Swatch Freeride World Tour 2012 in Courmayeur - 31/1/2012 11:49

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, January 31, 2012.

Don't panic, it's only a little cliff! Photo: Jeremy Bernard.

Courmayeur has, for many years, had a reputation amongst the uninitiated as a place to rub shoulders with the money-boys from Milan, enjoy 15-plus-course dinners and cruise stylishly around on the moderate, tree-lined pistes. Anyone turning up in their gold lamé Moonboots looking for this kind of scene last week will have had a shock as the 2012 Swatch World Freeride Tour hit town.

Due to Chamonix's lack of snow in 2011, the competition was moved at the last minute to the Italian side of Mont Blanc. It was such a success that this year the organisers decided to run an event in both locations. First up was Chamonix, its mountains just groaning with snow and what one would imagine were perfect conditions. The riders hucked the fearsome cliffs of the Brevent area and the man with unlikeliest name in skiing (or any other sport for that matter) emerged triumphant. Sam Smoothy, a New Zealander, beat the Europeans at their own game and, for at least one night, was the coolest guy in town.

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Whilst most of the Chamonix event was held under stone gray skies and flat light, which is the worst imaginable for the sort of high-speed charging down steep rocky couloirs that these guys do, Courmayeur came up trumps with some truly Italian weather.

January 26 was a day of clear blue skies and spectacular views, the overnight dusting of fresh powder gave the competitors near-perfect conditions for their spectacular descents from the 2900m-high Mont Fortin. This is a regular Courmayeur freeride spot that can be reached either on skins or by helicopter and offers a number of fabulous descents for all levels of off-piste skier.

Do not try this at home! Bjorn Heregger shows us the way down from Mont Fortin.

There are few people however who would dare straightline the near vertical chutes that the 33 racers in this Swatch-sponsored event flew down last week. Tight, rocky, absolutely no-fall lines plunge down to huge mandatory jumps and eventually give way to a massive sun-filled amphitheatre where anyone who'd made the descent in one piece could finally breath a sigh of relief and head to the finish line.

The Courmayeur event was won by Richard Amacker, a 23-year-old from Nendaz in Switzerland. Close on his heels in second place was old Mr Smoothy of Chamonix fame. It was interesting to see that there wasn't one Italian competitor in either the Chamonix or Courmayeur events which perhaps goes to show that freeride skiing, especially at this level, is still something that the Italian ski world has yet to discover.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

The Murren Inferno 2012 - 26/1/2012 14:02

Paddy O'Powder reports on The Inferno in Mürren, January 26 2012.

The astounding view the Jungfrau Hotel, the place to stay in Mürren.

This week's blog comes from the Swiss resort of Mürren. For most of the year this tiny chocolate-box hamlet nestles quietly on top of a vertiginous cliff that's more than twice the height of the Eiffel Tower. The car-free footpaths that twist and turn between the sleepy 100-year-old wooden chalets give the village an otherworldly, Edwardian feel as if you've stepped back in time to the days of plus-fours and tweed ski jackets when a gaggle of British adventurers decided to create the world's most enduring ski race.

The views from Mürren across the valley to the Himalayan splendour of the Eiger, the Monch and the Jungfrau leave you in no doubt that you're in the middle of a truly Alpine environment.

Come mid-January every year, the town's sleepy atmosphere changes. Inferno race-fever grips the town with 1,850 competitors from all over the world converging on this unique part of the Swiss Alps. They come for their own unforgettable moment in the start-gate, waiting to hurl themselves down one of the world's most intimidating ski descents.

For the last 69 years the Inferno downhill ski race has taken place in Mürren on a course that nominally runs from a bleak, windswept point just below the Schilthorn, the resort's highest point at 2970m, all the way to the valley town of Lauterbrunnen 2200m below.

One of the fascinating aspects of this race is that it's rarely the same from year to year. On some occasions there's just not enough snow to get all the way to the valley floor. An improvised uphill finish halfway down the course then provides the highly unusual sight in the world of alpine ski racing of exhausted cat- suit-clad racers. They're desperately forcing their skis up the last unbearably steep section of the course - just to stagger across the finish line.

Out of the start gate and into the storm.

The 2012 edition of the Inferno did not disappoint, although the problem this year was too much snow. The day before the big race the top of half of the course was blanketed with nearly a metre of fresh powder, sending the organisers into emergency mode.

The start of the race was shifted to the top of the Allmendhubelbahn funicular station (the scene of the infamous uphill finish line) and, once the snow clearing teams had dug the actual train track out, the race amazingly got underway.

The first racers who normally have the most perfect conditions leapt out of the start gate this year into the still swirling tempest and had much the hardest time fighting wind, driving snow and next-to-no-visibility in their attempts to follow the track down to Lauterbrunnen.

An Inferno racer going flat out in the flattest of light.

As the day went on, the weather improved and the later racers enjoyed far better conditions that their higher-seeded competitors. This year's winner was Samuel Imhof. He started late in the day with a bib number of 1602. To the great surprise of the organisers, top-seeded racers and most of all himself, he succeeded in finishing with an astonishing 11-second lead over the next best racer who'd had a start number 800 places above him. There were presumably several celebratory beers before Herr Imhof made his late dash for glory.

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The Inferno is famous for lots of reasons, not the least being the course itself. Part of it feels like a classic downhill with big, fast sweeping turns. Part of it involves running uphill with your race skis still attached to your feet. Trickiest of all are the last few kilometres that involve a high-speed Schuss down a narrow, twisty, icy footpath through a densely-packed alpine forest.

When you finally emerge out into the bump- and rut-filled meadow at the end of course, your legs are on autopilot. Then you just have to pray you can hold on for the last hairpin-bend to enjoy the astonishing feeling of euphoria that engulfs you when you finally shudder to a stop and realise that once again you've survived the Mürren Inferno.

For more information on Mürren, click on the link to read our resort report.

Blown away - 16/1/2012 20:19

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, January 16 2012.

Not the day to bring out the new skis...

Courmayeur is having a roller coaster winter. Massive storms in mid-December brought the all the snow (and more) that should have fallen during the previous couple of months. The resort went from rock-hopping to deep powder in just a few days.

The ups and downs of this season are clearly a long way from over. Whilst the snowploughs in Chamonix are still digging out pavements and shaving back the snow that's packed up against the roadsides the folks in Courmayeur are scanning the horizon for anything that even looks like a storm.

The problem has been the wind. Over the past couple of weeks 100km per hour winds have blasted through the upper areas of the resort leaving the protected off-piste ares looking like a billiard table and the exposed areas looking like this.....

Desperately seeking snow.

The resort piste team have done a brilliant job in keeping the snow we've got packed deep on the prepared runs. How they've managed this is a mystery to me as the diving line between a cruise down a beautifully prepared, hardpacked red run and an off-piste slither across shale and dirt is a matter of metres.<

It's not all doom and gloom though. The sun is out and the terraces on Courmayeur's famous mountain restaurants are filled with people topping up their tans and watching the rest of the world go by.

If you are really really desperate for some powder there are one or two spots that the wind has missed. I managed to track down one of these last Saturday and enjoyed a long, steep ski in untouched snow down the narrow, little-known Palmet Couloir in Val Veny.

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To get there we had to scramble across a dodgy cliff, ski across a slope that was four parts grass to one part snow and finally climb up a wind-scoured ridge just to reach the entrance to the couloir. Was it worth it? Judge for yourself from the picture below.....

The Palmet Couloir, definitely worth the effort to find the last of Courmayeur's powder.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

The Monte Bianco region is jam-full of snow - 5/1/2012 19:05

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, January 5 2012.

Massive crowds on the slopes - not that's it's busy, mind you.

Courmayeur's New Year crowds have been enjoying some of the best early January snow conditions in Italy. Whilst the Dolomites on the other side of Italy are carefully conserving what snow they have, the Monte Bianco region is jam-full of the stuff.

Whilst this sounds great in theory, it has brought out every Italian and his extended family onto the slopes. Grannies are parked next to the wood-fired stoves in the bar, mummies tail doggedly on to the back of their kid's ski school classes and the dads head off to see who has the tightest ski pants on the mountain.

Newcomers to Italian ski resorts wonder how on earth they're going to navigate what appears to be the sheer chaos on the slopes but, as with most things in life in Italy, there is a system that works - it's just takes a while to get your head around it.

Christian Galli, one of the few Chamonix Mountain Guides who prefers his neve to his neige this New Year.

One place you don't tend to find the hordes at this time of year is off-piste. The stove-bound Italian grannies have for generations warned of the dangers of skiing outside the marked pistes and turning up for your afternoon hot chocolate and panettone looking a bit hot and sweaty.

Even with more people than should ever been seen on one piste at a time, there were still fresh tracks to be had straight off the back of Courmayeur's upper cable-cars. As Chamonix has even more snow than Courmayeur, almost all of the powder-hounds on the other side of the Mt Blanc tunnel seem to be pounding the French slopes into submission this season.

It's now snowing again in yet again Courmayeur and it looks like we're in for another half a metre or so. Could this be the best winter for years?

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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Christmas Italian-style - 27/12/2011 17:27

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions on the Italian side of Mont Blanc.

Someone who got all his Christmas wishes at once. The last word in high-speed snow travel.

Over the last ten days Courmayeur's skiers have received a real assortment of early Christmas presents. When the big storm blew into town and the long-awaited snow turned into semi-solid bleached cement, it felt like getting a knitted Albanian-style jumper and matching bobble hat from a dotty old Aunt who'd been promising you an iPad for months.

But when the weather got itself untangled this weekend and remembered that Christmas really was just around the corner, the snow dried out, a foot of real powder floated gently down from the heavens and the mountains emptied - leaving just a few disbelieving souls gazing gratefully up at the clear blue skies.

The Italian side of Mont Blanc basking in its Christmas glory.

Courmayeur's upper lifts have only just opened following the crucial avalanche blasting. Every single lift and run is now open and there's just time to enjoy the peace and tranquillity, both on-piste and off, before the big city crowds pile into town for the annual New Year edition of Ben Hur's alpine chariot race.

Luckily this year conditions are excellent and the weather forecast is showing clear blue skies all the way into New Year with just a chance of a powder top-up on December 30.

Nonetheless, everyone is bracing themselves for runs, shops and restaurants to be filled to bursting with the latest fashionistas - from ancient dowagers waddling along the Via Roma in head-to-heel mink to superior-looking sausage dogs flaunting the latest in canine Moonboots - they'll all be out parading their own version of this year's must-have gear. If you're coming to Courmayeur this week get out early in the morning, get your table booked days in advance for dinner and whatever you do, make sure you've got somewhere to park.

Conditions on Christmas Eve couldn't have been better anywhere.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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40cm of powder - on piste - 20/12/2011 21:08

Our man in Courmayeur has been making the most of the sensational conditions.

Penelope Powder (as she's know locally) making the most of Courmayeur's early Christmas present.

Courmayeur got another 40cms of cold, dry light powder today and its still coming down - as it',s also snowed in Chamonix the slopes in Courmayeur are deserted. The picture below shows current conditions on-piste, so imagine what the off-piste is going to be like!

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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Courmayeur gets a winter wallop - 19/12/2011 12:25

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions.

Security in numbers, the only way to ride Courmayeur's storm-lashed chair-lifts.

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Over the last few days Courmayeur has gone from being a practically bone-dry town to a ski resort with almost too much snow. The heavens opened on Wednesday last week and the manna falling on skiers' heads didn't stop until Saturday lunchtime.

The temperatures fluctuated up and down as the winds howled and abated, and the snow last Friday was as close to thigh-deep cement as I ever want to get. The few hardy souls that ventured out found nigh-on Arctic conditions with howling gales and pistemarkers that vanished and reappeared out of the clouds at an alarming rate.

Whilst the southern flank of Mt Blanc was being lashed with snow, Chamonix was hit by rising temperatures and driving rain at lower levels, resulting in treacherous conditions that kept almost all the lifts closed. In Argentiere one of the trains that run up and down the Chamonix Valley was derailed due to the build up of waterlogged snow. Luckily the mercury stayed low during the night in Courmayeur and although Saturday dawned snowy and overcast at least the snow on-piste was fabulous.

Given the massive avalanche risk following the intense storms most of Courmayeur?s upper lifts and runs have remained closed, as well they should. The short strips of powder available between the lower runs provided a tantalising indication of how great the upper areas of Courmayeur and the famous off-piste descents will be once things calm down.

This lot are digging down just to get to the front door.

All in all we had about 100cm of snow in town at about 1225m altitude and an estimated 150cm in the upper closed areas at about 2800m. That's an awful lot of snow in a short period and the snowplough drivers are scratching their heads over just where to put the stuff once they've dug the town out.

As most of the lifts in Chamonix were closed on Saturday due to the continuing level-5 avalanche risk, an invasion of sorts took place though the Mt Blanc tunnel. Whilst it's true that everyone was concentrated onto the few open lifts and runs, I've rarely heard so many people speaking French at once in Courmayeur.

Whilst numerous French armies have tramped through the Aosta Valley during the 1600, 1700 and 1800s on their way to either glory or ridicule (and sometimes both) in and around the Mediterranean, they tended not to hang around long enough to sample the winter sports facilities the area had to offer.

Empirical evidence how now seems to indicate that in the 21st century the average Chamonix mountain guide or ski instructor can't get his clients over to Courmayeur quick enough. It's all a long way from an ill-thoughtout advertising campaign a few years ago that was launched to attract more international visitors to the Italian side of Mt Blanc.

It featured a dusky Italian beauty exhorting holidaymakers to 'Come to the Aosta Valley where French is spoken...with a SMILE'. Little data on the increase in Francophone tourist numbers following the campaign seems to be available.

Amazingly, the forecast is for Courmayeur to receive even more snow in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. Having had such a nerve-wracking snowless start to the season, everybody is now buoyed up and ready to go. The speed with which winter blasted into town over the last few days might have been a shock, but it's definitely action stations now.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

The Last of the Big Time Spenders - 12/12/2011 18:04

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, December 12, 2011.

The latest style from Courmayeur's Via Roma

Anyone following the fortunes of the Italy's national finances recently could be forgiven for imagining that before long the bailiffs would be turning up at the Uffizi Museum in Florence or that carefully chosen fragments of the Coliseum would be featuring in the masonry section of eBay's Daily Deals.

Miraculously the hurricane blowing through the country's economic system seems to have completely missed Courmayeur. The town opened its 2011-12 season this weekend with a potpourri of Italian celebrities, a convoy of new 4x4s, a flutter of re-styled bars and restaurants and to top it all, the opening of a new sunglasses shop by a playboy scion of the Fiat empire.

Courmayeur's new mission seems to be capture the crown long-held by Cortina d'Ampezzo as the Italian winter destination of choice for the Jet Set. Eye-wateringly expensive new ski lifts, exotic shops, Armani-clad ski instructors and brand new five star hotels will all greet visitors over the next few seasons.

Pistes between rocky borders

The only thing missing for the grand opening weekend was the snow. Right up until two days before the resort was due to open (December 8) the pistes were brown and definitely autumnal. Eventually a reasonable fall of around 40cm did come down but the tardiness of its arrival, combined with blistering winds, meant that whilst a couple of the main lifts did open, the only fun to be had was taking place in the mountain restaurants that opened for the occasion.

As the weekend went on and the winds dropped, the piste-bashers did manage to get a few of the upper runs open. The red runs under the Youla cable-car and the Internazionale piste under the Bertolini chair did provide pretty good skiing considering the condition the slopes were in just a few days beforehand.

The current forecast gives light snow on and off throughout the week with a more serious weather system coming through next weekend. Given that the resort has had no snow in the lead-up to the season and the fact that it's been too warm for the snow cannons to work their magic, winter will definitely have to get its skates on to bring Courmayeur back to its best.

Readers may have seen how the previous Italian government confirmed as recently as October 2011 that yes, the Ministry of Defence still needed the 19 bulletproof Maseratis they had on order. Apparently there is an urgent need, given the ongoing European economic crisis, to ferry Italian Army Generals around Rome as fast as possible?

Courmayeur has long been known as a destination for the wealthy families of Milan and Turin, imagine a sort of Knightsbridge-on-Snow if you like. Incredibly, property prices are still rising fast and recent sales in the centre of town have reached the sort of levels normally seen in the smartest districts of London, Paris and even Tokyo.

An artist's impression of the new Monte Bianco revolving cable-car

Not to be outdone in the hig-spending stake,s the Aosta Regional Government started work during the summer on a massive, 100 million Euro new cable-car project to replace the ageing three-stage lift that took both sightseers and powder hounds to Punta Helbronner, 3400 metres up on the shoulder of Mont Blanc. These quaint old lifts, the last of which takes just seven carefully packed-in passengers, will be replaced by a fabulous new 360-degree rotating cable-car that will start near the village of Entreves

The massive base station complex will be just couple of hundred metres from the newly-refurnished Val Veny cable-car that serves the main Courmayeur ski area, and about six minutes' drive from the centre of Courmayeur. The old Monte Bianco lifts, built in the 1960s, are definitely coming to end of their useful life but will have to keep going until the new high-speed, futuristic rotating lift is up and running in two or three years' time. The lift company have created a dedicated website just for the project. Once we?ve got some decent snow-cover on the crevasses I?ll be posting the latest pics of this wonder of modern Alpine engineering.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

The Wasteland - 13/4/2011 07:58

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, April 13, 2011.

Literary history doesn't record if T.S. Elliott ever skied down the Vallée Blanche, but opening his most famous poem with the line 'April is the cruellest month' and deciding to call it The Wasteland would suggest a trip down a famous run akin to the one I made last Saturday.

The day started with an early squelch through the slush-filled seracs of the Toula Glacier on the Italian side of Mt Blanc. At 3300 metres the snow was still perfectly skiable, but once you dropped below about 2700m you entered a world where the tails of your skis literally sank into the concoction of waterlogged, crystallised, white mud below your feet.

Must bring the water skis next time

In search of better conditions I headed off from the top of Courmayeur's Punta Helbroner lifts with a friend to try the Vallée Blanche to Chamonix. There are lots of interesting ways to do this descent but, given the current conditions, there was no option to head for the classic, and normally easiest, way down.

The complete lack of fresh snow recently, the extraordinarily high temperatures and the sheer number of people who have made the descent over the last few weeks have turned this relatively benign off-piste route into something altogether different. Mogulfields were bisected by hidden crevasses, delicate snow bridges looked as if they'd give way if anyone had had an extra croissant before setting out in the morning and, to top the whole experience off, there was a route march out along the terminal moraine of the glacier itself.

The Mer(de) Glace, without too much glace

Normally at this time of year you can ski to the steps below the Montenvers train station (which takes you the last few kilometres back to Chamonix) without any problems whatsoever. This year there is a 40-minute walk across a rock-filled moonscape to reach the salvation of the station steps.

Skiers from an intermediate-level up regularly enjoy a day out down the Vallée Blanche with a mountain guide, but this year anyone who can't scramble up and down scree slopes or climb over bus-sized boulders in ski boots whilst balancing their skis on their shoulder is going to have a hard time. A wasteland is the only way to describe conditions on this descent.

Given the shocking conditions we'd experienced heading down to France, we decided the only thing to do was to head as high as we could and point our skis in a Zermatt direction. A quick drive down the Aosta Valley brings you to Cervinia with its direct link to the Zermatt summer skiing area. Snow conditions here are still excellent, with hard-packed snow on perfectly groomed pistes.

In order to compensate for our Vallée Blanche experience, we decided to stick our climbing skins to the soles of our skis and see what conditions were like could at over 4000 metres.

Skinning at over 4000m we finally located winter 2011

We climbed to the summit of the Breithorn ridge at just below 4200m and found we were finally back in the welcome clutches of winter. The steep icy track was hard work on skis, but the pleasure at being able to ski back down the 35-degree southern flank past the climbers trudging along on their crampons was definitely worth the extra effort.

The forecast fresh snow for this week still hasn't arrived in this part of the Alps, although it'll be a strange winter indeed if we don't get one more descent blast of snowy weather before we head properly into spring.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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The German's Couloir - 4/4/2011 23:22

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, March 21, 2011.

Spring definitely caught the early train to Courmayeur this year. The temperatures in town soared this weekend and the freezing level rose to around 3300m. Finding 0 degrees at this sort of altitude generally happens much later in the season and if you're skiing off-piste it means early starts to the day to avoid the inevitable slides of water-logged, cement-like snow that take everything with them, right down to the very rocks and earth.

The very worst type of snow to ski on, traversing the cement-like debris of an afternoon avalanche

The highest point you can get to in Courmayeur using the ski lifts is Punta Helbronner at 3400m on the shoulder of Mt Blanc. This is the starting point for a variety of descents towards both Chamonix and Courmayeur, none of which are marked or patrolled and all of which require harnesses and the rest of the mountaineering clobber.

The tiny cable-cars that take you to Punta Helbronner and just some of the descents that can be tackled

If you do choose to head back towards the Courmayeur side, one of the classic routes is the Toula Glacier, which is reached by descending a steep, narrow metal staircase bolted to a rock face. The hundred or so steps themselves can be pretty intimidating but, if you want to up the adrenalin factor a few more notches, you can head for Il Toula by way of the Canale del Tedesco (the German's Couloir).

This 45-degree rock-lined chute, which is almost as tall as the Canary Wharf Tower in London, takes you straight down on to the glacier by way of some seriously hairy jump turns. This particular couloir gets the sun later in the morning and this means that the face stays hard and icy until at least 10.30am.

Conditions on Saturday morning were definitely glass-like, our skis scrapped across the rock-hard snow making a sound like someone trying to cut a piece of metal with a handsaw.

When skiing in these conditions, every turn needs to be planned and committed to, both poles planted to help get you round as fast as possible and the controlled sideslip at the end of change of direction is a battle to regain enough grip to let you start thinking about the next turn.

The German's Couloir, keep your head and watch out for the hole at the end

The one thing you really don't want to do is lose your balance and start sliding or, if you do, make sure you do whatever it takes to stop before reaching the gaping crevasse that sits at the bottom of this couloir where it joins the Toula Glacier itself.

This descent was named after an unfortunate Teuton who slid the whole length of the run on his rear end and dropped straight in to the crevasse like a penny into a slot. He was eventually dug out and lived to ski another day, though not I believe on this particular mountain!

Elsewhere in the Courmayeur area conditions are very heavy, the snow on piste is just about skiable above 2000m, but anything lower you'll be praying that your ski boots are waterproof. With Easter being so late this year the resort is working hard to ensure that at last some of the area remains open until the official end of the season on April 25.

What can't be ruled out of course is the swift return to winter that seems to happen every year about this time. One day you're sitting on a sundeck in shorts and flip-flops, the next you're looking for your facemask and the extra-thick gloves. Life is never dull in the mountains.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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Earning your turns - 28/3/2011 11:13

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, March 28, 2011.

Another week, another quest for some decent snow. This year, it seems that North America has had the best of the winter conditions. But if you're prepared to work for it, there's still lots of dry European powder snow to be skied. You've got to go high and you've got to be prepared to stick sealskins (not made from real seals of course) onto your skis to walk uphill.

The latest ski touring kit. Photo: Dynafit

That might sound like a lot of effort, but it's not as bad as it sounds - alpine ski touring seems to be one of the fastest growing sectors of winter sport. The combination of new, super-light equipment and the tracking out of the obvious off-piste areas in leading resorts has led those skiers who are unafraid of a bit of huffing and puffing to go discover what's out there away off the beaten track.

If you think that skis, boots and bindings have always weighed about the same, then you need to try touring. There was a time when the featherlight gear used was great for uphill climbing but terrible for the way down. But in the last few years all that has changed, and today's touring gear makes skiing downhill almost identical to the normal alpine skiing experience.

A day tour is well worth doing to discover if you can stomach uphill trekking in return for some sublime downhill runs. Alternatively, you can spend an entire week doing classic trips such as the famous Chamonix to Zermatt Haute Route. For many it's a no brainer: would you rather pick your way through the chopped-up powder runs served by the ski lifts, or do some exercise and enjoy fabulously deserted descents where the only other tracks you see are those left by the local wildlife?

Les Oreilles du Freduaz, a classic climb for some fabulous snow

Last week-end I headed off with some Italian friends to climb and ski the Oreilles du Freduaz route, a glacial area not far from the resort of La Thuile. I'm not sure who Signore Freduaz was but the steep climb up between his ears (two huge rocky outcrops) was pretty spectacular. Two and half hours of climbing through pristine valleys under a cloudless blue Italian sky is not a bad way to spend a morning. Combine that with a fabulous descent in the sort of powder that most resort-based skiers haven't seen for weeks, top it off with lunch on a sun-baked terrace back in the resort and you have the ingredients for a pretty good day out.

The just reward for all the hardwork, perfect turns in perfect powder

As with all good things, the weather didn't hold - by Sunday the magical mountains around Mt Blanc had turned dull, gray and decidedly wet. Just as the most heavenly beach resort can be pretty depressing in the cold and rain, so to can the mountains swiftly turn off the spectacular scenery button. Courmayeur's lower pistes are now looking a bit worn and brown, so the best advice if you're going to ski in or around the actual ski area is get up early, head for the upper slopes and enjoy a long lunch at one of the many eateries dotted all over the ski area. Alternatively, hire a guide and some touring kit and get out into the great outdoors...

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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Ski-touring with Ladies who do a lot more than Lunch - 22/3/2011 13:58

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, March 21, 2011.

It's not often that I've able to write "Courmayeur has had some snow" during the last few weeks, but just in time for the weekend we did. About 40cm fell on the highest slopes - at 3000m - whilst the village was lashed with rain.

A planned ski-tour on Saturday had to be cancelled as the weather looked so miserable but, against the run of play, the sun came out and both the cream of the City of London's ski racers and the Italian weekend visitors managed to enjoy themselves in the somewhat rice pudding-like conditions.

The City boys and girls were all in Courmayeur for the annual City Ski Championships - a feast of ski racing, celebrity auctions for charity and a bottle of champagne or three.

Courmayeur's Youla cable-car, time for the gold watch?

Alongside these two tribes there were the now regular hordes from Chamonix - all seeking a spot on Courmayeur's infamous Youla and Arp cable-cars. These two micro cable-cars, built in the early 1960s, were designed for the few brave souls who wanted to tackle Courmayeur's highest runs and barely-touched off-piste descents.

Fifty years later these lifts have been inundated by the world of freeride skiing, complete with huge skis, ABS backbacks and thousands of people. Ten years ago the absolute longest queue for these lifts was twenty minutes, today a wait of well over and hour and more is commonplace.

The Aosta Valley regional government has recently taken over Courmayeur's lifts, and one of their top priorities must now be a new lift for this mecca for powder skiers.

The combination of a lack of snow in Chamonix this season, the 'discovery' of Courmayeur as a freeride destination and the free lift access provided by the Chamonix Unlimited ski pass, has meant that Courmayeur finds itself at the centre of the European freeride scene - the fifty-year old lifts just have to go.

Alpine Ladies getting ready for the uphill - between them they've climbed the Eiger and trained Freddie Starr's racehorse, but all that mattered last Sunday was getting to the Colle della Croce

Now on to those Ladies and their Lunches. The meteo had promised that Sunday would be glorious so, instead of spending it indoors in a lift queue, I headed off with some friends and local mountain guide Mario Ravello to a deserted valley between Courmayeur and La Thuile.

We drove up to the Arpy Pass at 2000m, donned our ski-touring kit and headed into the deserted forest that leads to the Lago d'Arpy. Absolute silence, clear blue skies and the promise of a descent on perfect spring snow took us on past the lake, high up above the tree-line and on to the Colle della Croce ('The Col of the Cross').

The views from the col stretched out like one of those 360-degree photos you find in alpine souvenir shops - from the Dents du Midi in Switzerland, across the whole of the Italian side of the Mt Blanc chain and all the way around to Val d'Isere in France.

Hot, sweet mountain tea and a slice of homemade Italian cake in a place like that make you glad to be alive and as far as possible from the world of lift-served skiing.

As predicted, our descent took us down through alpine pastures on untracked, velvet-like spring snow. We carried on through woods with well-spaced trees and across sparkling alpine streams all the way down to the only sign of life in this area: the near-deserted cross-country track in Arpy Village. A perfect day out in the Alps.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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The only powder in town - 14/3/2011 17:35

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, March 14, 2011.

One of the trickiest problems you have to face as a skier is: what do you do when there's no snow in town?

Arriving in Zermatt recently I looked up at the vertiginous slopes that surround this famous Swiss resort and concluded that finding any form of powder on this trip was going to be a tall order. Our little group could see greeny-brown mountains on one side of town and some fairly icy-looking pistes on the other. Zermatt may be surrounded by more than twenty nine 4000-metre peaks and have lots of high-level piste skiing, but for a group focused on powder things looked decidedly sketchy. Until, that is, we started exploring with Andreas Fux.

Andreas Fux, Zermatt's very own snow magician

Andreas has been an alpine guide in Zermatt for over 25 years and knows these mountains as well as anyone you could find. Over the next few days we climbed, scrambled and skinned for about two hours a day. The result? Just look at the following pictures and remember that the word on the car-free street is that this is one of the worst seasons for years...

You might have to forgo any thoughts of a lie in...

...spend a lot of time going uphill like this...

...and even traverse underneath a glacier like this!

The reward was worth all the blisters and exertion, as Andreas found us fresh snow for eight consecutive days in a ski area where powder is about as hard to find as a cheap drink in Zermatt town centre. Descents of 2000 vertical metres in deserted valleys, runs down both the north and east sides of the Matterhorn itself, and above all thousands of turns in the sort of snow that sadly has been a distant memory this season.

Heaven on skis!

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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Skiing the Italian way - 28/2/2011 15:38

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, February 28, 2011.

For the last week, Courmayeur has been overrun with British kids on their half term holidays. The week's worth of snowstorms we were hoping for didn't materialise, but we did have a little snow which kept the pistes in good condition and the off-piste skiable.

I mentioned last week that Courmayeur's traditional Italian atmosphere was being added to by the styles and attitudes of lots of new visitors from around Europe and North America. As if on queue, I spotted an Italian lady who'd obviously decided that the balance needed readjusting back in favour of the big-money players who flock to Courmayeur from Milan, Turin and Genoa. It's one thing to stroll home on a Saturday afternoon with your designer shopping bag, but to take it skiing with you is really a bit much. The bag in question came from a hideously expensive children's clothes shop on Courmayeur's Via Roma where - unless you're after a diamante-encrusted Dolce e Gabbana one-piece for your three year-old - you'd better keep on walking.

One-upmanship alive and well on the Italian ski slopes...

A different sort of high-spending experience was had by a bunch of five American skiers last week when they decided to ski one of the couloirs in Courmayeur's zona vietata (forbidden zone) above Val Veny. This area has been the scene of a number hair-raising rescues (and unfortunately some fatalities - the latest being at the start of this season) down the years. The snow in these couloirs looks untouched and inviting, but the massive cliffs a few hundred metres below are definitely not. Luckily the latest group to get caught managed to stop and call the rescue services before they went over the sheer rock face. The cost for their impromptu heli-ride back into town? 2,500 euros a head plus whatever the local Mayor decides to add to the bill for good measure!

La Thuile provided some fresh tracks this weekend. The Chamonix Unlimited pass - which has brought so many skiers from the French side of Mt Blanc to Courmayeur recently - doesn't cover La Thuile, hence the pistes are less crowded and off-piste is skied out less quickly. There wasn't a lot of powder, but what was there was definitely worth a few turns.

A rare sight this season: fresh powder and not a track in sight.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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The snow is back (and the lifts can't hack it) - 21/2/2011 12:50

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, February 21, 2011.

Well, we did get some snow last week. But to paraphrase Oliver Twist: could we have some more please? The skies clouded over and a good 30-40cms of light, good-quality snow came down last week to refresh the pistes and make the off-piste skiable again.

Powder skis and finally the right snow to use them on

Chamonix wasn't as fortunate with the snow, and yet again the southern side of Mt Blanc was swamped with skiers from Chamonix all looking for their powder fix in the enormous freeride area accessible from Courmayeur's Youla and Arp cablecars. These lifts haven't been upgraded since the 1960's and can only accommodate 20 and 10 people respectively - it doesn't take Pythagoras to work out the length of the resulting queues for the lower lift. This winter I've seen people waiting well over an hour for a ride on the Youla cablecar even though it takes just six minutes to reach its destination. It seems to be gaining a reputation as something of a Jacob's Ladder when it comes to freeriding in the Mt Blanc region.

One unexpected solution to the overcrowding of Courmayeur's powder fields was provided on Saturday when the Youla cablecar suffered a technical hitch and had to be shut for the day. This meant a lot of gnashing of teeth and HD helmetcams, as anyone without climbing skins in their backpack was rather snookered. One or two souls did have the required skins and after an hour or so of uphill striding found something approaching the deserted conditions experienced by Courmayeur's original powder skiers in the 1930's - apart from the thousands of tracks that is!

Even a broken lift won't stop the powderhounds in Courmayeur

I came across a book recently from 1939 called simply the Guida Sciistica (Skiing Guide) for the Monte Bianco range, which amazingly highlights most of the same off-piste descents that we ski today. The only major difference, of course, being the lack of lifts back then, meaning that most of these routes could only be reached by hours of slogging on foot. The pioneers of the time would no doubt have laughed themselves silly over a celebratory bottle of Torret Superiore (a favourite local vino) after a day in Courmayeur's powder fields if they had known that skiers eighty years later would be whingeing about the closure of just the last couple of imaginary lifts to the top.

Courmayeur's infrastructure really does now need to catch up with the times - the resort has had a renaissance over the last five years and you only have to glance around to see the sheer variety of skiers and boarders that are flocking to the place. Whilst ski-tourers pulled out their skins to overcome the broken lifts, snowboarding kids in baggy pants and day-glo glasses were building kickers and spending all day on a patch of powder snow 100m long.

Many of the Italian skiers in Courmayeur are very conservative, and whilst there are still many 'traditional' local skiers, the influx of British, French, Scandinavian and even North American influences is changing the atmosphere of the resort dramatically. Whilst most of these new styles, ideas and ways of using the mountains are welcome, one Russian visitor's contribution we could do without - the gold-plated bindings I saw recently in the cablecar queue are a step too far into the world of 'bling'.

When the snow in Chamonix let the organisers down, the willingness of Courmayeur's staff to host a stage of the World Freeride Tour (with just a couple of days notice) is a good indication of the resort's new open-minded mentality. If the lift system can be modernised by the regional government that bought the infrastructure last year, we may have a really world-class resort on our hands.

In the meantime, we're back into a spell of nice weather for a couple of days before what looks like a good, long period of winter storms. I've only one request really: please, please, please let it snow in Chamonix.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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The last days of disco - 14/2/2011 15:30

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, February 7, 2011.

The weathermen said it was going to snow, the grizzled old boys watching the crows said it was going to snow, even the town drunk said we were in for a decent dump. So far none of them has got it right and there seems to be increasing desperation amongst Courmayeur's skiers and boarders to find someway of getting even just a few turns in untracked snow.

Just like John Travolta's last days under the glitter ball, its time to stop pushing it and wait the next big thing. Luckily we won't have to wait as long as he did to come back into fashion, as it appears that fortune may smile upon us, snow-wise, over the next few days.

Cliff and the shadows - no place for a dose of 'spaghetti legs'

As you can see from the pic above, some of the resort's more interesting lines are still being 'skied'. But it makes far more sense to enjoy the piste skiing and/or wait out the current drought.

The weather remains cold and the pistes are hard, whilst off-piste runs such as the Bishop's Couloir (see last weeks blog below) are now so icy that tactical side-slipping is just about the only way to negotiate them. There's no clearer signal of just how hard and powder-free the conditions are than the pic of the avalanche warning board below.

You'd have to try very hard to get hit by an avalanche when the risk is this low...

The latest set of forecasts has finally given us some snow for this week so lets hope there's a cheerier picture to report on next weekend.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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Too many blue sky days - 7/2/2011 18:35

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, February 7, 2011.

The hamlet of Planpincieux above Courmayeur, no problems with snow just too much good weather

Back in freezing December, everyone was dreaming about warm sunny days when you could laze outside on the deckchairs catching up on the suntan and watching the colossal peaks and glaciers that surround Courmayeur glistening like diamonds against a perfect blue backdrop.

That however was December. It's now February and after more than a month of almost continuous good weather even the ski instructors, who can never knowingly be too brown or too stylish, have had enough of the good weather. They, and everyone else in town, want some of that good old-fashioned winter weather and all the snow-fuelled fun that comes with it.

Whilst demand for the latest suntan creams has boomed the sales of hot chocolate and Bombardini (a wicked mix of Advocaat and brandy, served hot and topped-off with whipped cream) have inevitably fallen through the floor.

The Police on his tail! Paddy being pursued down the Bishop's Couloir by Luca Malaghetti, hot-shot skier and former Carabiniere

As I mentioned last week, most of the obvious off-piste runs in Courmayeur are now a maze of tracked-out powder and moguls. There's still some decent snow around in one or two of the less obvious couloirs, and the reports from the heli-skiing on the Italian side of Mt Blanc are still saying there's good snow up high.

On Saturday il Canale del Vescovo (the Bishop's Couloir) was well worth the effort to get to. There's not many Bishops that have skied it, but there is a rock that shows you the entrance that's shaped just like a Bishop's mitre. It's a steep, 35 degree shoot that snakes its way down between a series of cliffs.

Near the top it's pretty narrow (three metres wide) but it then opens up to provide a near-perfect 400m vertical pitch for powder skiing on the right day. We didn't have the perfect day or the powder but the smooth compacted snow was still great fun, far from the madding weekend crowds.

With all this good weather, the ski-touring season seems to have kicked off early, with people pulling out their skins and taking advantage of the longer days to get their uphill technique in order. The latest wisdom for the old-timers in town is that everything will change on February 13 and we'll be back to having snow up to our ears. I certainly hope they're right this time!

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

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What Courmayeur's off-piste would have looked like if you could have seen it through the fog - 1/2/2011 15:56

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, February 1, 2011.

If you're going off piste, bring your bump skis!

Courmayeur has had more of its fair share of snow this winter, but we really do need a series of good snowfalls now. Current conditions on-piste could be described as 'firm to icy' whilst, unusually, the off-piste is best described as 'crusty to bumpy'.

It did actually snow this weekend, but Saturday and Sunday's entire snowfall produced just about enough to build an igloo for a pair of bluebottles. Deep powder it wasn't. The famous Ivesses off-piste descent was covered in moguls for most of the way down which, if you're on fat powder skis, is no fun at all.

The runs on-piste are still in good condition through the hard man-made base is starting to show through here and there and for the first time this season. There are also one or two warning signs up showing that a rock or two is coming through.

Courmayeur seems to be one of the few places in the Mt Blanc region that has a decent cover of snow, hence the large number of visitors from Chamonix where conditions really aren't exactly conducive to the sale of powder skis.

It's also interesting to see some of the tracks in extraordinary places that the competitors in last weekend's World Freeride Tour put down whilst 'warming up' before the race. Some of the spots they seem to have chosen to ski and/or fly down are hard to even contemplate, let alone attempt.

Now the good news. The long-range forecast seems to be indicating snow from next weekend, so more than ever let's hope that they're right and we can get back to the fabulous conditions that everyone in Courmayeur has grown used to.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Two very different types of ski race - 24/1/2011 16:40

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, January 24, 2011.

It had to happen really. The first time that the Freeride World Tour comes to Courmayeur coincides exactly with the only time of the year your correspondent dons a catsuit and racing skis to hurtle down the infamous Inferno downhill course in Murren, Switzerland.

The Murren Inferno 2011

This event is the amateur ski racing equivalent of the Grand National and last Saturday saw 1,800 skiers of wide-ranging ability launch themselves every 12 seconds down a race track that encompasses mile-long schusses, high speed chicanes, uphill running sections and ice-covered mountain footpaths.

'You must be mad'? Well that's a question that rattles around your head for the days leading up to the event, and its almost a relief to finally get to the last, nerve-racking seconds as you hear the beep-beep-beep of the electronic clock counting you down to the moment when you leap out of the start gate at nearly 3000m. The first fast, icy turns launch you into a steep gun barrel with only one narrow exit, and before you know it it feels like you're going faster on skis than Jeremy Clarkson in a new Ferrari. The only consolation is that everything happens so fast there's no time to dwell on any near-crash escapes or particularly hairy turns.

This amazing adrenalin rush explains the reason why so many people come back year after year to compete in this event - there's simply nothing quite like it.

Arriving in Murren last Thursday, the weather was grey, the snow was thin, and the course was apparently a mixture of sheet ice and barely-covered mountain rock. Luckily a moderate snowfall on the Thursday night of about 20cms in town (but crucially 40cms higher up the course) brought it back into the realms of possibility for normal human beings. Despite the forecast of fog, Saturday morning dawned clear, bright and perishingly cold. The first racers started after just after 8.30am and had - as a skiing Charles Dickens might have said - both the best and the worst of the times. The best because the course was like velvet with no ruts or ice, and the worst because cat-suits are absolutely useless at keeping out the cold.

I saw one competitor who'd just finished crouched on the floor of a nearby hotel lobby with this arms wrapped around a radiator crying with the cold and oblivious to the shocked stares of the other racers just about to leave for the start.

As close as can be, thee racers approach the finish of the Inferno

By the time my number came up it was early afternoon, and whilst the temperatures weren't quite as sub-zero, the track was definitely worse. After 1,300 of the racers had gone around some of the bends, the ruts looked like the banked sides of a bobsleigh track. At certain points on the 13-minute descent you feel almost like you're the ball inside a pinball machine as you career down the course that was first raced in 1928 by a group of Englishmen in plus-fours.

The relief on reaching the finish line is immense - competitors who just seconds before had been straining every sinew to find the tightest line on the 60mph corners or sprint past each other on the uphill sections can be seen embracing and congratulating each other in the sheer pleasure of just having made it.

Once the racing is out of the way the serious business of partying kicks off with the Murren sports centre turned into a mini version of the Munich Octoberfest, with dancing on the tables until the small hours of the morning. Some well-refreshed souls can be seen stumbling back to their hotels still in their ski boots clutching a medal or two, with nothing more to worry about than the inevitable Sunday morning hangover.

Mont Fortin, the dramatic location for the Nissan Freeride World Tour in Courmayeur. Photo credit: D. Daher

Back in Courmayeur, the World Freeride Tour had ridden into town. The lack of snow in Chamonix had meant that the organisers had had to come south of the border and take advantage of Courmayeur's Mont Fortin for this leg of the races. The location provided exactly the right type of near vertical chutes, cliffs and wide-open powder bowls that these competitions need.

Not quite the skis for the Inferno but perfect for Courmayeur. Photo credit: C. Margot

Chamoniard Aurélien Ducroz took first prize in the men?s competition after a fantastic run under clear blue skies which you can see here:

The snow that hit Switzerland and Austria has so far missed the French and Italian Alps, so we're all hoping that the cold clear conditions that are great for the sun tan will revert back to the sort of winter weather we all really want to see. Fingers crossed.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Blue Skies and avalanche lessons - 17/1/2011 23:39

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, January 17, 2011.

The Italian side of Mt Blanc, basking in the January sunshine

Werner Munter, Swiss Mountain Guide and world authority on avalanches

When the local avalanche bulletin says the risk is medium to high the key areas of risk to reduce according to the Munter system are:

Avoiding descents on north-facing slopes
Avoiding descents on slopes of more than 30 degrees
Avoiding having large groups of people ski-ing closely together
Avoiding skiing rarely frequented slopes

Munter has shown that these are some of the key elements in many avalanche accidents and that simply taking five minutes to combine these key elements with the regional, local and specific slope-related information that's available can substantially reduce the risk of your day ending badly.

The forecasters are telling us that the good weather will last until just about Wednesday and then we're in for another round of bad (i.e. good for a ski resort) weather!

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

The dangers of speaking French with both hands - 9/1/2011 18:49

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, January 9, 2011.

Courmayeur village with nursery slopes

The long Christmas and New Year holiday break is finally drawing to a close. The exhausted locals who run the bars, restaurants and shops can just about draw breath and raise their heads from the daily grind of thousands of cappuccinos, Campari sodas and Moncler jackets that have been served over the last couple of weeks.

All they've got to do is now get to grips with their Russian phrasebooks for the ever-increasing number of January visitors from the east of the Urals. These tend not to be the Moscow jet-set crowd who've given Courchevel 1850 its reputation as the 'bling' capital of the Alps, but they do know what they want and Courmayeur - Russian language skills or not - seems to be the place they want to be.

Right on time the snow arrived last Friday with a welcome top-up of 30cm to keep both the pistes and off-piste in prime condition. The only problem seems to have been the rain that hit the Chamonix side of Mt Blanc.

Courmayeur seems to increase in popularity every year with the Chamonix crowd, and this weekend there appeared to be more French instructors and guides on this side of the mountain than local Italian ones. As one highly rated French guide said to me recently: "I just love coming to Courmayeur, it feels like you're on holiday". Can't say better than that, I suppose.

Il Canale di Dolonne, the tricky way back to town

One drawback of Courmayeur's new-found popularity is that the more obvious off-piste routes are getting skied out far more quickly than was once the case. I skied down the Canale di Dolonne on Saturday morning to find tracked-out powder at the top and moguls along the lower section that follows a riverbed back to the hamlet of Dolonne. This was partly due to the fact that the Youla and Arp cable-cars, that provide access to the majority of Courmayeur's off-piste, were closed while avalanche blasting took place. This particular route is also easily accessible from the top of the main gondola.

It was interesting to see a queue of seriously attired freeriders bagging their places, just like the bargain hunters before the Harrods sale, waiting for the moment when the lifts opened.

The ABS 'airbag' rucksack now seems to be de rigueur amongst the Chamonix freeride crowd, although one lad from Chamonix got more than he bargained for when he managed, mid-descent, to catch the strap of his ski pole on the release handle for his avalanche airbags. It's not clear whether he had been speaking French with both hands at the time or had just been unlucky, but he did finish his run in a rather sheepish heap of deflated coloured plastic bags!

Follow that man in the purple one-piece but don't turn right

For most of Saturday morning a very dark, damp-looking bank of cloud had hovered at around 2500m. Finally the sun broke through at lunchtime and the clouds vanished for a couple of hours. Heading up the ancient Arp cable-car in a mixed cabin of Brits, Americans, Swedes and a Frenchman, we started the hike up the Arp ridge that leads to one the narrow, rocky entrance to the main bowl above the Ivesses couloirs.

This is definitely not a ridge to contemplate when there's high wind unless you happen to be carrying a parachute alongside the rest of your gear. There's a 100m vertical drop just to the right of where you carefully place your footsteps so, apart from the wind, it's not a good place to have anything remotely like a faff-attack.

Despite the gloom that had covered this part of the mountain for the morning, the snow at the top had been warmed by the sun and was sublime. Some 300m down in the open basin below, the effects of that Mordor-esque cloudbank came home to roost. The snow felt like it had been drenched with moisture and then put in a flash-freezer, the result was like skiing through an icy plaster cast. It was nigh on impossible to turn your skis and only some well-timed kick and jump turns ensured you didn't end up traversing endlessly in one direction like a demented Dahu.

It has now been snowing most of Saturday night and Sunday. Monday morning will reveal a different, deserted resort where the queues will have vanished, the bars will have places to sit and the snow will be piling up for those getting ready to take advantage of one of the best times of the year to head to Courmayeur.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Taking on the Toula Glacier in Courmayeur as 2010 draws to a close - 3/1/2011 12:20

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, January 3, 2011.

Whoever is in charge of the weather conditions in Courmayeur has done a fabulous job over this New Year. A brilliant sun has shone down from a sky so blue, it looked like it was designed by the Swiss.

The heavy snowfalls we had before Christmas have meant the pistes have held up marvellously with not a rock or bare patch to be seen anywhere. The off-piste is pretty much skied out but it's still fun to tackle descents that won't be skiable again for another month or so.

One of these is the famous Toula Glacier. This descent starts high above Courmayeur on the shoulder of Mt Blanc. The three-stage, 1960's-era cable cars that depart from the dark little hamlet of La Palud take you up into the blazing sunshine at Punta Helbronner (3,400 metres) where the whole of the Mt Blanc massif is laid out before you.

It's always interesting to see how the scale of these mountains increases as you climb up from the valley floor. The view from town seen on a million picture postcards is impressive enough, but it's only once you get into the midst of these mountains that you realise the sheer expanse of rock, ice and billions of snow crystals.

The last day of 2010 seemed as good as any to tackle Il Toula and the descent didn't disappoint. The infamous metal staircase bolted to side of a cliff face that leads you down to the glacier itself may have had a vertical ladder added to its base to avoid the obligatory early season abseil, but even so you still have to negotiate a twelve-foot climb, balancing your skis and sticks on one shoulder whilst you perfect your one handed ladder technique with the other! Definitely not something to attempt first thing in the morning on New Year's Day...

With the tricky bit out of the way - apart from the seracs, crevasses and a couple of mini cliffs - there were acres of dry, compacted powder to enjoy for the first half of the route. There followed almost spring-like transformed snow all the way to the cold beers and cracking lunch that awaits you on the terrace at the Pavillon restaurant.

The next few days will see Courmayeur overrun by the ankle-length fur coats, designer dog jackets and perma-tanned people that always turn up at this time of year. Places like Courchevel 1850 may be famous for their extravagantly dressed Russian and Parisian clientele, but the Serafino's and Immacolata's (unlikely though they sound, these are actual Italian names) that grace Courmayeur's Via Roma with their presence at this time of year could definitely give the Muscovites a run for their money.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Go where the mink coats don't - 27/12/2010 16:59

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, December 27, 2010.

The only way to describe the conditions in Courmayeur this Christmas is FABULOUS. The problems of too much snow, sudden wet spells and snow off-piste that felt like the crust on a bowl of French Onion Soup, are all now long forgotten. We're enjoying perfect pistes, dry light powder in the backcountry and, for now, not too many crowds.

Boxing Day was cold, cloudy and deserted. Most people seemed have given skiing a miss as the visibility looked poor and not all the lifts were open. But for those that ventured out though there was a real treat in store. A swift snowfall the night before had left yet another 30cm of powder in the woods leading to some perfect tree skiing.

Better than brandy and Christmas Pudding

Through the murk we could hear the blasting of the avalanche control teams high up on the Arp Ridge. This 500m-long crest sits above the higher runs in Courmayeur and has to be regularly blasted to protect the pistes below. The controlled blasting of avalanches is a tricky business and the team in Courmayeur were taking no chances.

They'd placed a young lifty at the top of the Plan de la Gabba chair to stop anyone going near the pistes (or off-piste) that start there. This plucky lad, who'd obviously been volunteered for the job, was there with two extended ski poles trying to corral everyone on the off-ramp of the lift over to a waiting area just beside it.

His frantic yells of "Stop!", "Arrêtez!" and "Halt!" seemed to work with most of the nationalities he came across, until two unusually large Japanese skiers skied towards him out of the fog. The lifty shouted, they stared and, like something out of Tom and Jerry, skied straight over the top of him!

Both Christmas and Boxing Days were blessed with clear blue skies. A day off on the former was followed by a full day on the latter on the Arp and Ivesses areas.

Heading out with a guide friend of mine from the Arp cable-car we spotted a motley collection of about 15 people booting up a precarious ridge, seemingly oblivious of the wind-slabs they were crossing.

We took the safer option of a long, low traverse through the deep untracked powder that, despite a 20-minute sidestep, still brought us to the start of the descent before any of the groups we'd seen on the ridge.

It turned out afterwards that luckily discretion and clear thinking had won the day and, as no-one in any of the groups seemed to know where they were going, they'd all turned round and headed right back down the way they come.

With the tricky stuff out of the way we then had an amazing descent of nearly a thousand vertical metres through perfect, deep, untracked powder right to the valley floor!

The silence and tranquillity to be found in the backcountry contrasted starkly with the chaos of the new arrivals in town. Once the Christmas festivities are over in Milan, Genoa and Turin, thousands of people head up to Courmayeur taking its population from 3,000 to well over 35,000 in a couple of days.

The ensuing chaos can be survived if you don't drive, book your table for dinner well in advance, and avoid the chic, mink-filled bars at aperitivo time!

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Italy's powder town is back in business - 20/12/2010 17:00

Our man in Courmayeur reports on snow conditions, December 20, 2010.

It's always a good sign when you drive into a ski resort and see dumper trucks piled high with snow being driven the other way, out of town. This was the sight that greeted visitors last Saturday morning in Courmayeur.

During the week two good snowfalls had delivered half a metre of fresh snow in town and there just wasn't any more room for it. The Christmas lights look stunning, shimmering above the snow-packed streets giving Courmayeur a picture-perfect atmosphere.

Cold, deep and deserted

Up on the mountain the fresh snow has opened up the previously deep - but practically unskiable - off-piste areas. The upper Youla and Arp lifts are now working and the bowls, couloirs and glades that make Courmayeur famous are now all open for business. Temperatures have remained cold (-18 C at the base of the Zerotta chair on Saturday) and the snow is as dry and light as you could possibly want. Despite the poor visibility, Saturday saw some fabulous glade skiing without a soul around. We clocked lap after lap through the woods above the Plan de la Gabba chair marvelling at the conditions and trying to forget about all the Christmas shopping that was left to do.

This must be where the old snowploughs go to die

Sunday morning saw yet another 30cms of fresh powder, so some friends and I headed out behind the Youla cablecar for a long run down to the end of the deserted Val Veny. It's true that the steeper chutes do need more snow as some major slides during the warm spell about 10 days ago stripped a lot of snow away. However, the more protected areas were just paradise.

The only problem with being the first group into this area is the two-mile push through knee-deep snow along the flat summer road that takes you back to Zerotta. We strode through the silent snow-filled forest with Mt Blanc towering 3000 metres directly above our left shoulders whilst our breath formed instant clouds of vapour all around us.

Going for it in Val Veny

We did come across a French snowboarder who seemed to be having so much trouble with the combination of flat road and deep snow that the normal rapid-fire Gallic exhortations found in a situation like this were completely missing. Instead of the old 'zut alors' or the even stranger 'les carottes sont cuites' (I've had it) this guy was concentrating 110% on 'ze huffing et le puffing' as the late, great 'Kilometres' Kingston might have put it. The snowboarder in question seem to be saving his venom for his so-called friends, who'd simply left him to get on with it!

The forecast is showing a couple of days of nice weather and then back to the storms and heavy snow that will hopefully make the Christmas period one to remember.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Mind the Drip! - 15/12/2010 19:53

Lucky there wasn't much of a queue for this lift.

Courmayeur escaped most of the rain that hit a lot of other resorts last week, leaving the extremely heavy snowfalls to form a really thick, solid base that will be appreciated for months to come.

Whilst Chamonix seems to be back to square one snow-wise, with barely enough to cover the remnants of last summer's cowpats, the Italian side of Mont Blanc has been in luck. It's been warm but thankfully not too wet. The lovely sunny weather over the weekend brought lots of non-Italian visitors to Courmayeur, most of the cars in the car parks seemed to be French, Swiss and British.

For a nation that has a reputation for a certain laxity around times, dates and the more precise aspects of life, the Italians flock to their favourite ski resorts to a pretty well pre-defined timetable. Simply checking out which are the busy weekends - and planning your trip for either the one before or after - will leave you wondering just how on earth a resort like Courmayeur can be completely deserted on a Saturday morning.

Conditions off-piste are still pretty dreadful, the high winds have scoured the backcountry areas of every last fleck of loose snow, and even the well-protected wooded gullies that Courmayeur is well known for are not worth the effort to reach.

Your correspondent enjoying the deserted perfect pistes.

The pistes are still immaculate, and many of the locals who wouldn't normally be seen within a mile of a marked piste have simply rented a set of GS skis to get their legs going and enjoy the high-speed cruising.

I bumped into one of Courmayeur's best-known mountain guides on Saturday morning desperately trying to entertain a fiercesome-looking American guest who was dressed, psyched and ready for Alaska no what matter what. Riding the Val Veny cable-car up and over the sheer-sided, unskiable and recently avalanche-purged slopes of Mont Chetif, the American pointed out to the other 49 people in the cabin that "there ain't much goddamn snow in this town."

His guide tried tactfully to point out the metres of snow lying across the thousands of hectares of mountain visible from the window on the other side of the cable-car, but Captain Courageous just wasn't having it. Somehow I don't think their day together was destined to end with mile-wide grins and a hefty tip.

The temperature has now dropped considerably. The freezing level was at 2,500m on Saturday, but it's now hurtled down to below 400m. Snow is forecast for the end of the week, so hopefully the start of the pre-Christmas break (another very quiet time in Courmayeur) will bring the powder conditions we're all so keen to see.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

A six-inch crust of nastiness - 8/12/2010 18:33

Our man in Courmayeur reports on the sudden deterioration of the conditions caused by the thaw.

The site of a private club which in the 1970s and 80s was the place to be seen in Courmayeur. It even had its own swimming pool.

It was too much to hope that Courmayeur wouldn't get at least some of the wet weather currently swirling about in the Alps. As you can see from the pics there appears to be lots of fluffy powder around: but just touching it with a ski stick is enough to tell you it's got a 6-inch solid crust on top from the humidity and rain.

The forecast says it will be freezing cold at the weekend, so hopefully all this mushy snow will consolidate and provide a great base for the rest of the season.

A mass of damp cloud working its way up from the village.

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

A storming start to winter - 6/12/2010 10:03

Our man in Courmayeur reports on a cold start to the season - and a heavy fall of snow.

The 2010/2011 season in the Alps has got off to a fabulous start and Courmayeur in particular has been covered in ice, snow and toe-numbing cold. The season officially started on the 3rd of December with practically all the lifts and runs open. As the sun came up on Saturday it was clear from the glistening white ice crystals in the cold air that winter was off and very definitely running.

When the thousands of palm trees in Dublin's back gardens start to freeze and Ireland's main airport is closed "due to snow" you know it must be Climate Change Conference season again. This year it was in Cancun and it struck me that one of the toughest jobs in PR must be to get these events taken seriously especially when most of Europe's news stories are dominated by the fierceness of the winter across the continent.

Courmayeur's pistes are in impeccable condition; the base is hard with a covering of powdery early season snow. There's nothing to scratch your skis on and the views of Mt Blanc and surrounding glaciers glistening in the icy sunshine are enough to take your breath away.

Off-piste however is a different story. After the last few winters of substantial snowfalls people have got used to fabulous powder skiing in and around Courmayeur: but it needs to snow a good bit more before normal service is resumed on the major routes. Still, it is only early December.

I spoke to two groups of friends on Saturday who thought they'd "give it a go". One lot had to hike out the woods in knee-deep snow for an hour. The other had to sideslip down a series of frozen waterfalls. The conclusion from both groups was "what on earth were we thinking?"

The first weekend in December is a big holiday for visitors from Milan. The feast of Sant'Ambrogio (St Ambrose) is on the 7th and hence the resort is pretty full with all the regulars trying out their new fashions and gear. Many of the old boys are back with their skin-tight racing trousers and a headful of Grecian 2000, slinking down the piste with knees locked together à la Jean-Claude Killy in an attempt to catch the eye of signorinas looking for a sugar daddy. The Italian kids are all showing off their baggy one-piece suits whilst their Mothers are all sporting fur-lined hoods and large Moncler labels.

During the Summer Aosta's regional government took over the ski lifts in Courmayeur, so hopefully there'll be new investment in infrastructure. There are also plans afoot for three brand new 5-star hotels. The new regime at the lift company couldn't have had a better start to the season and what's going to make even better is the massive amount of snow that has fallen overnight. It's now Monday morning and there's at least 60cms of fresh powder in the village of Courmayeur alone - and probably half as much again up on the mountain!

Once the avalanche danger settles down we should have some of the best conditions for December skiing for years. What a way to start to the season!

For more information on Courmayeur, click on the link to read our resort report.

Heli-Lunching in Courmayeur - 28/9/2010 17:38

Paddy O'Powder's first blog of the season...where he goes Heli-Lunching in Courmayeur and watches the world's hardest pre-season training.

Don't worry, they didn't forget the pilot !

Courmayeur in the Summer is fabulous. There's every variety of mountain sport you can imagine, from rock climbing to canyoning to trekking and even some high-altitude Heli Lunching last weekend.

I was invited by Arrigo Gallizzio, President of Courmayeur's Guide Bureau to join him for lunch at the recently renovated Monzino Refuge. Perched on a rocky saddle at 2600m,

Il Monzino has been the starting point for some of the most difficult and audacious climbs on the Mont Blanc range. Massive glaciers run either side of the refuge and normally the only way to it is via a 1000m climb up a mixed footpath and a Via Ferrata.

This is basically rock climbing with some strategically-placed metal steps and chains that help you over the trickiest bits. Vie Ferrate or 'chain-equipped routes' started out in Trentino on the northeastern side of Italy, but are now popular right across the Alps.

The path leading to the glacier.

Whilst Mont Blanc may look like a massive series of tiered ice cream scoops from the French side, it looks positively Himalayen when contemplated from Italy.

The sheer-sided 2000m cliffs and hanging glaciers that dominate the view from the Monzino Refuge leave one in no doubt that this is where the serious mountaineers hang out.

It's run by Armando Chanoine who, unusually in this part of the world, combines the macho career of top-level Mountain Guide with the somewhat more delicate art of ice cream-maker extraordinaire.

Armando Chanoine in front of the refuge.

Last weekend, Armando had decided to make the refuge just a little more accessible than usual by arranging a spot of Heli-Lunching. This involved the flight up, an elegant Italian lunch, a stroll over to the edge of the glaciers and of course a high-speed 'hold onto your lunch' trip back down.

Needless to say the trip was sold out, with a complete mix of nationalities scrambling aboard the chopper five at a time for an unforgettable day out. Armando was particularly happy to see his refuge packed with people who'd never normally make the trip up. As he said: "The refuges should be for everyone, not just the climbers".

The post prandial high-speed flight back down from the refuge.

The sky was blue, the sun was hot and the ice on the surrounding glaciers shimmered like a million diamonds in the fabulous September light. It was a day for enjoying the champagne, laying back after lunch in the sun and taking in the extraordinary views all around. And best of all, no worrying about how on earth to get down from this Alpine eerie.

It wasn't all sunshine, sandals and champagne for everyone that Saturday. Three hundred of the maddest mountain runners you've ever seen were heading off from Courmayeur's main square for what can only be described as the most intensive pre-season training ever thought of - the astonishing Tor des Géants.

The runners planned to run follow a 330km route around the Aosta Valley that included 24,000 metres of vertical gain. To put this into perspective, imagine running from London to Manchester whilst climbing Ben Nevis 18 times along the route.

Two of the runners.

The runners were given a complete week to complete the course or wear out their feet, whichever came first. Unbelievably the winner, Italian Ulrich Gross, managed to get all the way round and back to Courmayeur (with both feet still attached but undoubtedly a little fragrant) in just three days and eight hours.

He beat the rest of the field by over five hours and put his impressive performance down to the fact that he'd slept for only two hours since he left the previous Saturday.

Courmayeur is fast becoming the European centre for extreme-running events throughout the summer, but there's nothing that competes with the Tor des Géants.

Any welove2ski readers (or editors perhaps!) fancying their chances for next year's race should sign up now at www.tordesgeants.it.

For more information on Courmayeur, see our Resort Report here.

From dodgy loos to one long drop - 19/4/2010 18:20

With the lifts at his home resort of Courmayeur now closed, Paddy O'Powder is having to look further afield for his snow. But not quite as far as some of his neighbours...Report filed April 19, 2010

The long spring days are finally here. Due to some local shenanigans over the ownership of the lifts, Coumayeur's slopes sit, below perfect cloudless skies, in near pristine condition without a skier to be seen. If you don't want to tackle the Toula Glacier or Vallée Blanche the best bet is to head over to nearby La Thuile.

This ski area is coming on in leaps and bounds with investment in both new runs (a World Cup standard downhill) and new lifts. The Italian part links up seamlessly with the French area of La Rosière and offers an impressive 150kms of mainly cruisy intermediate runs. These are also great for spring skiing as they are easy to bash flat and don't have too may steep drop offs that get bare and worn from the passage of too many skiers.

The one thing the two areas do need to invest in, however, are some decent mountain loos. It appears that the bars and restaurants want to stick with that wild frontier feeling by maintaining, and in some cases re-installing the famous "crouch and pray because there's no where to sit" affairs...

Just some of La Thuile's massive heliski area

What's less well known about La Thuile is the excellent heli-skiing that's available. Taking off from the abandoned French/Italian border post on the Piccolo San Bernardo Pass there are all sort of descents to be had. Most give you a minimum of 750 vertical metres - and the cost is about half what you'd pay in Switzerland.

Skiing around Saturday showed that if anyone from the UK can beat the crowds and get out to the Alps by car it's well worth it. The snow stays hard and wintery until at least lunchtime and the worried looks of the guys who have to dig out the summer road from Italy to France in a few weeks confirm that it's going to be white and wintery up here until well into June.

Mt Everest and the infamous Hornbein Couloir

For a complete contrast to this easy-going, end-of-season atmosphere a mountain guide friend of mine from Courmayeur is currently preparing to climb up and then ski down one of Mt Everest's most daunting couloirs. The Hornbein Couloir has never been successfully skied before and looking at the stats it's not hard to see why. It drops straight down Everest's North Face for 3000 metres, and is narrow, icy and at around 50°, horribly steep. 50° may not sound much compared to a vertical wall at 90° degrees but imagine propping a ladder up against your house, standing at the top of it and then trying to ski down it for a run that's three times the height of Ben Nevis. For good measure imagine having to do all that after having just climbed Everest without oxygen! Edmond Joyeusaz may well be Courmayeur's Chief Guide and an ex-Italian ski champion but even for him this will be a quite a trip.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Click here for our La Thuile resort report.

Click here for our La Rosière resort report.

Sorry, we don't have an Everest resort report just yet...

Blizzards, Blossom and Mad Mountain Bikers - 13/4/2010 10:28

Paddy O'Powder reports on an epic weekend of glacier skiing in Courmayeur - April 13, 2010

It had to happen really. Courmayeur's main ski lifts closed last Sunday afternoon and by Sunday evening a blizzard was raging that left a fresh layer of thick powder on the now immaculate but deserted slopes. The ownership of the lift company is changing and it appears that the incumbent has decided that snow or not, it's time to shut up shop and cut costs to the bone.

Last week-end was however memorable. Two friends of mine from Zermatt decided that after a season of mountain guiding and ski teaching what they really needed was a holiday. Andreas Fux, one of Switzerland's top mountain guides and his girlfriend Prisca who raced on the Swiss Downhill Team felt that a week-end in and around Monte Bianco was just the ticket.

Paddy and Andreas in amongst Courmayeur's seracs

The cable car ride up to Punta Helbronner at 3,462m gives a fabulous view of just about the whole of Mt Blanc's southern flank and is the starting point for some of Europe's longest and most impressive off-piste runs.

The granite pillars and massive glaciers form an imposing panorama of rock, ice and, this year, metres and metres of snow. One of the largest ice falls that you see from the tiny, 1960's-era Monte Bianco cable car is the infamous Brenva Glacier. It's more than 2,300m high, 5.5kms long and looks like something straight out of the Himalayas.

The top of the Brenva Glacier, not one of today's classic mountain bike ascents!

It has attracted lots of Alpinists over the past 200 years but surely the strangest were a battalion of Italian Bersaglieri, who were dispatched from their barracks in Milan in July 1909 to scale the mighty Brenva Glacier on their bicycles! These specialised cycle troops, whose role was to supplement the Italian Army's practically horseless cavalry units, had to carry not just all of their kit but also the world's first, and probably heaviest, folding bikes on their backs for the massive climb. They didn't have ropes or ice axes so had to cut thousands of steps in the ice with just their bayonets. No mention seems to be have been made in the contemporary reports about why they had to climb the glacier in the first place (practice for a slow-motion invasion of France perhaps) or even how they got back down again.

Our Toula descent got off to a fairly bumpy start as the snow was frozen solid from the night before and we had to bounce across hundreds of old ski ruts that had been left in the previous afternoon's slush. Once through the seracs, about halfway down, the ruts vanished and we glided onto the most perfect transformed spring snow. The rest of the run to the mid-station felt like skiing on velvet.

Heading back up to Punta Helbronner we stepped back into winter for the descent to Chamonix. The snow was cold, crisp and not at all spring-like. We skied a steeper, deserted variation of the Vallée Blanche whilst watching the hundreds of skiers descending from the Aiguille du Midi on the French side. As you descend towards Chamonix the run takes you right up close to the massive crevasses and seracs. They're piled up on top of one another like thousands of Gaudi-designed ice houses - all tumbling down in a frozen tsunami of blue and white. No wonder it's called the Mer de Glace.

Extreme picnic-ing halfway down the Vallée Blanche

Even after all the fantastic days this season, last Saturday has to rate as one of the best. The combination of near perfect spring conditions, deserted off-piste descents and some of the world's most spectacular mountain scenery is very hard to beat.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Errol Flynn and the Courmayeur Connection - 7/4/2010 19:18

Paddy O'Powder reports on 60cm of fresh snow in Courmayeur over the weekend, and his friend's attempt to ski it on one leg - April 7, 2010

The famous phrase "In like Flynn" was coined for Errol Flynn and his remarkable success with the ladies. His adventures in Courmayeur a few years ago could have easily left him with the moniker "Flayed Alive like Flynn".

Before we get on to Errol and his alpine adventures, however, a few words about current conditions. It definitely feels like "end of term" in Courmayeur at the moment. The sun has finally come out and has given us a couple of days of real deckchair weather. These gorgeous days are just made for sitting watching the sun on the brilliant white peaks whilst you sample an Italian gelato but they were preceded by a full-on blast of winter that left 60cms of fresh snow at 2000m and over a metre at 3000m. The Easter treat this year was a couple of hours of charging through fresh thigh-deep snow before it turned, as it always does at this time of year, to the alpine equivalent of chilled blamange. It was fabulous while it lasted but just dreadful by lunchtime.

Your correspondent enjoying a last blast of winter

I had my Salomon Rockers out for the morning and they proved to be fabulous in the deep stuff, but nigh on impossible to use once the morning powder turned to tight chopped up moguls.

Trying to make it through the moguls on skis that are 192cms long, are 147mm wide under the foot, and feature a massive rocker that starts just after the front of the binding, is one of the real challenges in skiing.

One of the friends I was skiing with had however an even greater problem to surmount. A minor nosedive into the powder at one point in the morning meant he lost one of his skis, it appeared to be buried just next to him so imagine his surprise when he picked it up by the binding only to discover that there was no ski attached. The binding had snapped completely off the ski!

For a good skier, skiing down the piste on one leg is no problem at all. Gianluca however managed to make leaping through the deep, solidifying sludge look almost effortless even with the broken ski strapped to his back. This caused no end of consternation to the people he passed many of whom were flat on their backs struggling just to dig themselves out of the very same sludge.

Gianluca Bologna, demonstrating his effortless one-legged powder technique.

We were skiing close to the pistes in Val Veny avoiding at all costs the off-piste routes we'd normally head out to. The avalanche danger was, and still is, rated four on a scale where the maximum is five. These are the sort of days when the head has to rule the heart and you make sure that you never get caught out somewhere you shouldn?t be.

One person who did get caught out a long time ago in Courmayeur was Errol Flynn. In 1953 he put his life savings into the production of a film about William Tell, the first reel of which was filmed in the spectacular alpine valleys above Courmayeur.

He didn't make it to the second reel as he discovered that the Roman investors he was in business with had decided it was much better idea to spend Errol's 50% rather than touching their own part of the investment. When the cash ran out, the Romans vanished and poor old Errol and the rest of the film crew had to do a runner before the Courmayeur locals tied him up with his emerald green tights and started using him for bow and arrow practice. The first reel of the film that old Errol left behind still exists and was actually shown a few years ago at Courmayeur's annual film festival.

Easter Monday was lovely and brought the crowds out but by yesterday the holidays were over, and suddenly Courmayeur was changing back into its traditional guise of a sleepy little alpine town. I went for a ski tour with two of my WeLove2Ski colleagues who wanted to see what skinning uphill was all about. We climbed up a deserted road for a couple of hours and practised the reverse kick turns that feel a bit like origami for your legs before heading off for a well deserved lunch at the famous Maison Vieille restaurant.

On the other side of the valley we could see the avalanches cascading down from the south side of Mt Blanc, spectacular to watch as long as you?re at a safe distance. The huge number of serious (and fatal) accidents across the whole area from Val d'Isere to Courmayeur to Chamonix and beyond means that even the most benign Ski Touring routes are strictly off-limits until conditions calm down.

The lifts close here next weekend but that's not the end of the season for me: I'll be out and about, both on the mountaineering lifts that stay open and of course on my skins. There's far too much snow to even think about summer just yet.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Still too much sticky, gooey snow at high levels - 29/3/2010 15:57

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - March 29, 2010

The old 'snowfalls abundant' that the local weather forecasts promised us for this weekend didn't actually materialise. Last week's rain and the thaw at lower levels also brought a fair amount of wet heavy, snow above 2000m. The mountains looked wonderful but the conditions at all altitudes are very dangerous at the moment. There have been lots of avalanches and landslides on the steep slopes above Courmayeur village which have left some very scary looking black and white scenery and everyone is just waiting for the conditions to stabilse before venturing out into Courmayeur's off-piste.

The sun finally comes out in Courmayeur

The weekend saw more rain at lower levels and a lot more sticky, gooey snow at higher levels leading to a general avalanche level of 4 (on the scale of O to 5). I did spot some people heading off into the Canale di Dolonne, one of Courmayeur's best known descents, but before long I could see that they'd stopped, turned around and decided to climb back out of the couloir. This would have meant at least an hour of struggling up a 35 degree slope through thigh-deep sludge but at least it was safer than heading into the steep-sided gully that would leave little room for manoeuvre if the worst happened.

These look like crevasses but they are actually 2m deep cracks where the wet snow has just split. Just look at the ski tracks...

This winter really has been one of the longest, coldest and snowiest that Courmayeur has had in years - you simply have to look at the lack of bronzed faces amongst the people that spend everyday on the mountains. I don't think I've ever seen so many pale ski instructors and lifties. Next weekend is Easter and it's traditionally a sort of last blast of winter for many of the regular Italian visitors who are already dreaming of showing off their latest swimsuits and extra tight Speedos. The beach is calling and given the lack of Spring sunbathing there's been in the mountains this year many people have decided to call it a day ski-wise.

Surprisingly, the Courmayeur lift company have also decided to close early, on April 11. Sod's Law will probably mean of course that we'll have beautiful weather with stable conditions right through until the end of the month and no easy way for the Italian regulars, or the legions of new fans of the area from Chamonix, to ski the southern side of Mont Blanc in all its Spring glory. Luckily the creaky old lifts on the Toula Glacier on the shoulder of Mt Blanc itself will be running so most of the action looks like it'll be taking place over there. This is an amazing playground of steeps, glaciers, perfect Spring snow and, of course, the famous Pavillon restaurant. For anyone who knows how to handle themselves in proper off-piste conditions (ie. no groomed runs) to sneak back onto if don't like it, this is heaven.

We're due more snow and rain this week but hopefully it'll get colder and clearer over Easter to give the 2009-10 season a good send off.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Mad Frogs and Englishmen... - 22/3/2010 16:23

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - March 22, 2010

This week-end saw the annual City Ski Championships in Courmayeur where a whole gaggle of City types demonstrated both their ski and après abilities for all they're worth. This was the eleventh year of the event and going against the run of brilliant weather that the organisers have had for the past few years, the conditions were nearly the worst in the event's history

Not many Italians to be found on the deckchairs in this sort of weather!

The warm-up races on Friday were held in beautiful Spring conditions but when it came to the day of the big race, the rain and fog descended with a vengeance.The scheduled start time of 10.30am came and went with Ski Sunday's Matt Chilton trying to keep everyone's spirits up by counting the number of gates on the course that were visible from the finish (not many). At the top of the course it was a different matter. Swathes of fog were rolling in and out, the slushy snow would mean huge ruts and the thought of flying down this traditionally very fast course in next to no visibility was leaving the top racers with the sort of nervous smiles you see in every dentist's waiting room.

In the end, the race was shortened to just the one run and the fastest man down was Accenture's Peter Bearshaw. There were lots of crashes but thankfully only a few twisted knees and ankles and almost all of the battered racers made it to the traditional prize giving dinner. Prizes were given for lots of different categories, including the lady who won the 'Most Challenged Skier' award by taking almost five times as long to complete the course as the men's winner. At least she was in one piece though. Each of the winners had to run the gauntlet of the French brokers from GFI who insisted that everyone who got a prize had to take a slug of vicious grappa from one of those old ski sticks designed for an on-the-slopes tipple. These boys, who are amongst the best skiers at the event, were dressed as outrageously as usual, this year the theme seemed to be early Spinal Tap. The evening event also involved a charity auction with Damon Hill of Formula One fame, who was raising money for the Halow Charity.

On Sunday the weather was just as bad, wet and miserable with the sort of snow that felt like wet chewing gum - a good day for a long lunch! The forecast says that the weather should clear up and give some beautiful spring conditions fairly shortly. The massive amounts of snow Courmayeur has had this season should see us through until the end of April when the lifts close but it would be nice to have another blast of real winter.

To finish off here's another entry for 'Dodgy Ski Suit of the Year'. I spotted this Italian gentleman in Zermatt...

I'm sure this bloke would have posed a bit more if I'd asked him!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Zermatt special - clearly the wrong side of the border - 11/3/2010 13:14

Paddy O'Powder, our Courmayeur snogger, takes a short road trip trip to report on the snow conditions in Zermatt - March 11, 2010

Driving east across the Alps from Courmayeur towards Zermatt last Friday, it was clear that the snow on the French/Swiss side of the Alps was very different to the stuff we've been enjoying all season long in Italy. Whilst Courmayeur has had pretty much non-stop snow since Christmas a combination of infrequent storms and arctic winds has stripped the Swiss mountains bare. From a distance, Zermatt looked white and wintery, once we got up close it was clear that there wasn't much more than a thin veneer of storm-lashed snow left clinging to the mountains, like a Scotsman to his glass of Malt at closing time.

The Matterhorn

Temperatures of minus 21 degrees (and worse) have closed the high altitude Klein Matterhorn area on a number of occasions this year. On Sunday, the wind-chill from 50km winds took the effective temperature down to the minus 30s. In Zermatt this season, powder has been something you'd only see in the ski films in the bars, the glaciers have been stripped bare with crevasses as wide as you'd normally only find in the summer. The mega-efficient Swissies have of course ensured that the pistes are in tip-top condition and, in fact, most of the resort's runs are open. The off-piste however is some of the worst I've ever seen here. It looks as if an enormous Brillo pad has been used to scrape the mountains clean leaving nothing but ice, rock and a lot of bored mountain guides.

The mountain man to call in Zermatt is local guide Andreas Fux. He's been a guide here for 25 years and if anyone knows where there'll be a decent descent, it's him. We skied down the Teodulo glacier with Andreas on Monday, heading onto a thin strip of snow between yawning crevasses at 3,500m, popping out an hour and half later on a frozen riverbed just above the village Zermatt. While it's normal to see large rocks sticking out of the end of a glacier, it was quite a surprise to come across a 1970's era piste-basher entombed in the actual ice. A fatal accident 30 years ago on the Italian border two kilometres away caused this machine to tumble 30 metres into a crevasse, supposedly lost forever. The same machine has now reappeared from its icy resting place having traversed its way in a huge arc under two drag lifts and an entire glacial plateau at the rate of about 65 metres a year. Talk about a clear lesson in the forces of nature.

A Rat Track at the end of its 30 year journey under Zermatt?s ski runs

The lack of snow at the end of the Teodolo glacier route has meant that the local guides have had to construct an aerial gantry on the side of a rock face to make getting out of the final icy gully feasible. Mountains are constantly shifting and changing shape but having to slither along a suspended wooden gantry where you've skied out a year just before shows the rate of change in this particular part of the Alps.

Tuesday saw a spectacular early morning heli-ride to the Alphubel Pass at 3700m. Jumping out into the arctic temperatures, we could see the clear blue glacial ice twinkling just centimetres below the light crust of frozen snow we were standing on. After a short, slithery ski through vicious winds, we put our skins on to climb up to the Allinan Pass that we hoped would give us access to a massive descent down towards the resort of Saas Fee. Having skinned for half-an-hour we got to the col only to see thick storm-laden clouds charging up towards from the Saas Valley. A descent through this kind of weather would have meant we'd have had to ski roped up becoming almost blind between hundreds of crevasses to get down to the valley. After a long hard stare into the murky cauldron below us, Andreas recommended that we change plan and head to the town of Tasch 2000m below us in another valley that thankfully was clear of the bad weather.

It?s definitely better going uphill than down in Zermatt this year

We might have been able to see the way down on this route but the snow felt like great slabs of breakable polystyrene board. One minute you could stand on it, the next it shattered under you. Andreas thought it was one of the worst descents he'd done in the last 15 years - no mean statement from one of Switzerland's top mountain guides. We eventually made it down to Tasch without managing to make one decent turn in the entire 2000 vertical metres. Thankfully, there was a plate of rösti and a bottle of Dole waiting at the train station buffet to revive our sense of humour.

Zermatt is one of the world's great ski resorts and also has some of the best restaurants in the Alps. Places like the Omnia, with its Bond-esque entrance tunnel or the Heimberg with its immaculate alpine chalet-like decoration, will give you as good a meal as you'll get anywhere in Europe. There's something for everyone in this town, whether you're after a classic cheesy fondue or delicacies such as gorgonzola, olive oil and ginger ice cream. We sampled this particular extravaganza one night at the Capri Restaurant on top of the Petit Mont Cervin hotel. This is the sort of place where most of the guests at dinner seemed to have a check sports jacket, a freshly botoxed wife and a holstered BlackBerry slung from a belt as big as Texas. We even tried a highly unusual 'BlackBerry Sorbet' between courses - we weren't quite sure if this was the result of the Chef's imagination or some sort of sponsorship deal.

Whilst the snow maybe be on the thin side this year Zermatt, it remains one of the top destinations for just about any type of ski holiday. Even if you do run happen to come across some odd characters in places like 'The Temple of Enjoyment' (as the Capri Restaurant rather foolishly describes itself) it's hard to beat the combination of Europe's most spectacular mountains, skiing for all possible levels and good old-fashioned Swiss efficiency.

Click here for our Zermatt resort report.

The Town with Too Much Snow - 1/3/2010 09:05

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - March 1, 2010

It's finally happened. After weeks of snowfall, Courmayeur can't take any more. On top of the enormous amounts of snow that's fallen so far this season we've had nearly another metre in town this week. A quick 40cms on Tuesday night was followed swiftly by a further 55cms between Thursday night and Friday.

There's a large hotel full of guests somewhere below this lot !

The snow clearing teams have no longer anywhere to put the tonnes of snow that's covering the town, all the normal spots they cart it off to are full so they're just piling it up as high as they can on street corners. Many of these mounds are now over 4 metres high and starting to look like mini version of the Matterhorn. What's really worrying is that this is just the snow in town - up in the mountains the amount of snow that's falling is getting scary. A number of roads and the whole of Val Ferret, an 18km long valley that's home to Courmayeur's cross-country tracks and some very swish villas, have been closed indefinitely. The overall avalanche risk is set at 4 but in some exposed places I'm sure that it's well over the maximum of 5.

Powder from his toes to his nose

When it's like this, the only sensible thing to do is head for the woods where there are no exposed areas and enjoy the experience of floating through the bottomless powder. Having said that, the temperature rose pretty quickly during the day on Saturday so that the morning's deep, soft icing sugar became the afternoon's Banoffi Pie. If you keep your speed up and have a set of wide skis, you can just about stay on top of even this but loose your balance and you'll be glad of your shovel to dig yourself out of the hole you'll be half buried in.

Friday afternoon's storm caught out a group of four Brits who were stumbling around high on the mountain in the midst of the blizzard. The only number they had to call for help was that of the ski shop where they'd rented their kit. Realising the Brits were in trouble, the shop called the Mountain Rescue Services who then spent hours looking for them until it was well after dark. A number of red faces were seen the next morning when the Rescue Team discovered that the skiers had actually made it back to their hotel on Friday night and had decided to keep schtum. In these cases it's customary for a large bill to be presented to the individuals concerned, usually delivered by a moustachioed policeman with a pistol on his hip and the power to make the journey home a lot less enjoyable than the trip out at the start of the holiday...

Saturday night brought yet more snow, luckily it was back to the light fluffy variety. This meant Sunday was fabulous, dropping of huge boulders into great pillows of snow that cushion any impact on landing is one of skiing's great joys. The lifts at the bottom of Courmayeur's innumerable off-piste forest runs were filled with steaming locals on the fattest skis they could find all smiling like the cats who'd got the cream.

The weatherman says that were due 'nevicate abbondante' from Monday night on, under normal conditions this would mean masses more snow and excitement all round. With what's fallen already, it could mean the snowplough guys will be emigrating to Australia.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

5,000 euro fines for off-pisters? - 22/2/2010 18:03

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - February 22, 2010

With snow like this it's hard to keep an eye on the scenery.

The big story in the Italian Alps over the past couple of weeks has been a panic-lead piece of legislation that the Italian government has tried to rush through Parliament. This amendment to an existing law plans to introduce jail sentences for anyone causing an avalanche that leads to someone else's death and 5,000 euro fines for anyone going off-piste when local conditions are described as "dangerous".

These penalties are a knee-jerk reaction to the increased number of avalanche deaths this season caused by a combination of heavy snowfalls and a huge increase in the number of people venturing off-piste. Unfortunately the proposed new laws have had little thought put into them and, as often the case in Italy, politicians have leapt into the fray without having the first idea of the issues involved.

Setting an avalanche off over a piste already attracts a potential jail sentence - and so it should. But the question of fining people when off-piste is a completely different situation. The rush to implement these new laws has been halted by a vigorous reaction from Italy's leading climbers, mountain guides and alpine associations, all of whom have condemned them as unworkable and "hysterical". As Arrigo Gallizio, President of Courmayeur's Alpine Guide Bureau pointed out, education is the key to greater safety in the mountains.

Arrigo Gallizio, President of the Courmayeur Guide Bureau.

Every year new and more sophisticated safety gear is launched onto the market, digital avalanche receivers, airbags to keep you above a snow slide and even rucksacks with under-snow breathing systems. Whilst these technological advances are all welcomed the biggest problem is that many people have simply no idea how to use the kit they've bought. Courmayeur has its own ARVA test area where you can practise locating a buried avalanche transceiver but, as Arrigo Gallizio stated, hardly anyone bothers using it. Given the concerted and voluble response from so many concerned groups the Italian government has now agreed to form a working party with a range of mountain professionals to review whether the sanctions proposed are enforceable or even the correct solution to the problem. It'll be interesting to see the outcome.

On a more cheerful note, despite the Italian half-term holiday crowds there were fabulous conditions both on and off-piste on Saturday. Cold, light and dry the powder was a joy to ski and once you got away from the crowds the scenery was breathtaking.

Now you know why they call him O'Powder. Paddy tears into the white stuff on his new pair of Salomon Rockers.

The temperature soon started dropping though and the powder that had warmed up in the strong spring sunshine in the morning was turning crusty by late afternoon. This stuff is hard to ski in and unless you're on some pretty huge powder skis that'll keep you on the surface it feels like trying to wade through an industrial size crème brûlée.

The skies were still clear on Sunday but wind that had come up overnight had turned Saturday morning's perfect powder into dangerous slabs about six inches deep that would break and slide from underneath you with just one good sneeze. When it's like this, caution is the key to getting home safe and sound. Luckily Courmayeur offers dozens of fabulous on-mountain bars and restaurants where you can linger as cautiously as you like over a perfect espresso and hot honey grappa or two..

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Endless winter... - 15/2/2010 15:39

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - February 15, 2010

Everything But The (chalet) Girl, not many of these in Whistler.

Whilst the Olympic athletes in Whistler are experiencing first-hand the vagaries of the Pacific climate, the Italian Alps have been basking in clear blue skies, freezing temperatures and fabulous snow. As Manuel Osborne-Paradis, Canada's top downhill racer, put it "You put a mountain right beside an ocean and rainforest and you?re going to get a lot of conditions".

A few years ago I sat with one of WeLove2Ski's editors in a Canadian heli-ski lodge inland from Whistler for several days, listening to the increasingly desperate 'technical forecasts' while watching the raindrops grow to Amazonian dimensions. We turned to a marathon monopoly session to pass the humidity-soaked hours' I only hope the supplies in the Olympic Village include a few good board games.

Courmayeur hasn't had any real fresh snow for around 10 days, although the forecast looks promising from Wednesday onwards. Despite this short break in the regular powder top-ups that we've been having since Christmas, there were still lots and lots of untracked areas to get stuck into. If you're happy to put your skis on your back and walk for half an hour along deserted ridges gazing up at Europe's highest peaks and glaciers, then this is the place to be. Almost without fail the reward is a descent through untouched bowls of thigh-deep powder with not a soul around to disturb the peace and tranquillity. What's half an hour's walk for a run like that?

Who says it's all tracked out?

It's mid-February now and Spring is supposed to be poking it's nose out from behind the stable door. The only sign of anything like milder conditions is the extra daylight and a couple of hours during the day when the temperature gets up above freezing. Courmayeur's mountain terraces are famous for their sun-worshipers. They're normally perched on every available stool and deckchair with the extra large Turkey-foil spread out under their chins - Milan's 'Ladies-who-Lunch-and-Fry' are getting more than a little frustrated this year. Designer ski wear is all very well in winter but once the sun comes out there's a whole range of new Alpine beach-wear ready to be shown off.

Not quite bikini weather just yet

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Courmayeur and the Alpine 'Etch-A-Sketch'® - 8/2/2010 11:45

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - February 7, 2010

"Veni, Vidi, Vici" was the cry from Julius Caesar once upon a time. Many people don't realise that the Roman armies never actually managed to conquer Ireland two thousand years ago - and it seems the Italian Rugby Team had much the same sort of trouble when they turned up in Dublin last Saturday.

Just two minutes from a Courmayeur cable-car - no tracks, no people, no problems whatsoever

But what Italy may lack in rugby skill has been more than made up for in the quality of the snow in Courmayeur this weekend. A swift storm came charging through the Aosta Valley on Friday last week leaving almost half a metre of snow in town alone. As Saturday dawned, we could see that the storm had run its course and the skies were opening to leave yet another dose of perfect winter conditions. This year, it feels as if there's a sort of Alpine Jeeves with a snow-filled Etch-a-Sketch® looking after Courmayeur. The tracked-out glades, gullies and glaciers are simply wiped clean of old tracks but the latest storm and re-presented in pristine condition ready for days more fun. Definitely a season to remember.

On your marks... get set... and... GO!

The pisteurs needed most of Saturday clear the avalanche-prone slopes above the Youla piste so the top Youla and Arp cable-cars, which provide access to much of Courmayeur's off-piste skiing, were closed. For some intrepid souls the snow in the apparently inaccessible (at least via cable-car) off-piste areas was just too good to miss so those same souls put their best foot forward, opened every zip they could find and started the long hard climb through thigh-deep snow up to the distant ridge that would give access to famous Vesses canyons.

Almost at the top of the climb and still smiling!

Yes it was hard work with heavy powder skis and no climbing skins but the descent into the deserted Vesse valleys was worth every painful step. Dry, light powder as far as you could see and not a breathe of wind to disturb the icy stillness. We came across one of Courmayeur's leading guides who was getting it in the ear from the Gucci-clad wife of one of his client's - she didn't feel that getting to untracked powder when the lifts were shut should involve anything like the amount of perspiration that seemed to be required.

Finally arriving back in Zerotta, I met up with Roland Steiger and a bunch of friends from Chamonix who'd come over to escape the brutal weather on the French side. Roland was one of the leading lights of the Chamonix Mountain Rescue Service for 15 years and, along with many of the more discerning Chamonix guides, has a soft-spot for the unique ambience and amazing skiing that Courmayeur offers.

Marina Pasquino: Mild-mannered research scientist during the week, powder-girl at the week-end

Sunday was even better. The only queue in the entire lift system was for the now open Youla cable-car but no one was just using it to get to the single red run that sweeps gently back down from the top station. Of all the great days I've had in Courmayeur, this was one of the best. Wherever we went the snow was perfect. We skied rock-lined couloirs; wide-open summer pastures; steep, silent forests; and, try as we might, we couldn't exhaust the massive amounts of deep, untracked powder that appeared around every corner. To add to this heady mix of alpine brilliance the sun shone down from a deep blue sky that hadn't a trace of cloud. The sort of day you want to bottle and keep forever.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Bears, powder and a medieval fair - 1/2/2010 13:45

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - February 1, 2010

The morning temperatures on Saturday and Sunday this weekend dropped to around minus 15C, not counting the wind-chill effect of 50kph-70kph winds, so you can imagine the condition of many skier's extremities by the time they'd braved the first few chairlifts.

Whilst the bad weather and cloud seemed to be concentrated in Chamonix and over Mont Blanc itself, Courmayeur was bathed in sunshine for most of Saturday and all of Sunday. A little brisk walking provided access to lots of tree-lined descents where the wind hadn't ruined the snow and these provided great fun all day. The Italians have many endearing qualities but the ability to withstand the wind and the cold is not one of them. Needless to say, Courmayeur's many bars did a roaring trade in hot chocolate with a shot or two of the local grappa.

The wind and cloud from the Chamonix-side storm just not quite making it over the Italian border

This weekend also saw the 1010th version of the Sant'Orso Festival in Aosta. Yes you read that correctly, this fair of local carpentry, agriculture, music, sculpture and a host of pretty mad, traditional costumes (Bilbo Baggins and rest of the Hobbits would fit right in) has been held for the last thousand and ten years and it never fails to attract what seems to be at least three quarters of the local populace. This festival commemorates an Irish saint who somehow ended up living in Aosta in the 6th century AD - it's a shame a fellow-Irishman's snow reports seem to have vanished in the mists of time. Also tied up with this event is a Ground-Hog Day type tradition where a bear (which rather oddly translates as 'Orso' in Italian) is supposed to pop of his den, see if he casts a shadow and then head back under the duvet for another 40 days of bad weather. Luckily the skies were blue on the day in question so it looks like this fabulous winter will be with us for a while yet.

The Sant'Orso fun continues for most of the night in Aosta with all the bars open pretty much until the first chilly rays of the sun appear on Sunday morning.

A friend of mine who'd undertaken a thorough investigation of the celebratory refreshments on offer, appeared on Sunday morning with eyes that looked like streaky bacon and a brain doing cartwheels after at least six of those keep-me-awake espressos. In Courmayeur the wind had dropped, the upper cable cars were opening and this was no time for sleeping off the hangover.

We headed up to the top of the Arp cable car at nearly 2,800 metres and started out along a windswept ridge that tracks up and over some corniced rocky outcrops, before finally arriving at completely hidden entrance to a long powder filled chute that both the winds and the rest of the local powder skiers had missed completely.

Climbing up part of what should be known as 'Rosary Bead Ridge': keep saying the prayers and don't look down!

The snow was epic, you couldn't ask for better. It was however only the start of a massive powder-filled run down to Dionne that took in 40° gullies, wide open meadows and more cold dry powder snow than we knew what to do with.

We're set for great weather for the next few days and then more snow of course, ready for the weekend!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Digging the House Out - 24/1/2010 23:42

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - January 24, 2010

There's been no ski-ing this week-end due to the mid-week arrival of a brand new baby in the O'Powder household. However, my spies have been out and about and the reports they've brought back paint a very pretty picture indeed. Whilst many people in the UK and Ireland have had to dig their cars out over the last few weeks, in Courmayeur it's been a case of digging the house out.

I know I put a Sky dish up here somewhere...

A week of almost continuously fine weather has seen the Courmayeur's freeride brigade out in full, heading off to all the famous descents that this year are in perfect condition. Whether you head for the off-piste areas accessible from the main Courmayeur ski area or take the three-stage cable car to the Punta Helbronner lift station, perched precariously at 3,400 metres on the shoulder of Monte Bianco, the snow is excellent.

Stepping out from the third of these cable cars you're faced with an almost mind-numbing array of descents. 50° couloirs leading to the infamous Toula Glacier or perhaps the Marbrée extravaganza where, after a climb to the start-point, you thread your way through massive cliff bands, fields of serracs and untouched forests for 2000 vertical metres before arriving exhausted in the deserted stone village of Meyen.

All of these routes were in great condition this week but apparently the best snow to be found was on the right-hand flank of the Vallee Blanche. Local Courmayeur guide Gianfranco Sappa took a group of near speechless Swedish chefs down the Vierge descent from Punta Helbronner to the centre of Chamonix, 24kms below. The innumerable turns in perfect knee-deep powder they enjoyed more than made up for the entire week of Muppet Show jokes they'd had to endure in their hotel. The Vierge is a far less travelled version of the Vallée Blanche and is a lot more interesting than the traditional route which at times can feel like the M25, all it takes is a little imagination and of course the sort of local knowledge you get from hiring a mountain guide.

This week's forecast suggests more snow so hopefully I'll be able get out from under the mountain of nappies and babygrows that have sprouted Chez O'Powder and report first hand on the latest adventures in Courmayeur.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Strictly Come Powdering - 18/1/2010 16:33

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - January 18, 2010

Anyone who's anyone is in Courmayeur this year, even Brucie seems to have made it!

Courmayeur continues to provide week after week of amazing conditions, a mid week 30cms of snow was topped up on Saturday night with yet another 40cms. The resort is very quiet at this time of year but everyone who can is getting geared up and heading off into the powder. The most switched-on people are hiring one of the local mountain guides both to learn their way around and to improve their technique. It's amazing how much easier it is to ski in powder when someone has shown you why it's as different from piste ski-ing as rugby is to football.

After some beautiful mid-week days, the clouds came in on Saturday and produced some of the flattest light I've seen in an ages. We were skiing in the bowls high above the Ivesse couloirs and the only way to judge what was going on in the magical snow under your feet was to use your ski poles as feelers on every turn. Needless to say this technique inevitably resulted in a tumble or two but still, who cares when there's this much snow.

Leaping through powder in Courmayeur

Heading down into the couloir zone we decided to climb out beyond a rocky outcrop and ski one of the lesser known tree-lined chutes that head straight down to the Miage glacier. The snow in some of these protected little valleys has to be seen to be believed, your skis turn with just the power of thought, no effort required whatsoever. To add to the sense of satisfaction we were the first people to reach this area for a week or so and had the entire descent to the three of us - skiing heaven despite the cloud and rapidly incoming storm.

Sunday morning saw the clouds that had brought latest 40cms of snow slowly clear and then... the sun came out to give one of those perfect afternoons of knee-deep powder skiing through silent forests which you wish could go on for ever.

If you're looking for a barstool with a view...

The forecast for the next few days, is sun until Wednesday and then, you guessed it, even more snow.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Courmayeur at its best - 11/1/2010 16:39

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - January 11, 2010

Right on cue, when the crowds have all gone, the sun has come out to remind us that Courmayeur lies at the heart of some of the most beautiful mountains in the entire world. The temperatures are low, the snow is crisp and deep, and it's as close to perfection in an alpine town as you're ever likely to get.

Monte Bianco, as seen from the ancient village of Entreves, just outside Courmayeur.

Recently I had a look at some old snow and weather reports from the Aosta Valley Avalanche Centre and came across some interesting stats:

1675/76 season - from the October 30 to the end of May no rain or snow fell at all.
1838/39 season - clement weather and no snow at all in the whole of the Valley.
1878/79 season - from the beginning of November until the end of May snow fell every single week.
1892/93 season - not a drop of rain for six entire weeks in the Spring and no snow whatsoever fell during the winter.
2008/09 season - at just 1600m altitude almost six metres of snow fell during the winter.

Just a cursory look at these old records shows that there have been huge variations in the amount of snow that has fallen during the last few hundred years. The 2008/09 winter was considered one of the best for over 15 years, yet so far this season conditions are even better. Snow-wise Courmayeur can now only be described as FULL and it's amazing how quickly one gets used to decent snowfalls two or even three times every week!

Many of the locals, some of whom worked 18 hour days during the Christmas and New Year holidays, are now out and enjoying themselves in the fantastic conditions. The pistes are groomed to billiard-table perfection and the off-piste really has to be seen to be believed. I skied the Canale di Dolonne a number of times in the last few days and it's safe to say that if you're looking for fresh powder from 2800m all the way down to 1100m this is the place to head for.

This off-piste adventure of 1700 vertical metres (30% longer than anything to be found in Jackson Hole, by the way) starts from the Youla cable-car and a 20-minute sidestepping climb takes you to a windswept col where an entire deserted valley opens below your feet.

No words necessary, the smile says it all.

A quick check of all the gear and then you're off. The first steep open bowls lead down to tight even steeper chutes. These in turn open up into gentle wide meadows that take you on into forests, waterfalls and finally boulder-strewn river beds from where, if you can avoid a plunge into one of the ice cold streams, you pop out like Alice Through The Looking Glass, onto a beginner's piste that takes you back to the Dolonne village bubble.

Flying down the snowy river.

There's so much snow that what would normally be obstacles to avoid have become the elements of an amazing powder-filled playground. Despite the general economic doom and gloom, the sales of fat powder skis, ABS backpacks, avalungs and one-piece powder suits (à la Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me) seem to be rocketing.

Skiers of all ages seem to be getting kitted out for the Courmayeur powder with a worryingly large number middle-aged Italian lawyers, bankers and Sir Humphreys trying to regain their youth by taking the plunge off-piste. The one thing the shops can't sell however is experience, getting a mountain guide to teach you how to use the kit you've just bought (including the skis themselves) is crucial. Lots of new, enthusiastic powder skiers and boarders resemble a 17-year-old driver who's just thrown away his L-plates and been given the keys to a Porsche - great fun but highly dangerous.

I saw one example of this on Saturday near the top of the Dolonne Couloir where an Ali G-esque dude - on a massive set of powder boards and supersized DJ headphones - went flying backwards off a 30ft cliff, despite the urgent screams of his companions below. Hopefully by the time he'd finally reached the end of the run, a good thousand vertical metres below he'll have wished he'd had Mr Bond's Union Jack parachute tucked away in his backpack.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

And yet more snow - 5/1/2010 11:19

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - January 5, 2010

Val Veny and the Miage glacier, January 5, 2010

Just to make you green with envy, here is the view today of Val Veny and the Miage glacier which plunges down the southern flank of Mt Blanc. It's the first morning for a couple of weeks when there's been a tolerable temperature, no wind, an almost clear blue sky and of course, yet another 30cms of fresh snow.

Another shot of Val Veny and the Miage glacier, January 5, 2010

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Spaghetti Junction comes to Courmayeur - 3/1/2010 17:00

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - January 3, 2010

Anyone who happened to be in Rome on August 24 in the year 410AD could tell you what it's like to be in a town when its overun by an invading army that tramples all in its path. New Year's week in Courmayeur didn't see much in the way of Visigoths but one could, for once, sympathise with the Romans.

No-one I spoke to in town could ever remember seeing as many people crowded into Courmayeur, the car parks were full by 8-30am each day and just about every pavement in site was converted into a make-shift parking spot.

The sort of view that makes a Monday morning a lot easier...

To add to the merriment we've had snow almost continuously since Xmas which, while great for the surrounding mountains, has made conditions in town close to impossibile. To give you an idea, last winter's snowfall was considered the best for 15 years, this year we've already got more by the first week of January than had fallen by mid-February in the 08/09 season. There's more than two metres of packed snow on the mid-level runs and more than three metres on some of the high-level (3,000 metre) off-piste descents. Amazingly, the forecast is now for even more of the same this week.

Champagne powder anyone?

The ski pistes are in fantastic condition and even after the bashing they've had from the thousands upon thousands of people during the last two weeks, there's not a sign of wear to be seen. The same can't be said for the faces of the pisteurs and rescue services. They've been carting people off the mountain in droves, mainly due to collisions between people skiing far too fast while completely oblivious of the people in front, behind and occasionally above them. The latest madness seems to be skiing (and boarding) while texting. The Italians are past masters at combining a high speed, racing-turn with a heated mobile phone discussion on the quality of last night's risotto (phone clamped inside the helmet) but actually trying to tap out a message whilst avoiding the rest of the populace is clearly certifiable.

The off-piste conditions have varied from perfect to dreadful. Some days have seen us floating through the sort of thigh-deep powder that the Americans keep trying to copyright, while other outings have seen us trying to break through the sort of crust you get on an extra thick frozen pizza.

Trying to stay on top of the thick, crusty powder!

Courmayeur seems to be growing in popularity with the guides and instructors from Chamonix every season. One guide who may not rush back is the gentleman who stopped to relieve himself on a tree near one of the main pistes. I understand he was fairly startled to look up from the business in hand to find a mustachioed Carabiniere waving his summons book in a less than friendly manner.

Apparently there's a local bye-law against this sort of thing. One can only hope, given the freezing conditions we've been having, that the policeman allowed the guide to complete his manoeuvres before undertaking the lengthy process involved in dealing with any minor traffic offence here.

First prize for ingenuity over the holiday season goes to a butcher in Chamonix who realised that the turkey he planned to deliver to the chalet of a very demanding lady from London was not quite the 6kg she'd stipulated. The chalet lunch - and the butcher's bacon - was saved by the simple trick of sewing 2 extra legs to the bird in question and delivering it with a perfectly straight face!

The season can start in earnest now. Once the avalanche risk recedes, Courmayeur will be set for some really superb off-piste ski-ing. Anyone considering a trip out should get cracking and take full advantage of yet another amazing season here on the southern side of Mt Blanc.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Hot air and deep, deep snow - 29/12/2009 11:13

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - December 28, 2009

Here in Italy the snow drought is over and winter is back with a vengeance. After all the hot air that was spouted in Copenhagen recently it looks as if the snow gods have decided to demonstrate that arctic weather is not completely extinct. As Barack, Gordon and Sarko returned home to massive snowfalls, frozen trains and ice-bound airports Courmayeur was getting more than its fair share of winter weather. In the four days leading up to Christmas we had about a metre of snow in town with much more up on the slopes. The powder was great, no one was here and the few lucky visitors made hay whilst the peaceful conditions lasted.

Red berries and Christmas powder

Just as Santa had finished his rounds the crowds from Milan, Turin and Genova descended. Car wheels were spinning, jeeps (sans snow tyres) were sliding into stranded Porches and everyone else was trying to park in the few spaces left by this year's snow clearing team - most of whom seemed to be competing for the Laurel and Hardy efficiency award.

The snow on piste is great, the people are not. Thousands of people with new skis, razor sharp edges, dodgy technique and dreams of Olympic Downhill glory are all crashing into one another wherever you look. The police are out in force, issuing fines and carting people off to the local station for marathon sessions of Italian form filling. If the snow wasn't so good most of the locals would be firmly hidden away from this madness.

A secret spot in one of Courmayeur's forests

In between the snowfalls, we had a dose of rain to 2000 metres which then froze leaving a six-inch icy crust that ruined the off-piste. Luckily the snow is now piling down again and it's forecast to do much the same up until New Year. The longer term forecast also suggests lots of snow in the first two weeks of January although, as with the UK Met Office's own 'barbecue summer' predictions, let's wait and see what happens!

"All together now..."

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

The Curious Case of Doctor Nose - 20/12/2009 08:42

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - December 19, 2009

Life for the lads in Courmayeur's Carabinieri rarely gets more exciting than the last couple of weeks. Two weeks ago they were threatened with a visit to the annual Courmayeur film festival from one of Italy's most notorious and violent gangsters, this week they managed to find 'Dr Nose', one of the FBI's most wanted runaways!

First things first however, here's the latest on the snow. The incredibly low temperatures (-18C on one of the chair-lifts on Saturday) have meant that the snow cannons have be going full pelt to provide enough snow to open most of Courmayeur's ski area.

Courmayeur ski area

The snow is smooth, compact and great fun in the morning. Once the sun goes down and the temperature drops again, the runs become much harder work and sharp edges are worth their weight in gold. As usual before Christmas, there's no-one here so we've been cruising down deserted pistes, eating in restaurants with just a couple of other tables filled and generally making the most of the lull before the storm. Hopefully the snowstorm that's forecast for most of the coming week will hit before the Milan-Turin-Genoa human storm that will definitely be with us by the 27th.

Now back to 'Dr Nose', as he was apparently known in his heyday. A 46-year-old American was found this week huddled in a tent at over 2000m, in the deserted wilds of Val Ferret above Courmayeur. Given the freezing weather we've been having, this is probably the last place on earth you'd want to go camping - he must have felt like one of those Emperor Penguins at the South Pole wondering how they're going to cope with a frozen backside for the next six months.

Dr Nose's final hideaway, the frozen wastes of Val Ferret

What the local Italian police initially thought was a madman turned out to be a renowned plastic surgeon who had lived the rock-star life in Chicago before suddenly fleeing the hundreds of malpractice suits (and a $10 million fraud case) that had started piling up against him. Pursued by the FBI (and his wife) across the world for the last five years, he was put down as one of those runaways who'd actually made it. How he ended up in Courmayeur, no-one's quite sure but it appears that he'd lived here for over a year before heading off into the frozen wastes of Val Ferret to see what life's like as a fish finger.

The police did play down the fact that he'd actually been in town for so long without being spotted but fair play to them I suppose, they did eventually catch the FBI's man. Reports of another tall, dark, American with a bag full of mangled golf clubs taking up residence in the recently vacated tent are, as yet, unconfirmed.

Hopefully next week this blog will be about all the great new snow and powder skiing. Merry Christmas and fingers crossed.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

I'm thinking of changing my name to Paddy O'Piste - 14/12/2009 10:33

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - December 14, 2009.

Raw. That's the only way of describing conditions in Courmayeur right now. The hordes that piled into town last week-end have gone and the ski area is ready for the lovely pre-Christmas period when there's no-one around and the conditions are often tip-top. The decorations and Christmas lights are up, too, and Courmayeur looks wonderful. Now all we need is some snow to make it perfect.

Where should I put my stocking?

Saturday and Sunday saw the few people who ventured out onto the slopes skiing around on rock hard pistes in weather that vascillated between pea soup and the sort of drifting fog you might find out on the Yorkshire moors whilst looking for The Slaughtered Lamb pub. The forests were covered in frozen water vapour which looks pretty but not half as nice as the same branches groaning under the weight of a massive snowfall.

Not as sketchy as it looks. Honest.

The conditions may sound sketchy but the high quality of the piste preparation meant that the runs were smooth, the snow was grippy and best of all, there were no rocks to cut our ski bases to pieces. One only has to think back a few years to the days when snow making was in its infancy and "open" pistes were sometimes covered in stones and orange sticks warning you of great lumps of granite-hard ground ready to tear you to bits if you slipped up.

Off piste is a no-go area. All the Alpine Guides have swapped their mountain outfits for the far slinkier Maestro di Sci jackets and tight pants, cruising around quite happily giving lessons on piste whilst waiting for the weather to change. A quick look at the rack of battered powder skis sitting in the repair shop tells you all you need to know about those brave (or foolhardy) enough to have "given it a go" off-piste. Blown edges and bases that look like someone has fired a machine gun at them tell their own story.

On Saturday I climbed over a three metre high steel avalanche barrier behind the Youla cablecar to have a look at one of the main off-piste areas. A friend of mine pointed out that last winter we strolled over the same barrier barely noticing it under the huge amounts of snow.

The forecasters are saying that this is the week of the big freeze with a huge Siberian weather system bringing us temperatures down to minus 25C. This is great for the snow cannons but what we really need is a matching disturbance to come in from the west and crash into the cold air giving us feet and feet of fresh snow. Let's see if Christmas comes early.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

The Mad Hatter's ski party - 7/12/2009 12:53

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - December 7, 2009

The opening week-end of most European ski resorts sees nothing more than the locals out and about, a few intrepid foreign visitors and the odd ski instructor whistling down the near deserted pistes offering their prognosis for the coming winter.

Italy - and Courmayeur in particular - is different. This week-end was part of the four-day Sant'Ambroggio holiday that sees most of Milan decamp en-masse for a non-stop riot of shopping, dining, posing and the barely-credible chaos that passes for normality in this part if the world. Some of these visitors even manage to get up to the slopes to see how the snow is too.

For most of the Autumn, Courmayeur pootles along in its quiet traditional way, the greatest excitement being the annual Cow Wrestling Championships in nearby Aosta (aka the Battle of the Queens). This season-long event culminates in the live, televised final where the finest local animals do battle before 30,000 spectators. The aim is for one of the aspiring Queens to wrestle her opponent to the ground, or at least to cause her to run away to the other side of the ring by sheer force of personality (or maybe bad breath). Imagine a bovine Sumo version of PMQs with locked horns and cowbells instead of order papers and Treasury Statistics and you'll get the idea.

Les Combats de Reines

The Courmayeur lifts opened for business on Saturday morning and I have to say that despite the lack of thick snow cover so far this year, the pistes that were open were in great condition. Most of Courmayeur's runs are covered with snow-making equipment which provides a great base for when Mother Nature is a little slow off the mark. The atmosphere was very much 'first day back at school' with everyone noisily greeting their old friends and rivals, eye-ing up other people's fashions and generally making the very few foreign visitors feel somewhat left out.

Monte Bianco

Saturday afternoon and evening saw the full Milano-on-Snow phenomenon - more flash cars than the Geneva motor show, all parked wherever the mood took the drivers, fur coats by the thousand and more conspicuous consumption than even Imelda Marcos would feel was appropriate. Moncler is the #1 winter fashion brand in northern Italy, 60s style puffy jackets with real-fur Russian hats available for all the family at thousands of euro per outfit. Moncler now has three shops in Courmayeur, the main one actually had a queue of people outside its door. What made this sight even stranger was that almost all the people in the queue were already wearing ...Moncler jackets.

I seem to have lost my spare snow tyres, has anyone seen them?

To add to the sense of drama we have Courmayeur's annual week-long 'Noir in Festival' film jamboree. It's dedicated to the latest thrillers (the darker the better) and attracts some notable figures from the international film world. To lend verisimilitude to the event, the author of a new book about the most notorious Italian terrorist of the 1970s invited the main man himself to be present at the launch party. Given that he's currently serving 260 years in prison for murder, terrorism and extortion this caused no small number of eyebrows to be raised.

The various local police forces have all been having kittens wondering just who would turn up to see this character, imagining Pulp Fiction-style scenes amidst the ice cream and popcorn. After days of screeching headlines in the local press, the latest news is that the President of Aosta has finally brought his full weight to bear and this notorious bandit will thankfully be staying locked up behind bars.

We are, however, expecting Michael Caine to be here for the showing of his latest film Harry Brown. It's ironic that hardly any Italians I've ever met have seen, or even heard of The Italian Job, even more so given that a number of scenes were filmed in the shadow of Mont Blanc itself. Hopefully he'll turn up in a 60s style Mini Cooper telling everyone who'll listen: "My name... is Michael Caine."

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

It's looking good in Courmayeur - 10/11/2009 12:08

Paddy O'Powder reports on the snow conditions in Courmayeur - November 10, 2009

Here's a pic from Sunday afternoon showing the south side of Mt Blanc with the Courmayeur ski area in the background. If it keeps going like this the start of the season should be great.

The Courmayeur lifts are scheduled to open on the weekend of November 28. The snow at 1700m is about 25cm which is a good enough reason to get the ski touring kit out whilst we're waiting for mechanical assistance!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Seeing the season out in style - 20/4/2009 10:58

Paddy O'Powder reports on snow conditions in Courmayeur - April 20, 2009
It only seems like yesterday when the first of this winter's big snowfalls were pounding down and giving us conditions that almost beggared belief. Unfortunately it looked like the last official week-end of Courmayeur's 08/09 season was going to end with a soggy whimper rather than a rousing last hurrah. The temperatures during the week had dropped substantially and there had been some snow above 1800m but the cold, grey, cloudy skies and thick fog that greeted us on Saturday morning were a real let down.

A couple of phone calls and a whisper that the sky was clearing a few valleys away led to a quick decision to head over to La Thuile, another Italian resort that straddles the French border about 20 minutes away from Courmayeur.

The early lifts were freezing and our spring skiing outfits seemed less than wise. The break in the weather above La Thuile looked like it was going to deliver a gorgeous day so we decided to tackle the rocky ridge that forms the right hand shoulder of Mt Valaisan, a 2,900m peak that sits right on the French/Italian border.

We were the first to attempt it from the Italian side since the mid-week snowfall and that meant breaking the track for the whole of the hour and a half's ascent. It was hard work as we climbed up through the steep rocky outcrops, sinking into the snow up to our thighs at a few points. The view that greeted us as we crested the final col was however worth all the hard work...

We were perched above a completely untouched, 30°, powder-filled bowl about 500m wide and at least a kilometre long. The snow was dry, light and cold as you'd get in January. Every single turn on the way down threw up a huge cloud of tiny snow crystals that hung in the air flashing and sparkling in the bright sunlight.

Later on, relaxing over lunch on the historic Piccolo San Bernard pass (Hannibal actually took his elephants through here in 218 BC en-route to Rome) we gazed up at our three solitary tracks and raised a glass to a fitting end to the season.

Fingers crossed for next year!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Feeling nostalgic - 14/4/2009 19:11

Paddy O'Powder reports on snow conditions in Courmayeur - April 14, 2009
The long Easter weekend in Courmayeur traditionally sees the slopes packed with skiers in the mornings and the restaurant terraces covered with sunbathers in the afternoon

This year however most of the sunbathing was taking place in Courmayeur's very own Sunbed Emporium. For many Italians the "pale and interesting look" is a non-starter and simply doesn't go with the new spring fashions - so, given the disappointing weather this weekend, the salon did a roaring trade.

Ski-wise much of the weekend was a complete washout with warm, cloudy, drizzly weather lasting until the sun finally came out on Monday morning, providing a glorious day's skiing on the Toula Glacier.

The main Chercouit ski area is now only really skiable above 2,200m which is why heading up to 3,300m to tackle the Toula (perfect transformed snow) or the runs back towards the Vallée Blanche (a dusting of fresh powder) makes sense. The Toula was actually very quiet and there is still so much snow that skiing right through to mid-May is a real probability.

This is the time of year when you see many of next year's skis being tested, The Salomon team were up filming on the Toula with their new bamboo powder skis. I think the mini-parapentes that some of them were using to fly for 50 to 60 metres over rocks and crevasses between turns will be a very optional extra when these skis hit the shops!

This marvellous season officially closes next weekend in Courmayeur, and the picture below shows just one of the fantastic days we had. The ski touring and glacier ski-ing season is now in full swing, but it will be difficult to forget the snow of winter 2008-09.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Perfect spring snow - 6/4/2009 20:14

Paddy O'Powder reports on snow conditions in Courmayeur - April 6, 2009
As the mercury shoots up the thermometer Courmayeur is experiencing classic spring conditions with the frozen early morning pistes turning into perfectly smooth, groomed snow carpets by about 10am. By the time a late lunchtime comes around those immaculate carpet-like runs have turned into something that feels like a "Sloppy Giuseppe" pizza.

Last week's falls of heavy, wet snow have led to lots of afternoon snow slides and indeed some larger avalanches in the steep couloirs at lower levels. I took a peak at the famous Ivesse gully on Saturday morning and had to remove my skis and clamber down over armchair-sized blocks of ice that had come down as part of a long avalanche during one of the previous afternoons.

Ivesse and a number of other similar routes are now un-skiable until the next dump of snow covers the lot and produces a surface you can ski on. This might seem like wishful thinking but Courmayeur seems to get a number of late dumps every season with the weather turning very cold and the powder skis coming out of the garage once again...

Given the slushy conditions most of the weekend visitors seemed to take full advantage of the gorgeous weather and head for a long lunch on one of the many sunny terraces that overlook Monte Bianco.

Sunday brought an entirely different day. A friend of mine suggested we head up the lifts towards the Toula Glacier area and tackle the famous Marbrée descent. This is a steep and exposed off-piste descent that drops from 3,500m all the way down to the valley floor near Courmayeur at 1500m, that?s 2000m vertical, with no signs, no easy traverse out (if you get a touch of the old spaghetti-legs) and next to no people.

On the way over to the start of the Marbrée we ran into Dario Brocherel, one of Courmayeur's most famous mountain guides. Over the last 30 years Dario has climbed and skied just about every inch of the Mt Blanc Massif, his career has pretty much set the standards by which all of the other guides in this area measure themselves by.

Picking the right day (and time) to attempt this kind of descent is critical and it was reassuring to see that Dario was up there with his group of clients too. To reach the start you have to hike up for about 15mins from the top of the lifts to reach the very intimidating entrance to the run. Peering over the edge of the first ridge down the 45° crevasse-filled face to the road 2 vertical kilometres below you concentrates the mind wonderfully on exactly what you?re about to do. The snow up here is still cold and dry and from the pic below you can see the sheer quantity that is still around./p>

The first turns and traverses take you through the key no-fall zone, concentration needs to be 100% to ensure you stay in control, plan every turn and avoid any slips that could turn into a ride over one of the huge cliff bands that slice through the face.

Once you've made it down the first 500 metres and negotiated the crevasses in the mid section the slope angle levels out to a much more manageable 30°, it was here that the real treat lay - open glacial meadows that offered the space for hundreds and hundreds of turns down a silky surface that seemed more like velvet than snow. The last part of the run brought us through the by now pretty soggy Rochefort forest to the ancient stone village of Meyen - population 0 at this time of year. Eventually we arrived at the summer road that leads back (via a 20 minute walk) to civilisation and a cold beer.

The lifts on Courmayeur's main ski area will close on April 19th but that doesn't mean the end of play, the ski touring season is just taking off and the cablecars on the Mt Blanc side are open all year. We often ski well into May and even June here and as Dario Brocherel, and anyone else who really knows these mountains will tell you, some of the best ski-ing is yet to come.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Poncho Days - 30/3/2009 18:16

Paddy O'Powder reports on snow conditions in Courmayeur - March 30, 2009
It's been a fabulous season so far so it would be churlish to complain about a bit of a wet weekend. The snow that was cascading down last week in Val d?Isere missed Courmayeur completely. And although we did get some of the white stuff over Saturday and Sunday it would be more accurate to describe it as "wetstuff".

Saturday was one of those days when you leave home in the rain, praying that you'll get out of the cablecar in fresh powder. Fresh it was, but the snow below 1800 metres felt more like knee-deep cold rice pudding.

A few brave souls, though very few Italian ones, could be seen doing their best to plough through the goo. Anyone unlucky enough to take a tumble off-piste emerged from the "snow" looking rather like a bag of damp laundry. There's really very little in terms of conventional ski wear that will keep you dry on days like these, and walking into any of the steaming bars or restaurants at lunchtime one could see the complete alpine-sauna effect of steaming gloves, sodden hats and people wishing they'd brought a spare set of underwear.

Sunday saw conditions improve slightly with some of the higher lifts open, although this was only relative. The snow kept pouring down thick, heavy and very wet. There were a few turns to be had off-piste, the fact that it was one of the quietest Sundays of the season meant we could at least charge round the limited options without seeing anyone else - "pea soup" conditions and typical Italian skiers are rarely seen together.

Plastic knee-length ponchos are the only protection on days when it's this damp the ideal accessory would perhaps be a set of matching Marigolds as ski gloves (no matter what it says on the label) and wet, sodden snow do not get on well together.

The forecast is suggesting more warm, wet weather this week with snow above 1800 metres which means the Poncho may have to see another outing. Let's hope the sun comes out and we get back to some real spring skiing!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

From Catsuits to Couloirs - 24/3/2009 18:05

Paddy O'Powder reports on snow conditions in Courmayeur - March 24, 2009
This week-end saw the 10th annual City Ski Championship in Courmayeur. This event, organised by Momentum Travel and sponsored by Air France is now one of the major features of the winter season in Courmayeur, though this year there was a slightly different atmosphere to normal...

Whispers abounded of sightings of a tubby Scotsman and his heroically-eyebrowed sidekick charging around in a hot air-powered snowcat ensuring that any bankers who had the gall to leave their desks and take part were wearing medieval hairshirts under their catsuits...

As it turned out a hundred world-saving Prme Ministers couldn't have dampened the atmosphere. Past and present stars of the ski world were out in force, the sun shone and a great time was had by all of those who escaped from recession-battered Britain to make it out to Courmayeur.

The week-end wasn't all about catsuits and slalom poles however. This time of year is when the ski-touring kit comes out; skins, lightweight skis and a picnic lunch to be precise. The clear, cold conditions have kept the snow on the north-facing slopes in great condition and if you can "raise your cheek" as the Italians say you can access some amazing powder-filled descents.

The pic below shows a group of locals heading off from the Arp cablecar for a trek uphill to a deserted peak.

Slogging uphill on skins sounds like a nightmare to anyone who hasn't experienced it, but try it for an hour, reach an isolated peak and then head down a powder-filled couloir with just your companions and not another soul for miles ? the "slog" seems like a tiny price to pay.

One of the great pleasures at this time of year at the end of the day is too either stay up on (or skin back up to) one of the high points in the area, watch the sun setting and then cruise down trying to concentrate on your turns whilst the enormous glaciers and peaks above you turn golden in the last rays of the sun.

We're not even at the end of Mach yet and winter still has a few tricks up its sleeve. This morning (Tuesday) a howling snow storm was blowing in town, a brief pause is forecast on Thursday and Friday before another blast of winter weather is due next weekend ? let?s hope the long johns and thick jumpers have to come out again!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

From spring powder to apocalyptic horsemen - 16/3/2009 19:27

Paddy O'Powder reports - March 16, 2009
To paraphrase Old Blue Eyes, "Spring has definitely sprung" in Courmayeur. Having been away for the last couple of week-ends it was great to get back and see what had happened during that amazing period when the Alps change from mid-winter to spring in what feels like an instant.

The days are longer, the sun is warmer and the whole resort seems to be more relaxed now that long cold months have passed. There's still masses of snow (even down to the village) and on Saturday the pistes were in billiard-table condition. The off-piste still had loads to offer with some of the north-facing couloirs providing steep, untracked, powder-filled descents.

This is the time of year when the finer side of life in Italy becomes much more apparent. Lunching outside on a wooden terrace in the glorious sunshine, gazing up at the Mt Blanc glaciers hanging thousands of metres above you and tucking into some of the finest pasta imaginable makes you realise just how lucky you are to be in a place like this.

As Sunday dawned clear, crisp and bright the Toula Glacier was the place to head for. This 1,200m off-piste descent provides everything from deep-frozen snowboard tracks to perfectly transformed Spring snow, all you need to do is choose the right line and hope your legs (and lungs) last till you get to the bottom!

The Pavillon mountain refuge at the base of the Toula descent is one of the most spectacular in the Alps and thankfully it provides the sort of lunch and sun-terrace that's required after a hard morning amongst the couloirs, crevasses and icefalls.

Pavillon was also the setting for one of the most bizzare alpine events. In 1960 a fairly loopy Italian doctor from Milan decided that he and his very own group of fanatics could see the end of the world coming right around the corner. This particularly mad group (even for Italy) took the cablecar up to the restaurant, positioned themselves amongst the diners on the terrace with their arms outstretched and awaited the arrival of the Seven Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

As we're all still here it seems the good Doctor was misinformed. One can only imagine the scene at some point later that afternoon as these prophets of doom had to queue up and buy their return tickets for the cablecar all the way back down again...

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Salomon, not seven iron - 23/2/2009 19:00

Paddy O'Powder reports - February 23, 2009
It's not often that you see both powder skiers and golfers with all their respective paraphernalia being loaded into a 30 year old cable-car in the pouring rain. This was the scene on Sunday morning at the base of the famous lifts that go up towards the Toula Glacier. Courmayeur's golf club was planning to hold a rather unlikely competition near the Pavillon restaurant (altitude 2,200 metres, current snow depth well over two metres) whilst the very puzzled skiers were hoping that the rain would turn to snow a bit higher up and provide a few fresh turns in the trees.

In the end just about everybody was disappointed, the golfers would have needed radio beacons to find their balls in the fog and the skiers could have done with wetsuits just to survive the first 20 turns!

The weekend wasn't a complete write-off, however, as Saturday had been another of those fabulous ski days that have been the pattern for this season. Despite the fact that the place was packed for the Italian half-term holidays we still managed to find a few spots that were untouched. The pic above shows the entrance to a couloir near the Miage Glacier - the only tracks visible were those of a lone Chamois who'd been out looking for his lunch.

Just at the point when everyone packed up early on Sunday afternoon, sopping wet and dreaming of a hot bath, Sod's Law ensured that the sun came out. It's forecast to stay out of much of the coming week, as well, which will please both the shoppers and skiers who are here in force for the holidays.

The Italian golfers on the other hand will have to wait a few more months till the snow clears and they can once more bring out their carefully colour coordinated five-woods and cashmere jumpers.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

"Hey Tonto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." - 16/2/2009 18:17

Paddy O'Powder reports - February 16, 2009
Valentine's week-end in Courmayeur was definitely special. St Valentine is actually one of the town's patron saints and it seems that somebody was smiling down on those looking for powder on Saturday and Sunday.

It wasn't easy and there were definitely some obstacles along the way. First off was the cold: Saturday morning saw temperatures of around -15C at just 1500m. A Bise wind was blowing too, which dropped the mercury even further and given that we'd had some strong wind since the last snowfall on the previous Tuesday many of the more exposed routes had been cleared of any fresh snow.

But all was not lost. The Vesse and Arp Vieille areas still had sections where the shin-deep powder lay untouched by man or wind and all that was required was the obligatory climb, or "bootpack" as the Americans like to call it.

Talking of Americans, I came across two Ski Patrollers from Breckenridge, Colorado at the top of the Arp cablecar where many of Courmayeur's longest off-piste routes start. As they stepped out of the ancient lift building they gazed out at the gigantic peaks and glaciers that surrounded them and had what can only be described as a "Hey Tonto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore" moment.

In the pic above you can just see the rising track (coming out of the shade) that takes you to the Arp Vieille ridge. Once you've got your breath back and taken in the amazing views, you can opt for one of the half-dozen different routes that take you back to the base of the Miage glacier (snaking down the left side of the pic) and the long skate back to civilization - snowboarders beware.

This is one of the best-protected areas in the Val Veny sector and as you can see below the snow was worth the climb.

Amazingly there were none of the Chamonix crowds in Courmayeur despite the great conditions. There was a big freeride race over there and I presume that's what kept our now super-frequent visitors on the French side of the hill. The weather seems to be set fair for the next few days but hopefully we'll see more snow towards the end of the week

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Awesome, Dude! - 9/2/2009 18:59

Paddy O'Powder reports - February 9, 2009
"Hey Dude"..."Yo Bro"..."Awesome"...these were the sounds that greated anyone standing in the massive queue for the Youla cablecar in Courmayeur last Saturday. This ancient lift station provides access to much of the off-piste terrain here and it echoed with nothing but the strains of North American and Mid-Atlantic accents all sounding like they found the Promised Land. For a town like Courmayeur where normally over 90% of the visitors are Italian this was definitely a shock. What's more, none of these people had ever been near the Gucci ski catalogue - in fact a good few of them looked like Robinson Crusoe having a week-end off from his desert island.

The news has finally got out to the Chamonix freeride crowd that, for this year at least, Courmayeur is where the action is happening. Above 2000m we'd had yet another half metre of snow during the week which set the week-end up perfectly. The clouds took a little time to disperse but once they did the combination of sunshine and acres of fresh snow brought out the huge-ski, baggy-suit, full face-helmet crowd in force. The classic routes were all skied out quickly but luckily there are still a good number of descents that aren't that obvious and they remained untouched until the end of the day.

Sunday was entirely different. The lifts up to the famous Toula Glacier had been closed on Saturday due to the bad weather but as the sun came up it looked perfect. Many of the locals gathered to head up to the start point at 3400m and everyone was hoping for an epic day. Hopes were still high as we trekked round to the famous steps amidst the amazing scenery...

What greeted us when we all finally got onto the glacier was snow that resembled freshly poured ready-mix concrete with an industrial strength crème brulee crust - it was practically unskiable. Even the 'Dudes' with their gigantic reverse-camber skis were wallowing around like unseated medieval knights in thigh-deep mud.

One descent was enough for everyone, and we were glad to get back to the Pavillon lift station in one piece. The chance of anyone going back up for a second go were about the same as Gordon Brown inviting Jeremy Clarkson round for a quiet drink at Number 10.

But the day wasn't a complete write-off, because the overnight wind that had ruined the Toula had pretty much spared the north-facing slopes, back on the Courmayeur side of the valley. It was a case of getting rid of all the glacier gear, saddling-up (as our new visitors would say) and heading out into the powder-filled Val Veny woods for the rest of the day.

Bang on cue, just as the place is looking completely skied out, the forecast is predicting another good dump of snow for Tuesday. Whoever booked the weather patterns for this winter certainly had Courmayeur at the top of the priority list.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Back with a bang - 2/2/2009 16:02

Paddy O'Powder reports - February 2, 2009
Having missed the last two weekends with flu, I was as keen as mustard to get back out into the mountains over the last couple of days. Ten days ago, Courmayeur had another massive fall of snow with well over a metre right down in the town. Despite the fact there were hardly any tourists around during the week it looked to your correspondent that Courmayeur had been over-run by visitors from the Froggy side of Mt Blanc: staring up at the off-piste routes visible from town it appeared that thousands of tracks snaked into every accessible corner of the mountains.

I headed up on Saturday morning with some friends to find the sort of conditions that dream holidays are made of. Clear blue skies, not a breath of wind, more snow than you could shake a forest full of twigs at and, for the first time in a while, a (relatively) warm sun beating down. I'm sure the resort marketing office would bottle days like these if they could.

The voices over the steaming cappuccinos were lamenting the fact that anyone looking for fresh tracks should think again - so we did exactly that and decided that a little elbow grease applied in the right direction might produce the required results. Heading out from the top of the Arp cable car we climbed up towards an area known as Arp Vieille (the old meadow) and found the naysayers had been wrong. As you can see from the pic below, there was no shortage of space for anyone looking for those fresh tracks.

If you're prepared to climb a little, push your way out of deserted valleys along snow-covered paths and generally do your bit to have a "grand day out" in the mountains Courmayeur offers infinite ways to enjoy yourself. By Saturday afternoon we were tackling some of the steep couloirs in the Val Veny section, vertiginous descents between rock faces don't seem half as scary if the snow is this dry, light and powdery

By Sunday, it was snowing again and looking like the day was going to be a real pea-souper. Some friends from Chamonix were over, and they couldn't get over how a bit of a snowfall and a touch of cloud had emptied the resort almost completely. Here lies one of the secrets to skiing in Italy. If they can't take their under-chin baking trays out with them many Italians will simply batten down the hatches and head for the relative safety of the Prada store. We had a great day feeling our way around in the fabulously light powder and eventually adjourned for lunch at La Grolla, Courmayeur's most spectacular mountain restaurant. The food here is as good as the view so even on days like this no-one is disappointed.

Snow is forecast for much of the week in northwest Italy, so fingers crossed for good weather soon and another yet another set of perfect powder days.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

1.2m over the weekend - 26/1/2009 08:33

Paddy O'Lurgy reports - January 26, 2009
Sorry folks...still sick. I went to Murren ready to race in the Inferno, and within one day had fallen ill to another dreaded lurgy, hence no blog for you...I spent most of the week-end in bed trying to decifer the instructions on the Swiss cold remedies.

Whilst I was away Courmayeur had a huge fall of snow, 1.2m in town between Friday night and Saturday. The skies have cleared today and it looks fabulous. I've now got to go to Manchester and London for work so not much to blog about from there....normal service should be resumed next week-end!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

The view from my sick-bed - 19/1/2009 21:27

Paddy O'Powder reports - January 19, 2009
I was in bed all weekend with the flu, so sorry, no blog this week! I can tell you though that we had about 25cms yesterday pm and its snowing like mad now. A couple of friends described perfect piste conditions for Saturday and Sunday morning, followed by powder skiing in the afternoon. Not a bad combination!

The world's best off-piste skiing? - 12/1/2009 20:11

Paddy O'Powder reports - January 11, 2009
Last weekend saw the first chance many of the locals (and canny visitors) have had to ski in peace, away from the hordes that have inundated Courmayeur for the last 3 weeks. A good friend of mine from Meribel joined me on Sunday for a trip (or two) down the famous Toula Glacier, one of the many ice fields that hang thousands metres above the Italian entrance to the Mt Blanc tunnel. Some of the oldest, smallest cable cars in the Alps transport you in three stages to a spot called Punta Helbronner, the starting point for either the fairly sedate Vallee Blanche run to Chamonix or the dozens of much steeper descents that head back down the Italian flanks of western Europe's highest peak.

As this is heavily glaciated terrain a complete set of alpine kit is advisable: ropes, harnesses, ice screws, belay devices - you name it, they'll all come in handy at some point.

The start at 3,400m leads to a brisk uphill sidestep for about 10 minutes. Anything uphill at this altitude gets the blood pumping and by the time you reach the first major obstacle you're warm no matter what the natty thermometer on your backpack says. The obstacle in question is a 25 metre high vertical ice wall which has a single narrow goat path cut into it with just enough room to sideslip diagonally, turn 180 degrees on the spot and shoot down to the infamous iron staircase that leads to the glacier itself. Miss the turn and you'll find yourself slithering at high speed down what looks like the wall of a giant deep freeze.

Whilst negotiating the 100+ Toula Steps (see above, in a picture I took last spring) your attention is drawn, briefly, to the amazing panorama that stretches out in front of you - tracking across from the Grande Motte above Tignes to the Matterhorn in Switzerland, you can see most of the western Alps laid out in front of you. Once down the staircase all that remains is to balance your skis and poles on one shoulder, climb onto a vertical icy step ladder and then gingerly negotiate the last few metres before you can finally get to the snow and step gratefully into your bindings.

Why do it? Well, the chance to sweep down through enormous seracs and gigantic canyon walls making hundreds of turns in gorgeous creamy powder on a perfect sky blue day might have something to do with it. There are dozens of ways of descending the Toula and the other surrounding glaciers: the choice depends on the effects of sun, wind and of course the crevasses that line the route down. There are no pistes, no "marked itineraries" that some resorts have introduced recently to up their freeride-factor, and definitely no time for worrying if you've chosen the right Gucci sunglasses for this season.

Having picked a route that combined wide open glacial meadows, steep couloirs between 500 metre high rock pillars and finally a long powder-filled cruise back to the mid-station we did what any sensible pair of Irishmen would do - got back in the cable car and did it all over again. Being Italy, the raw alpine experience of this kind of descent is inevitably followed by an exquisite lunch at the Pavillon mid-station, a perfect alpine restaurant where you?ll find everyone from world famous skiers to spaghetti-legged first timers all marvelling at where they've just been.

The world's greatest off-piste skiing? It certainly felt like it last Sunday.

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Not quite enough new snow in Courmayeur - 8/1/2009 07:11

Paddy O'Powder updates his most recent reports - January 7, 2009
This week's storm came and went and to be honest hardly anyone noticed. Yes it's nice to have another 10 or 15cms of snow, but this time the tempest didn't quite live up to its billing. However the crowds have now gone and a collective sigh of relief has been breathed by everyone from the snowploughed-out instructors to the hard-pressed waiters many of whom will be needing some new shoe leather after the last three weeks - many of restaurants have been bursting at the seams.

The new snow has freshened up the pistes and provided an ideal cruising surface. But the off-piste areas, whilst still full of snow, now need a good refill to takes us back to the epic days we had leading up to Christmas."

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Now we've got Russians too - 6/1/2009 02:48

Paddy O'Powder reports - January 5, 2009
Travelling back through Geneva airport on Saturday evening I noticed, as we emerged from customs, that almost every name on the placards being waved by the travel reps, taxi drivers and men in dark glasses was Russian. The reason of course was that this is the time of year when the Russians descend on the Alps to celebrate their New Year.

Courmayeur is becoming increasingly popular with the Moscow crowd although the town doesn't actually need any more visitors at the moment. The 40cms of fresh snow over New year brought out the crowds in force and Jan 2nd saw over 11,000 people head up Courmayeur's lifts - this broke the record that had stood since the 1980's.

The other great news is that high-level Arp cablecar has been re-opened after the landslides a couple of weeks ago, providing access to some of Courmayeur's best off-piste routes.

There's still loads of untouched powder up here, all that's required is 10 mins uphill effort to reach it.

Heading down one of the long powder-filled couloirs that leads back to the valley floor I came across a Russian couple who looked less than pleased with the way their day was going. Somehow they'd snowploughed themselves down the first part of the run but were now trembling halfway down one of the steepest sections. My friends and I tried them in English, French, Italian and even Latin (one of our group was a right cleverclogs) to no avail. In the end we had to help them over the trickiest section and draw a map for them of the best way down to the hamlet of Dolonne.

The Chanel-clad girl sounded grateful (I think) whilst her companion with the extra large arms and even wider forehead looked distinctly worried. I hope for his sake he hadn't been dispatched by some SMERSH-like organisation to take the boss's mistress for a day out on skis...

We're forecast even more snow this week which, combined with the exodus of the city-folk back to Milan, Turin and Genova, should mean great conditions later in the week.

I did note two new fashion trends recently. Firstly the coolest freeride dudes seem to be leaping off their cliffs in the baggiest one-piece outfits known to man: imagine Nicolas Sarkozy in a boilersuit last worn by Oliver Hardy and you'll get the idea. The second is for the ladies, it seems the latest style from Milan is to adorn your black skin tight leggings with what look like Morris Dancer's knee-tasles (without the bells) - very strange but no doubt very expensive!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Sunny weather at last. - 28/12/2008 19:32

Paddy O'Powder reports - December 28, 2008
The scene for Christmas week in Courmayeur was set by the welcome ridge of high pressure that plonked itself over this part of the Alps. We've had very very low temperatures but great skiing, both on and off-piste. The clear blue skies and deserted, perfectly-groomed pistes have been a joy for anyone who simply wanted to race around carving huge GS turns without a care in the world.

The temperatures have plunged as the week has gone on with -17C being recorded at 3000m. The wind chill has made it feel a lot colder than that and consequently Courmayeur's many on-slope bars and restaurants have been doing a roaring trade in their trademark extra-thick hot chocolate. At the last count there were 27 watering holes on the mountain with everything from rustic chic to the best self service focaccia sandwiches you can imagine - this is of course Italy!

In the late afternoon of Christmas Eve the famous Arp-Dolonne off-piste area was the scene of a series of huge landslides. Starting from one tiny point above this valley a series of jet black 200m gashes can be seen where thousands of tons of rubble have been pouring down. Luckily no-one was in the area at the time and access to that valley has been closed, however something like this does remind you how unpredictable the mountains can be.

Away from the now debris-strewn Arp valley the off-piste is in great condition. The avalanche risk has dropped to 2/5 and the snow layers are starting to bond well. Some friends came over from Chamonix yesterday and were amazed to find light, dry untracked powder with hardly a soul around. Courmayeur was fortunate to have a foot of snow on the night of the 25th which was rather like waking up on Boxing Day to a late Christmas present from a delayed uncle.

We skied the long Vesse couloirs down to the base of the Miage Glacier. The huge wide meadows at the start give way to some tight, twisting gullies before you finally shoot out across the frozen river and emerge onto the summer road which, with a bit of a push, brings you back to the very welcome restaurants at the base of the Zerotta lifts - perfect.

As New Year approaches Courmayeur is filling up with the annual invasion from Milan, Turin and Genova. The town is preparing itself for the busiest days of the year when finding a place to park, let alone a table for dinner, becomes a bit like trying to solve the Rubik's Cube with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back. The town overflows with full-length fur coats, three year-olds clad head to toe in Dolce e Gabanna, and neurotic (armed) traffic wardens trying to keep some semblance of normality. If it snows, and it is forecast for Monday, things will get really tricky!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

A private ski resort - 22/12/2008 20:02

Paddy O'Powder reports - December 22, 2008
The storms that hit the Aosta valley last week-end have finally cleared and left clear blue skies, mountains of snow and some very isolated people.

The lower part of the Aosta Valley had almost twice as much snow as Courmayeur, so much so in fact that a number of the smaller, more remote villages were cut off from the outside world until last Friday. The avalanche risk in the mountains above these hamlets was off the scale and so no-one could get either in or out.

After the snow came the Foehn wind which is famous for two reasons. Firstly it blows hard and hot in the alpine valleys, stripping the snow away and every now and again causing the dripping roofs to deposit their enormous loads of snow on innocent passers by. Secondly its said by the old folk to cause madness in some people.

Luckily the only sign of madness in Courmayeur this week-end was seen in one of main car parks where about 500 Italian drivers were left to themselves to sort out who was going to park where... You'd have had more luck asking a field full of sheep to line themselves up in alphabetical order.

The off-piste around Courmayeur has been pretty much blown out by the wind so we were left with the near-deserted pistes for entertainment. No-one was disappointed though as they were bashed to almost billiard-table smoothness. You can't help but ski well on this snow. The whole area is in perfect condition and for the next few days will resemble a private ski resort. Amazingly Courmayeur is always this quiet during the week before Christmas and it's worth remembering if you're considering an early-season trip.

The metres of snow that we've had are now starting to settle and the freeze/thaw process will form the all important base for the rest of the season. A few more days of good weather are forecast before a cold blast is predicted for the end of the week. Let's hope its brings some dry light snow too!

By the way, Milan is having its own dose of Beckham-mania with the famous couple arriving last week with 16 bodyguards, 22 stylists and several pantechnicons of luggage. In the past they were often seen in Courchevel 1850 amongst the minks and diamond studded moonboots, abd I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to see just how trendy they can be amongst Courmayeur?s week-end fashionistas...

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Courmayeur: not dreaming of a white Christmas - 15/12/2008 16:07

Paddy O'Powder reports - December 15, 2008
Bing Crosby seems to have worked his magic on the Italian side of Mt Blanc this year. No one in Courmayeur will actually be "dreaming of a white Christmas", this time it looks like we'll be digging our way out of it.

Whilst two of welove2ski's editors have been admiring the world?s highest gondola in Whistler (and counting how many awsomes the locals come out with per minute) the snow continues to fall in Courmayeur. The town is gradually disappearing beneath a crisp, white blanket. We had a medium-sized storm in the middle of last week which added another couple of feet of powder, but this was nothing compared to the tempest that started off slowly on Sunday and only showed its full glory overnight. As I write this (Monday am) there is more snow outside my front door (1350m) than you often see at 3000m at this time of year.

The Youla cablecar opened on Saturday and allowed us to get out into Courmayeur's famous Vesse area, a series of gullies and ridges that drop for 900m down to the Miage glacier on the Valley floor. There are numerous ways down but they shouldn't be tackled without local knowledge of both the routes and conditions. The complete and utter lack of people on the mountain meant that after hundreds of turns in deep fresh powder we were looking forward to the lifts just to rest our weary legs for a few minutes.

Sunday started of with a light dusting as the latest the storm came in from the south. Gale-force winds drove the moisture-laden depression up from the Med, it charged through the Aosta Valley and then came to a crashing stop as it ran up against the towering walls of the Mont Blanc massif. The result was a storm that closed many of the lifts and put paid to any high altitude skiing. Even the normal Ski Club race training that takes place every Sunday was abandoned, the junior racers (from 5 years old) could be seen chasing their instructors through the powder-laden woods of Val Veny with faces that were a picture of ecstasy.

The new snow and very high winds have now brought serious avalanche risk to many areas above 1700m. Anyone venturing onto exposed scopes for the next couple of days could quite easily be certified as insane - even some of the actual pistes have been closed as they have windslabs and the unstable conditions normally only found (and avoided) off-piste.

However the storms won't last forever and the sun is due to come out from Wednesday, if you can get out don't miss the amazing snow and deserted pistes that will last until the the 27th when the city crowds come pilling in with their mink coats and Maseratis!

Click here for our Courmayeur resort report.

Courmayeur: the best start for 10 or 15 years - 7/12/2008 22:41

Courmayeur, Italy

Paddy O'Powder reports - December 7, 2008
Courmayeur has had its best start to the season in perhaps 10 or 15 years. The snow fell, the skies were (finally) blue and the economic problems of the last few months seemed a distant memory.

We've been having real winter weather for the past few weeks: better-than-average early snow and the freezing-cold temperatures that help to create the all-important base that the rest of the winter's snow rests upon.

Last Thursday, as the weak December sunshine was fading, a huge grey curtain closed firstly around Mt Blanc and then swiftly around Courmayeur. The snow started coming down in bucketfulls and apart from a couple of brief pauses didn't let up till tea-time on Saturday.

As I headed up the first Val Veny cablecar on Saturday morning you could taste the excitement in the air. The thick snowflakes obscured just about everything and pretty much the only people about were locals, all eager to head off to their own favourite spots in the woods. The first few turns in thigh deep powder confirmed that this was special. Last year the few pistes that were open for the equivalent weekend were littered with pebbles and the only people off-piste were a bunch of lunatics who wanted to wreck their equipment. This year even the pistes felt like powder runs.

As the day went by the snow intensified, filling the tracks and blanketing everyone in white halos. By 2pm the bars and restaurants were littered with soaked but happy skiers and boarders - nothing keeps you dry on days like that, but no-one really seemed to care.

Down in town it was a different story. The combination of very heavy snow, a new snow-clearing contractor, a film festival and an Italian bank holiday week-end created chaos. I spotted a glamourpuss visitor to the film festival staring at her canary yellow Beetle stuck in a drift on the side of the main road. She was gingerly holding a pair of snow chains (with instructions)....

Luckily the local Carabinieri have an auto-search setting for damsels in distress and swiftly dug her (and her stilettos) out.

Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has, between cracking jokes about Obama's suntan and losing a libel case with the Economist, been exorting Italians to "spend spend spend" their way out of the recession. The slice of Italian society in Courmayeur this week-end seemed to have taken him at his word: the shops were packed and the restaurants crammed, we even had to book a table in advance at a bar to be able to have a drink in peace!

Sunday morning dawned bright and blue, Mt Blanc looked like it had had a brand new coat of brilliant white emsulsion and the hordes that had been confined to town on Saturday decided this was what they'd come for. An early start was needed to avoid the worst of the crowds and as some of the upper lifts opened it was clear what lay in store. The upper areas of Courmayeur are now coated in a two metres of snow, so hitting rocks was the last thing to worry about. Staying clear of wind packed slabs was more of an issue, and we carefully picked out routes down into the Canale di Dolonne, a 1000-metre descent down towards town. 500 metres to our left the pistes were swarming with people whilst the Canale was pretty much deserted.

We skied it twice - and on the second run discovered that the waterfalls at the exit haven't yet frozen solid. How do I know this? Because I fell off the snowbridge into one of them - a bath-sized pool of the coldest wter you can imagine, with a gushing spout of the epouring down my collar.

Luckily I managed to get out of the rock pool, back home and into my second early bath of the day. Thankfully this one was hot.

Click here for ourCourmayeurresort report.

How to climb out of a crevasse - 9/9/2008 12:35

Ever wondered what to do if one of your party disappears down a bloody great crack in a glacier? Paddy O'Powder (our ace snow blogger from Courmayeur) has. So this summer he signed up for a glacier-rescue training programme.

Everyone who ventures onto a glacier faces the prospect of coming close to a crevasse. They can be huge fissures you can see coming for 200 metres. Or they can be narrow cracks in the ice covered with 20cm of fresh snow. Either way, they can suck you in - or one of the members of your party - and if that happened, would you know what to do? Saying to yourself "I don't need to worry, my guide will sort it", is not much of a cop-out. After all, he or she might be the one who falls in.

Readers of my snow blogs for welove2ski last winter will know I like to get out and about on the Mont Blanc Massif, and the issue of glacier rescue has been troubling me for some time. So this year I finally signed up for a one-day course run by the Motagne Sicura (Mountain Safety) Foundation in Courmayeur (www.fondazionemontagnasicura.org).

The course was held at 3,300m, at the top of the famous Vallée Blanche off-piste descent between Courmayeur and Chamonix. Three mountain guides acted as instructors, led by Stefano Campese of the Courmayeur Guide Bureau (www.guidecourmayeur.com), and the pupils were a mixed bag of skiers and climbers. We practiced the basic knots, learnt how to build a snow anchor to secure ourselves (and the person who's dropped through the ice) and most importantly of all, how to rig the pulley system that will allow you to pull someone out.

I imagine at this point you'd like to know how that pulley system works. Well, sorry - I'm not going to tell you. There's no substitute for actually going on a course like this - and anyone who's serious about their off-piste skiing or boarding needs to sign up for one next summer (they run in August). I'm glad I did. We all took turns at being both the "victim" and the rescuer - and hanging over the edge of what appears to be an icy mine shaft really focuses the mind on making sure you understand the mechanics of what is going on!

To read some of Paddy's snow blogs - and see his amazing pictures - from the awesome season of 2007-8, click here.

'Lunchboxes 'ave landed' - 10/8/2008 21:36

Paddy O'Powder takes part in the annual City Ski Championships in Courmayeur.

If you want to get ahead, get a lunchbox. This seems to have been the advice given to a team of Frenchmen who competed in the City Ski Championships this weekend in Courmayeur.

This year the Championships were sponsored by Air France and the Gallic theme was more than obvious throughout this now legendary weekend.

Every March the cream of the City's skiers gather to do battle on Courmayeur's giant slalom race track. As each year goes by it seems that the standard gets higher and the international appeal of the race grows ever wider. This year's hot-shots included Britain's Alan Baxter, Konrad Bartelski and team members from the current GB squad all racing their hearts out and vying with last year's champion Einar Johansen - an unassuming Norwegian financier with a couple of years' of World Cup ski racing tucked quietly away on his CV.

Now back to the Les Bleues, or as they should be more accurately known, 'Les Lunchboxes'. This team, from the French firm GFI, spent most of the weekend in fancy dress and announced their intent by sweeping all before them in Friday's dual slalom event. This was held in blazing sunshine with the music pumping and the incredible backdrop of Mt Blanc dominating the proceedings.

Photo: Photo Factory Courmayeur

Saturday was the big race day and again the weather came up trumps. The race track was in perfect condition and whilst most of the top racers stretched menacingly in their lycra catsuits in the start paddock, the French boys arrived in their very own brand of race gear - particularly tight undies, a race bib, some silly glasses and...that was it. There was obviously some in-team rivalry going on as each of the guys seem to have added to their own stature with several pairs of strategically placed socks, I'll leave you to guess where. Someone was unkind enough to point out that Frenchmen have of course been worrying about this sort of thing since the days of Napoleon.

The race course was long and fast with the top guys recording times of less than 50 seconds. The rest of us tried just as hard but having not had the advantage of being ski racers for half our lives got down to the bottom about 20 to 30 seconds later. As ever, a very chirpy commentary was provided by Mat Chilton, Britain's top TV commentator for skiing. Luckily most of his comments are impossible to hear as you're flying around the bends on the course - everyone watching gets the full value of his cracks though.

The finish area was stocked with loads of food and drink, dispensed by Courmayeur's mountain restaurant impresario, Giacomo Calosi from Maison Vieille. The deckchairs were out, the sun was beating down and a more civilised day's ski racing would be hard to imagine. If you watch out you might just catch the film of the event on Sky and CNBC.

In the end Les Lunchboxes' top racer, Simon Dides, was narrowly beaten into third place in the mere mortals race behind two very swift Accenture guys, Peter Beardshaw and Andrea Gangheri. Sarah Mann from Goldman Sachs headed the ladies race with a sub-58 second time. The stars of the show and the guys who make ski racing it look so incredibly easy were neck-and-neck throughout the race, all of them wanted to beat Einar Johansen who has reigned supreme for the last few City Championships and has caused some famous names to scratch their heads in wonder.

The Championships also featured a couple of lesser-known ski stars, namely Damon Hill from the world of Formula 1 and Colin Jackson of athletics fame. Colin somehow managed to snaffle an absurdly expensive pair of skis (euro 2,000+) for the race but had to settle for second place behind a very slick Mr Hill.

In the end Einar held on and won the Super FIS category yet again. I actually overheard a couple of the race marshals exclaiming in shock at the speed that he and the rest of the top racers were flying down the course. They'd been expecting a few leisurely City bankers, perhaps stopping for a Cappuccino halfway down the run!

Saturday evening (and Sunday morning) were spent wining, dining and dancing until the legs would dance no more. Some very fragile heads were seen heading back to the City for work on Monday morning, but you can be sure those very same heads were already thinking about next year's race (the 10th Anniversary of the launch of the event) and how to beat Les Lunchboxes.

Even hit-men need a holiday - 20/2/2008 08:57

Paddy is back in Courmayeur and ready to see what's on offer snow-wise.

There's been no fresh snowfall for almost two weeks and there's a big block of high pressure sitting over the Alps giving cold nights, clear glorious days but not much in the way of fresh powder. However, Courmayeur is one of those places where the correct application of a little elbow grease can result in some fantastic rewards.

The forecast shows a weather front moving in towards the middle of the week, so fingers crossed well get something in time for next weekend.

For more on Courmayeur, read our resort report!.