Ski touring binge (Alpine climbing)

Saturday 12 April 2008 11:19AM

Been doing loads of ski touring last few weeks. First the Ecrins Haute route with Toby, Dave and Mal, some stunning weather, some really bad weather, lots of windslab, no summits, not much food, big adventure. Pictures here . Then a day tour in the Aiguilles rouges that ended with my binding parting company from my ski, luckily only 500m from the road. Then off to the Oberland on some highly organised swiss transport (9 different trains from Cham to Jungfraujoch, never had to wait more than 10min, no connections missed…) for some properly bad weather. Didn’t get up any of the 5 4000m peaks we’d planned for the week, largely due to the weather but also due to some nasty windslab knocking around. Seemed the same story for everyone in the huts. Did get some good skiing around though, and lots of skiing in whiteouts! Pictures here .

Rushed back to Chamonix last night looking forward to my first proper ski mountaineering race. (I did an uphill only time trial two weeks ago), only to find it had been cancelled due to avalanche danger. Damn!

Packing now as my winter has come to an end here. Got a week in Wales for my Msc, then heading to Corsica with my girlfriend for a climbing/walking/touristing holiday, then up to Skye for 6 weeks guiding with Skye Guides.