Over the last 12 days, I've been on a road trip around the Alps with 2 good friends.  I met Rob and Ron on the Pirhuk East Greenland ski expedition a couple of years back, and have been planning this trip since then.  Bar one rest, we've been on the skis every day, exploring some great areas and finding good snow every place we've been.  Starting from home (Meiringen, Berner Oberland), and travelling through Verbier, Chamonix and Lötchental, we got back to celebrate Nina's 30th on Thursday.  In time for that, fronts bringing more snow than I've seen for over a month have been burying the area.  There's gonna be some serious powder skiing up for grabs whenever the visibility improves enough to allow us onto the higher peaks. 

I'll post some shots from the last 2 weeks...

The first new snow in a week, and with it, a strong gale. The 15cm that fell are now gathered in large windslabs on west - through north - to south aspects. Dangerous conditions for sure.

Together with Garro and a friend, Adi, I headed for the Grindelgrat in Rosenlaui. It's the tour we go for when conditions are challenging, a route that rarely exceeds 35 degrees leading all the way to the top. In violent gusts of wind and intermittent blizzard, laying a track through changeable snow to the summit made for hard work.  In such conditions, taking a break was more uncomfortable than continuing, so we made the summit in a single push.  The descent was tricky on skis, but Garro had the hardest time of it, battling through a crust that broke under his weight.

A wild day out with some dramatic views of the surrounding high mountains.

So far this winter, Lori and I have spent every day we could on skis, so I guess we were both feeling a little guilty about the lack of ice and mixed metres put in.  To start putting that right, we met today after a busy morning in the office (the Greenland spring season's fast approaching), and sitting in the trusty (bright yellow, ex-post office) Fiat Panda 4x4, headed for one of my favourite places, Rosenlaui.  Rising to the south of Meiringen, a series of stunning peaks rise sharply above the forested floor: to the east, the Engelhörner, then the 700m walls of the Kleine Wellhorn and higher up and to the south the imposing north face of the Gross Scheidegg Wetterhorn.  As the peaks are so steep, the sun is denied for much of the winter, and so, even when the Oberhasli is still green, winter often has a strong footing up there.

After the snow of last week, it wasn't long before the slopes accessible from the resorts were all tracked out.  Over the last 2 days, first with Michiel, and then Lori, I've been skinning up from the Tchuggi lift in Meiringen Hasliberg to reach the couloirs and open bowls that are clearly visible from the lifts and still offer fresh powder.  Within half an hour, beautiful lines can be reached that can be skiied all the way back to the station.

For the last 5 years, my wife Nina Alpinice and our dog Garro have been on the Oberhasli-region alpine rescue team, specialising in avalanche search and rescue.  Each winter, when on-call, they have to reach a heli landing point within 8 minutes, from where they're flown directly to the accident site.  

It took quite a few years of training to qualify for the team and since then, every 2 years, they're required to attend a 5-day test to make sure they're still working well.   It was time to go again this season,

After the heavy rains that reached towards the summits on Monday, the temperatures have again dropped.  The sodden snowpack is quickly re-freezing and making a strong bond with the ground, at least above around 1500m.  Lorenz and I headed for a sleepy pre-season Grindelwald First.  The first thing that stood out was just how cold it was on the chairlift up to the highest station, Oberjoch;  a big contrast with the almost balmy conditions down at the lowest (Bort).  With a strong wind blowing, the upper mountain didn't offer any safe powder but the slopes dropping down to Schreckfeld from First provided around 20cm over a crust - enough to ski with a light touch.......

After Engelberg last Wednesday, we ended up waiting until the weekend to get the skis out again, using the time to get back into some winter rock training - always a strange transition after so much climbing outside over the summer.  The reports on the touring conditions from a couple of folk who had been out weren't great, the lack of a firm base making for some BIG scratches in the skis.

Our local resort, Meiringen Hasliberg, opened for the first time this season so Lorenz, Rahel, Nina and I met on Saturday morning, all pretty excited.  Many of the pistes were in good nick but the deep powder meant that we barely touched any of the groomed surfaces.  Rocks were still lurking, but by sticking to the clean slopes, we avoided any major damage.  It was great to be all out together again, with a whole season to look forward to.

The book written by Patrick Peters on our crossing of the icecap last summer has just been published.  Have a look on the Latest News for more info.  Some beautiful photos....   

It’s been a slow start to the ski season this year.  In the last two winters, we made our first tours in early November, but over the past month the temperatures have remained high and the first light flurries of snow melted almost as soon as they fell.  Back in the UK last week for the expedition meetings and trad climbing, I kept an eye out on the forecast and the high-pressure system holding the snow away from the Alps (and directing the rain at us in the UK!).  It looked like we’d be waiting into December for first tracks.  In Manchester airport, I received a text from Nina that there was snow falling in Meiringen.  An exciting return home to deep snow down to the valley floor!


 

With 2 pre-expedition meetings back in the UK on consecutive weekends, I was seriously psyched to chase after some classic trad rock in the 5 days free in-between.  My similarly motivated partner Michiel Engelsman, fresh from Yosemite, flew into Liverpool to join me, and armed with a big rack, a load of guidebooks, and a full tank of petrol we set off with big plans.  Unfortunately, reality caught up with us in the form of front after front of dire weather racing in off the Atlantic.  Even without the atrocious weather, we’d planned to keep a close eye on the radar images, prepared to drive to wherever dry rock called.