Méribel's Gebroulaz glacier

Over the last few years my passion for ski touring has continued to grow. There's nothing like being miles away from any man-made structures, experiencing the best that the high altitude mountain environment can provide.

Before each ski tour many questions are asked, how much physical effort is required, how many hours will it take, what might the snow be like, what are the dangers, will the risk assessment be accurate ?


Last Saturday Ian Saunders - a great friend and colleague of many years - and I went through this list before we commited to our latest adventure, the access and descent of the Gebroulaz glacier. Most visitors to Méribel don't realise that at the head of the valley exists this massive glacier. This is mainly because there are only two places in the valley to see this huge expanse of slow moving solid ice.... from the top of the Saulire peak and behind the Mont Vallon bubble.

With the bottom half of the Three Valley ski area quickly melting, the Gebroulaz stands proud, strong and very white, thousands of meters above. The peak is at a breathtaking, and lung busting (for ski tourers), 3,450 meters or 11,500 feet above sea level.

For the record, the snow was awesome due to a sudden drop of temperature. It took the usual eight hours for the round trip from Méribel. The high risk of crevasses on the glacier was always evident and reminded us to be cautious.

Once the main part of the descent was completed we stopped next to the Refuge du Saut for our picnic. After which we had to continue down to Mottaret, via Lac du Tueda.


At 2,000 meters we ran out of snow to ski on: fortunately our ski touring boots can turn into 'rigid' walking boots from normal ski boots to help in such eventualities. How weird did it feel being in full ski kit, walking through fields of spring flowers, watched by bewildered visitors ?


I also had a fantastic weekend with Harriet before she flew back to England this afternoon. We are now planning our summer in the UK (damn, no high alpine mountains !?!). But hang on a minute, it's been raining and snowing heavily here in the last 24 hours. Can Ian and I possibly squeeze in another adventure? I'll keep you posted.

Martin

Suddenly that's it !?!

Hello everybody, and welcome to my last post about my work this winter. I finished my teaching with Diane and Rachel on Friday. We discussed the power of the mind, how to feel relaxed on skis, and ultimately how to say 'no' to situations and people. Can I just say that at this point I just love my job, it's the best thing ever without being smug. But boy oh boy do I get tired at the end of each winter season. With that in mind, I did absolutely nothing for three days other than recover, and take these photos.

But what a great place to do that, spring time in the Alps. The flowers stop you in your tracks, the trees slowly wake up, and the noise of the streams just explode. Each day gets warmer and warmer. Snow depths that build up all winter suddenly melt and that in turn expands the rivers, as seen here of the Doron cascading down the Méribel valley.

I hope you don't object, but I would like to continue the blog for a couple of more weeks, even though my work has finished. I would like to share with you my experiences in the high mountains before heading back to England. In the next few days Ian Saunders, a great friend and colleague, and I have planned a few ski tours. Plus, my wife Harriet is coming out for a long weekend this weekend. Happy days.

Martin

PS, for those who know me, I'm about to return to my place and worst ever state of fear, the Peclet glacier very soon.....

Crop circles cont'd

More about the crop circles later, but in the mean time Méribel has received spring weather at full throttle in the last week.

The warmer weather of the last couple of weeks has been relentless, without fresh snow, but at least most nights the pistes have been freezing well. The snow on the lower pistes are thinning, and wild spring flowers are popping up all over the place. If you know where to go and at what time of the day, you can make the best of the conditions. Which is what Caroline and I did for our couple of sessions over the weekend.

During our first session Caroline admitted that she was sometimes getting frustrated by skiing in a group, struggling to keep up with them, not knowing what technique to use and hating the burning feeling in her legs. Now bearing in mind that she ran the London marathon last year in a very respectable time, it became clear that fitness was not the issue. My task was to try and simplify her knowledge of technique and tactics, and then prioritise the process of improvement. It was the first time that I used frogs during a ski lesson, but hey, it worked !?! It was great for me to hear Caroline say at the start of our second session that her group had already noticed significant changes.

Terry and Brandon, father and son, had four sessions with me over the Easter weekend. We built confidence on the green slopes, worked hard on energy efficient skiing. And then the grand finale was me taking Brandon up to the top of Saulire and skiing him down a couple of steep blue slopes on the last morning.

Ok, here goes with crop circles under the Cote Brune chairlift again. I've been caught off guard by the response about my previous post titled 'Crop Circles' last week. I've received phone calls from friends in resort, to find out if it was all true. Plus I've received emails from British and French enthusiasts who I suspect have never put ski boots on before. The French guy is a website adminstrator on sightings, with the British guy having written a thesis about crop circles. So, for your enjoyment crop circle lovers, here is a photo of the second pattern.


My teaching work will fizzle out in the next couple of days. I shall have a few days off skis to re-charge, take in the spring sights including random Savoyard buildings below, but also prepare myself hopefully for some end of season ski touring. Please do keep reading in the next few weeks, even though it may feel as though the winter has finished.


Martin

PS, Good luck to Robbie with his ACL reconstruction operation at the end of this week. Can't wait to ski with you again next winter as long as you lose that awful low-hanging trouser builders- crack look !?!

Crop circles

The Oxford English Dictionary defines phenomenon as 'a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially in one whose cause is in question'.


There have been many been dropped jaws, shrugged shoulders, and conspiracy theories going around resort in the last couple of days. Two 'crop circles' have apppeared from nowhere underneath the Cote Brune chairlift high above Méribel Mottaret. Produced by bored pisteurs, out-of-work ski instuctors or friendly alien visitors? Who knows, but they are very precise!?! And no it's not April Fools Day.

The Joneses are back in town this week. Robbie, the son, is busy being bored because he is unable to ski due to an ACL operation next week. Olivia, the daughter, is busy training in the ESF Competition group. She has so far picked up a silver award in the Chamois slalom race, and a vermeil award in the Fleche giant slalom race, well done. Which only leaves Helen, Chris and I to go searching for spring snow conditions off piste.


Spring snow is where the snow is still frozen from the overnight cooling, it then transforms into softer smooth layers just before turning into stodge as the sun and air temperatures heat the crystals. If caught early enough it provides lovely delicate sensations. We worked on sensitive pressure control, and how to use both of our feet as one unit for steering the skis. Helen and Chris described it as 'like skiing over pillows'. A new description that I haven't heard before, but I just smiled, nodded and agreed with them!?!


Don't tell anyone, but I'm slowly getting photographic geek tendancies, where most evenings I take all my kit to a secret location to take sunset shots. Each evening, in a geeky fashion remember, I capture mountain images each one different depending on weather conditions. The other evening my solitude was rudely interrupted by a piste basher, captured below in a blurred fashion, but I don't think I was spotted shuffling behind the tripod to hide.

Easter is suddenly busy with work, in what is bound to be stonking spring weather again. Have a great Easter weekend.



Martin

Chasing Chemmy

There is a buzz around the resort at the moment, what with the spring weather, the Altitude Festival and of course the British Ski Racing Championships.

The other day we experienced the staggering effect of a thick sea of cloud splitting the mountain in half. The first photo is of Arthur at the top of Saulire, with the sea of cloud below him. Speaking of Arthur, my goodness is he improving this week, what with skiing down steep reds and carving on greens and blues. Most days his parents meet up with us which enables Arthur to show off his skills. It's great for me to be able to see how proud they are of him.

This second photo was taken on the same day, when in fact Arthur's parents were riding up in the Courchevel cable car, with Mont Blanc poking through in the background. The piste conditions are now typical of spring, firm in the mornings but softening late morning. There's still plenty of snow around with no notable piste closures.

The British Champs started on Monday, I've been watching some of the races and I can't deny that I've been keeping my eye out for the top stars. Yesterday evening Graham Bell jogged past me in the street, wow he has muscular legs!?! I was able to see some of the Men's downhill yesterday with Ed Drake ( last year's winner ) almost badly injure himself near the end of the course. Finlay Mickel, pictured, had a great run down. I've also been looking out for Chemmy Alcott as well, more of that later.

After taking delivery of a new filter system for my camera last week, I went up to the Blanchot with all of my other kit and took this picture. I really enjoyed being out in this amazing area capturing the event. I'm looking forward to catching up with the Joneses again next week for their final ski of the winter.

So, Chemmy.... I've seen her several times from a distance and really wanted to talk to her and maybe even have a photo with her. But I came over all shy each time. The zoom lense was fitted instead, and I took this shot for all of my readers to see. I'll write again next week.

Martin

PS. Thanks to Arthur's parents allowing me to take and use his photo.