Chamonix valley snow reports

Am writing snow reports for our Chamonix Valley website. Please do read them and check them out. Certainly forward the link on to people who are thinking about coming out here. There's information on the best places to ride, off-piste tips, backcountry info as well as descriptions of snow conditions, avalanche conditions and even a bit of happy journalism thrown in for good measure.

Chamonix Valley snow reports.

Powder day at Flegere!

The snow's arrived! Woohoo! And in buckets too. Alarm clock this morning was the sound of the pisteurs blasting the unsafe slopes - and the subsequent rumble of the avalanche. It's dumping it down with snow here, we've had a solid half meter already and there's more falling and more forecast. I eased up to the snowy playground that is Flegere with Kevin earlier to get some riding in before coming to work later this afternoon.


Between the trees.

It rocked. Lots. Possibly had the best run of the season so far dropping down into an untracked chute filled deep with powder - each turn sending up a curtain of snow that you could turn back into and blast through. Seriously yummy. Visibility was slim to non-existant though - no problem with snowbarding being all about touch and feel though? Hehehe.


Deeeeeep powder!

Everywhere's going to be closed for the next few days I reckon - there's just so much snow falling that they need to make it all safe. Kev and I could feel some of the slabs shifting when we rode a couple of slopes today and we even refused a few lines because it looked really sketchy. Was really stoked, came down a steep section and got the nose of my board caught as I was riding along, it was pitching me forward anyway so I jumped it up and did a front flip down the drop, landed perfectly and started grinning. Sweet =) Got the old cheer from Kev as well which was groovy.

So did a load of work this afternoon. We had a business dinner the other day and got a load of stuff sorted out which rocked. Things looking very nice. All I need now is to find Mrs Narg. I guess that'll happen soon enough in its own time!

The morning after

So it's Saturday in Chamonix and I've been in the office a while now sorting out some paperwork and getting everything ready to get cracking with the incoming work. It feels a bit frustrating to be waiting, but it's comforting knowing that it's all just around the corner and forcing oneself to be patient will pay dividends. I'm a bit nervous about the sheer quantity of work we've got around the corner as well - but hey, better that than the alternative!


Dropping a rock in the forest.

I went out riding yesterday morning for a short while to Vallorcine (the backside of Le Tour) with Kevin and Jon with the intention of doing a couple of runs in the trees and having a quick play on the small rocks and rollers in the backcountry. It turned out to be a nice morning finding some untracked snow as well as some decent tracked powder in the clear blue sky.


Blasting through the tracked powder.


A nicely inclined clearing in the backcountry.

There's a great camaraderie of riders when out beyond the lifts - it's easy to spot those who look comfortable and for want of a better word "professional". Those wearing the right gear, taking the right lines and looking comfortable and solid riding the terrain. It's also easy to spot the total numpties out there - those without headgear and just a pair of sunglasses for instance. These people stand out a mile - as do the skiers trying to snow-plough through powder or the boarders falling over every 5 feet. It's weird - everyone needs to progress but I know that one day it's going to be up to me to dig one of these guys out of trouble. The more you ride around here, the more you're aware of the risks and making sure that you really are eliminating as many, if not all, problems that you may face as possible.

Even though 50% of avalanches occuring within 50m of a pisted slope, I guess many casual skiers would assume dropping off the side of a slope would be perfectly safe. This is obviously not correct as shown in an instance recently where a skiier was killed after being buried in an avalanche in Tignes. In actual fact he was between two pisted slopes but because it was foggy, the snow patrol couldn't even find the actual avalanche itself. He wasn't wearing an avalanche transceiver or have other safety gear with him.

This may sound like a doom and gloom posting, but a huge percentage of mortalities in avalanches are killed because they really have no clue whatsoever. It's terrible but there seems to be a total naivity when it comes to mountain safety. Strangely, the usual suspects of Chalet Le Courtil are all acutely aware of possible risks and make sure every possible precaution is taken when riding. We even practice with tranceivers to make sure should the worst happen it's second nature to use the safety equipment. When we ride, we ride with a level of awareness of the mountain and take absolutely no unnecessary risks or put ourselves in danger. Of course on top of this, we've all been on avalanche courses and done backcountry training and if we're in any doubt, always get a guide with lots of experience.

I feel happy and safe riding with the guys and we're here long enough to watch the snowpack and see the different conditions. Of course I'm always learning and very aware of how little I know, but things will always improve with experience and I'm looking forward to this ongoing chapter in my riding.

Full photos from the morning's riding.

The backcountry playground

Dropping a cornice

So the quotes for the new work went in yesterday, we've got stuff tabled and we've done a load recently so Chris and I decided to take the day off to ride the new powder. I went out riding with the usual suspects of Chalet Le Courtil in Brevent and Flegere - two ski areas within walking distance of the chalet.

What a day. We all rode really well - 4 friends out in the backcountry riding all the natural terrain with powder faces, chutes, couloirs, gullies, windlips, cornices and natural kickers. It's like one big snowy playground up in Flegere and is really one of my favourite places to ride just because the topography of the place really leans itself to freeriding. There's a huge natural kicker called "The Tit" up there which we hit a couple of times. You run flat out at it and there's a windlip at the top that kicks you up in the air. I managed to pull a 360 off the top but unfortunately butt-checked the landing - but because it's just this bulge in the landscape (guess what it looks like!) it feels like your 40 feet in the air when you take off (you're not, no way near). We also dropped a whole load of cornices and ridges - everyone pulling different tricks or sometimes just floating off the drops. There's a photo of me dropping one at the top of this blog entry. There was also a load of freeriding powder with people carving huge swooping turns and riding fast and steep terrain with cultured aplomb. I've started to get into the habit of pulling tail presses in the powder sending up a bit of a roosters tail and luckily Kev grabbed quite a good photo as I went passed him.

I managed to drop a 20 foot cliff with a 12 foot powder landing that ran into a piste. There was no-one on the piste but a family of four with clear blue sky and I could see the landing from the take off so dropped down and pulled a safety grab, landed perfectly and shot onto the piste where I stopped immediately and had a look up where I'd just jumped from. The dad in the family rushed up to me and started shouting "That was mad! That was amazing!". I was giggling to myself anyway beforehand and I just burst out laughing and said "Thanks mate". It was pretty special - he said that he and his son just turned around and saw the take off and kind of decided to watch. It was another one of those wicked moments where you feel embarrassed and pleased at the same time. We ended up having a chat about his family and stuff and it was really cool - maybe I'll get the chance to bump into them in town and say hello. I hope so and I feel quite priveleged to have met them in the way we did and hopefully give them a small talking point over dinner tonight.


Tail press in the powder.

We're all surprised how well we're riding now - we're tending to put down really interesting lines and finding better and more progressive ways to use the mountain. It feels really good to be part of a team of riders who really are doing some amazing stuff. Joe's riding is coming out leaps and bounds and constantly amazes me with how much he picks up every day and executes it all with a nice style. His choice of lines down the mountain is really starting to come on as well. Dan always looks stylish and rides his skis fast and true down the steep stuff and he takes on all jumps, drops and kickers with style and grace - especially the 180's he's started to pull all over the place. Kev's just an awesome rider and really lays down lines that are beautiful to look at - his technique and style are something we all aspire to. For my part, I'm just happy to be riding so solidly and I feel pleased that the other guys say I push them as much as they push me. Looking at the photos from the day, I can safely say that we're all really starting to lay down the style like the usual suspects we are.

I've put the full set of photos from the day up on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/narg/sets/72157594373785298/

iPod riding

Narg + iPod feeling the music love.

So there's two schools of appreciation on this one. Those who enjoy riding with music and those who don't I strictly belong to the former and love nothing better than listening to some tunage while travelling at warp 9. It's pretty cool. There's some drawbacks - you can't hear things (directions, friends, avalanches) but there's some real benefits such as having a soundtrack and a pace to ride to. It's wicked - like being the central character in your own snowboard movie. But there's something also really nice about being in total silence with only the noise of your board and breathing accompanying you down the mountain.

I went riding with Kev on the Grands Montets today for a quick couple of hours and we did a LOT of vert. Dropped into one of the big bowls that is hard to access and had a few k's of just pure riding backcountry. Really good fun just to be out there with a mate riding alone and coming together to plot the next line down the mountain. Kev rode well, we both did, with a few rock drops and kickers and lots of pure freeriding. Good day - solid. Powder and adventure.