The great conditions continue - how long can it last?

I have been working back to back snowshoeing groups this month which is hard work but with these amazing conditions my "Office" is providing a wonderful playground.
The temps dropped a little which firmed up the snowpack and left the snow harder but easeir to walk on. Then we had some fresh snow about a week ago which gave everything a fresh coat of white which was very pretty.
Now it's gone very warm again but so far the conditions are better than I had expected and more snow is forecast for next week.
Here are some shots of the last few days:

Springtime conditions at Simplon and Gemmi

It's been a hot and sunny week throughout the Alps. I keep reading reports that there is no snow, it's all fallen down, it's all rubbish and soupy, that conditions are no good. Well that's nonsense! We just had a fantastic 4 days in good snow - not always over head powder but nevertheless snow which held our weight and even allowed us some nice off piste at times. The wall to wall blue skies made the sacrifice of cold champagne powder something we could deal with. 

Summits were climbed and cols were reached.

Photo Steve Mancey

Luckily this group had obviously read my last blog post as they came with at least some decent coloured tops - not all of them it must be said but they were reprimanded and have promised to be more photographically attired next time.  

We were very surprised on our last day to actually find some pretty good heavy powder, uniform enough to allow us some great running descents: Action!!! 

You could almost believe spring is here......or is it?



Colour me Beautiful!

It's been another great week in my office, over in the Aosta Valley Headquarters this time.

The cold weather has now given way to pretty hot and sunny conditions and although we didn't have fields of untracked over the head powder, we certainly had plenty of snow, much of it very good for snowshoeing. 

Now then, about these colours. Take a look at these carefully selected shots. Everyone is wearing some shade of colour and they look wonderful. The scenery is spectaular anyway but if these folk were wearing black (or grey or beige, heaven forbid!) the photos would be severely compromised. I can only thank my friends this week for thinking of this when they chose their wardrobe. Please do bear this in mind if you're coming snowshoeing or trekking with Trekking in the Alps - there's nothing worse than a great photo spoiled by a monochrome hiker, (although of course for silhouette shots this is immaterial!)

In addition to the great weather, we also enjoyed good accommodation and took the time to savour all the gastronomic specialities that the Aosta region offers.  It's always great to have a group that fully embraces this aspect of the trip.
We spent the final night at the Rifugio Bonatti, my favourite hut where we had a very warm welcome from the gardienne and also from Skip, my favourite dog, who led us up to the Pas Entre Deux Sauts the next morning.

The view of the Peuterey Ridge in the evening

The same view next morning

Heading up to the pass

Skip after a fine morning's work

Great raquettes, great view

Father and son giving it max on the descent

MSR Dream Team hits the slopes with panache!

Europe has been in the grip of Siberian weather for the last two weeks and we certainly felt it in the Val Clarée. Névache is nestled deep into an extremely cold hollow, and last week saw night-time temps drop to minus 30°C. We certainly stayed well in the negative zone all day every day and high winds didn't help.
But take a look at the photos - bright and sunny every day, despite two half days of light snow which merely served to improve the already good powder we found for running down.

Above the tree-line the snow varied immensely from wind blown dense powder to scoured icy slopes to breakable crust to rare patches of powder. Not great for skiing, but on raquettes who cares, anything goes and we had a blast.

We even found snow deep enough for certain of the more athletic members to perfect their rolling techniques.  

The whole area impressed the group, all of whom have done several snowshoe trips with me and are very discerning when it comes to location, hikes and descents. The Val Clarée is undoubtedly one of the best snowshoe destinations in the Alps and Trekking in the Alps is offering more and more visits there each year.

Beautiful views, and many moments of solitude are guaranteed, and since the region advertises 300 days of sunshine a year then good weather is a fairly sure bet. This winter's two trips there have seen excellent weather and conditions.

A few days break now, then off to the Valle d'Aosta next week for more fun in the sun and snow, and also of course all the gastronomic and vineyard treats that the Aosta region is famous for.

Massive snowfall in the Alps

It's been a snowy week in Vallorcine, my adopted village. Saturday saw Vallorcine cut off from the world (well, from France anyway) with the road closed and the train rather embarrassingly stuck.

But things soon improved as conditions stabilised and we've been treated to some great snowshoeing and skiing conditions.

 The general consensus is that we've not seen such heavy snowfall for a good few years - and that there's now enough to last for a while.

Once the sun comes out it really is very beautiful.

And for the moment there are very few people around so there's lots of untracked snow which makes for great walking and running down.

Although there is a little less snow further south, conditions are still reported to be good.

Next stop for me - another week in the Val Clarée (Dauphiné Alps) early February. They claim 300 sunny days a year there so let's hope we don't hit any of the other 65 days.

So it's goodbye from Vallorcine where all the women are strong, the men are good looking and everyone is enjoying the snow.

Great snowshoeing in the Dauphiné and in Vallorcine



Photo Sandy Parker

We were extremely lucky to have a full week of blue skies and sunshine for our Val Clarée Snowshoeing. Having siad that, Briançon (the nearest town) boasts 300 sunny days a year so I suppose that's how it's going to be but nevertheless we felt that such conditions in early January were a real treat. 

The snow was good too and we just had a blast!

Photo Sandy Parker

Chamois in their dark winter coats



Sandy demonstrates the TITA Snowshoe Roll

Back in Vallorcine for a few days conditions are also very good and until today we had blue skies. But now it's snowing quite heavily which is no bad thing as will cover up all the old ski and snowshoe tracks and we can start all over again!!

The Oberland from the Mont Arpille

Full on winter conditions in Vallorcine