

However, despite not always getting to our objective, this gave us some great days in wonderful snowy alpine scenery, untouched by anything other than animals tracks.

It was generally agreed that the mountains are to be savoured not conquered and what we lost in "summit experience" we gained in snow fun and wildlife sightings.

On one outing we saw chamois, ibex and foxes, all close enough for us to sit and watch, but undisturbed by our presence. What a privilege!

Sadly, it was also a week that saw several avalanche deaths in the Alps. It's proving to be quite a bad year as the snowpack has been so variable - the temperature has fluctuated enormounsly these last few days, from rain last weekend to freezing cold and windy conditions by Friday. Today, whilst it is beautiful and sunny here, the south of France is under snow.

The beauty of the mountains gives us all energy and strength, but we need to remember that summits are not a given, turning back is sometimes the hardest decision to make, but it's important to realise that just being outside in these conditions is fantastic - and we certainly had a lot of fun just getting as far as we could!

Great rolling conditions

Surely by now any informed hiker knows about snowshoeing and how it really is The Very Best Way to Enjoy the Alps in Winter? Those crisp cold mornings spent hiking up through the silent snow-muffled forest, then emerging in sunshine to 360° views from the Alps. Usually we continue on up to reach a summit or two before bounding down the fresh powder slopes back to a well-earned beer or hot chocolate in the nearest bar.



All that's been well-documented. But there's far more to enjoying snowshoeing than that!

We're in the midst of the Winter Olympics and so acrobatics have been the order of the day



and the Snowshoe Roll is something everyone should try - at least just once.

indeed, probably several times.

Conditions are superb, it's warmed up a bit, we have fresh powder most days, what could be better! Let's hope it lasts. And if in the distant future Snowshoeing becomes an Olympic Sport - Trekking in the Alps will be putting forward a team.

Great conditions for snowshoeing!

Well I've had a great week with a great group! The snow conditions have been really good for snowshoeing, and probably for skiing too although you had to be lucky to avoid the wind blown areas. Some days were pretty foggy but this doesn't really bother us on snowshoes as we can go in the forest and still have a good hike.

When people come to the Alps for their first time on snowshoes it's a huge voyage of discovery, from the techniques of actually walking in the snow, to learning about avalanche risk and safe travel, to the glorious reality that as well as a way to get into the mountains in winter, snowshoeing is just FUN!!

As my group this week became more confident in the snow and with each other the fun levels rose each day, encouraged by a couple of confirmed snowshoers who already knew the deal.

By the end of Thursday there were requests for lots of downhill for the last day which would not have been the case a few days earlier.

And the last day obliged with slopes of fabulous untracked powder, just waiting for us and our raquettes.

One person told me "Hilary, I haven't had as much fun as I've had this week for a very long time".

How good is that???

A magical winter wonderland - at last!

Well it's been a week of very odd weather here. We've gone from freezing cold with high winds, to heavy snow last Monday creating havoc on the roads in the space of a couple of hours to pouring rain as high as 2000m the next day! The main road in Vallorcine became a river and avalanches roared down the valley slopes, closing the road to Vallorcine for several days this week.
But we could still snowshoe, albeit a bit damply. Once again we found that snowshoeing was one activity that could be done regardless of the weather and whilst it was a bit depressing to set off in the rain, this soon because snow at altitude and the snow under-raquette remained surprisingly good. Some views would have been nice....but the snowy forest was pretty.

Nevertheless the numer of times I have snowshoed in the rain during the last 19 years here could be counted on one hand - and two of those times was this week!

Then yesterday it all came good - big snowflakes were falling all day and soon we had a good half metre of fresh. Everything was white and beautiful, a magical winter wonderland. What a great way to start 2010!