Date | Area | Terrain | Conditions | People |
14 May | Chamonix | Glacier | Perfect sun - very warm | Alone |
Got the randonee skis out and revisited the Grande Jorasse basin where Fred and I had been 7 years ago. Went up to Refuge Lascaux (2450m) and headed back. Brilliant trip. 6 hours. | ||||
29 April | La Grave | Off piste | Sunny, slushy, avalancy | Alone |
Definitely the last
run of the season. Lovely day, lots of sunshine but quite desperate snow
conditions. I was almost caught in the biggest avalanche I have ever seen
- I was completely alone on the whole "Vallon" side just catching
my breath right under La Meije. I hear a "crraaaackk", look up
and boy oh boy oh boy, the whole serac fall is coming down. Absolutely mind-blowing
to watch (map). It was
just getting bigger and bigger in classic avalanche style - you know, developing
this huge cloud of snow thundering down toward the valley floor right where
I was standing. I waited a few second admiring the spectacle and then I
was like "okay, that actually looks like a bad job" and I started
the engines and got further away while I could. I stopped some 500 meters
further down and looked up again. Like some big disgusting animal the avalanche
ate its way down the face and 30 seconds or so later engulfed the place
where I had been in cloud and debris. Eventually it reached where I now
was but was now a mere wind of snow. Absolutely fantastic to see. All other
stuff was very avalanchy as well, but nothing as major as that baby. If
only I'd brought my camera. I switched to my skiis midday but changed back to the gun after one desperate run. |
||||
22 April | La Grave | Off piste | Sunny, fresh snow, warm, perfect | Alone |
Brilliant day. Worked on trying to jump the big serac thing on the left of the drag lift in the top. It's a massive drop and the landing is not very steep so you really gotta go for it all the way. I was there a couple of times but didn't do it. Even Tigers has limits. :-) - I successfully did my usual cliff jump on the left of the telepherique which is always amazingly adreanline pumpy. | ||||
21 April | La Grave | Off piste | Cold, snowy, cloudy | Alone |
Woke up. Looked at the webcam. Looked good. Headed off. Scrounged my way to a free lift ride. Conditions was pretty desperate actually. Fresh snow but very cold and the base was rock solid (not good for the big air landings). Also the avalance risk was quite obvious very high and I was glad to reach the bottom in one piece. | ||||
13 April | La Grave | Off piste | Bit more run up, but still good | Martin |
Superb day. Excellent big air jumps and some really pumping carving. Absolutely shagged afterwards also partly because of heavy drinking at the previous night with Martin, Christian and forty bottles of bottles of vodka. | ||||
12 April | La Grave | Off piste | Deep and plenty of fresh stuff | Martin |
Gnarled around a bit to figure out what the best descend would be with the access to P2 being unskiable. Perfect weather and only few people. | ||||
8 April | Serre Chevalier | On/off piste | Pretty good. | Peter, Pernille, Sanne, Søren |
Plenty of untouched snow, but weather a bit unstable. Good fun. | ||||
6 April | La Grave | Off piste | Run up | 700 others |
Derby de la Meije, a yearly off piste race of festive proportions. Came in 84th in the my category - time 12m 33s. Here is a copy of the results. Next year I'll win. | ||||
18 Mar | La Grave | 80 cm pwdr | Best ever (in La Grave) | Alone |
Steep aaaaand deep. Did my favourite left side (facing the mountain) exclusively. Lot of queing in the lift unfortunately. | ||||
17 Mar | Alpe Duez | 50 cm pwdr | Snowy | Alone |
Did some excellent cliff jumps. Visibility was poor but due to heavy snowfall. | ||||
10 Mar | Courchevel | Mixed | Very mixed | Sanne, Paola |
Despite quite crazy conditions (fluffy snow, sun, fog, snowstorm, rain, slush - all in a day) we managed to get some good stuff done. Good jumps. | ||||
11 Feb | La Grave | 50 cm pwdr | Excellent | David, Annabel |
Dave/Annabel joined me for the evening and we had a good day skiing/boarding. Still plenty of deep snow. | ||||
10 Feb | La Grave | 50 cm freshy | Best so far (in La Grave) | Ralf |
It had snowed a lot the previous day and we arrived to a perfect morning. Perfect snow, lots of it, no people. | ||||
4 Feb | La Grave | 30 cm pwdr | Excellent | Alone |
Ice climbed Saturday and it then snowed 30cm during the night and Sunday was a real treat on the gun. Excellent cornice surfing on the Vallons side. I think I've found my favourite line in La Grave. If only the lift didn't close so early (4pm). I was the third one down the slope in the morning though! | ||||
28 Jan | Grandes Montes / Chamonix | Off piste | Very good | Alone |
Still powder left from the day before and an excellent snowdepth, soft and perfect for trying some festive jumps. | ||||
27 Jan | 7 Laux | Piste | Frustrating | Paola |
It had snowed in the morning, and the bastards closed the top bit (avalance danger) so I was confined to the piste. :-( | ||||
26 Jan | 7 Laux | Off piste | Good | Alone |
First time in the local ski resort. Good potential. | ||||
21 Jan | La Grave | Off piste | Pretty good | David Rayner |
Only fresh powder on the very top section - really good stuff. The lower parts was icy and tricky on the Powder Gun. | ||||
14 Jan | La Grave | Off piste | Perfect | Alone |
Bought a Swell Panik Magistral board and had the most amazing day in La Grave. 10-20cm of fresh powder under clear blue sky. | ||||
2 Jan | Alpe Duez | Piste | Damp | Ralf |
It changed from rain to snow mid day. We should have stayed one more day | ||||
1 Jan | Alpe Duez | Piste | Not ideal | Ralf, Andy, Joanne, Rich |
Highlight of the day was the lunch in the Marmotte Restaurant |
Date | Area | Terrain | Conditions | People |
30 Dec | Alpe Duez | Piste | Not ideal | HP dudes |
Spend the New Year break in Alpe D'huez the closest big resort to my new home in Grenoble | ||||
January | La Grave, Chamonix | Off Piste | Pretty good | Klammer, Jesper |
A week to check out the powder in Chamonix and La Grave. Great trip together with the skiers Jesper Ritzau and Lars Klammer. No trip report. No photos. But we have a fully edited movie (9 MB!) |
Date | Area | Terrain | Conditions | People |
January | Val d'Isere | Off Piste | Good | Alone |
Did the Col de Palet to Champagny run (alone!). A bit irresponsible in retrospect. Desperate on a snowboard. |
Date | Area | Terrain | Conditions | People |
Feb- Mar- Apr |
Chamonix, Val d'Isere, La Grave |
Off Piste | Superb | Mostly alone |
Spent two months in Chamonix, one week in Serre Chevalier (and La Grave) and one week in Val d'Isere. The off piste conditions in Val d'Isere was unbelievably good. |
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