More skiing and less climbing (General news)

Saturday 15 December 2007 06:58PM

There’s a lot of snow just now in Chamonix. Pretty good timing really since I was on a ski course.

There was a rest day in the middle of the course, so we headed to Courmayeur to unlearn all the good things Alison had taught us (see pics).

After the last lesson on Friday, Pete and I decided to head into the mountains to try and squeeze a route in before he flew home (sunday). We headed for the Charlet-Ghilini on the Pre de bar. The morning dawned very scottish, a blizzard and very cold and windy. We ummed and arred about whether to continue and decided to turn back. Half an hour later and it was sunny. It’s funny, trying to make decisions here. In Scotland I feel I know what I’m doing, I know what will happen if the weather breaks, I know how much clothing to wear to stay warm, I know how hard I can climb in given conditions, and I know how long things are likely to take. Out here I still feel like a beginner. It feels both super convenient (lift access, ski to the bottom of routes, ski out in minutes) and super serious (cold and big). I guess I’m in the right place to learn.

Back to skiing though, I now ski much better thanks to Alison, but I still fall over skiing deep crusty powder with a big rucksack on.