In 1992 I booked on a ski mountaineering course with Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms. Unfortunately, It was cancelled due to lack of snow so, having built up to doing such a course I looked elsewhere for one.

I booked with Peter Cliff, who had written a book on ski mountaineering, that I’d read cover to cover, so I thought he would be a good person to go with as I didn’t know of anyone else. It was a 6 day course based in Argentiere near Chamonix in France, ending with a 3 day tour from Argentiere to Trient in Switzerland.

Sunday 3rd May 1992

I drove with my wife Jan to Harpenden in Hertfordshire on Saturday afternoon to stay with Jan’s parents. This gave us a short drive to London Heathrow Airport Sunday morning. I was at the airport before 6am as I knew it would take longer to check in my rucksack and ski bag with all the metal equipment they contained.

I was fortunate that the flights didn’t cost me anything as I had vouchers from British Airways to buy the tickets. This was because of appalling customer service at Heathrow Terminal 5 in December 1990 after my flight from New York to Manchester was diverted there because of bad weather. The only slight disadvantage was that there was no voucher seat available from Manchester for the outward journey, only for the homeward one. Hence we travelled down to stay with my in-laws in Hertfordshire.

The British Airways flight left at 8.30am and arrived at Geneva Airport at 11am. I then caught the 12.10pm train along Lake Geneva to Martigny station where I met Kieran and Sheila who were also on the Peter Cliff course. From their rucksacks and ski bags which had BA luggage labels I could tell they were probably on a similar journey to me. After introductions we caught the mountain railway to Argentiere, it left at 1.55pm and arrived at Argentiere at 4pm after a beautiful but slow journey through the mountains.

We walked from the station to the Hotel Le Dahu, checked in and then found our rooms – I shared a twin room with Kieran. Then we went down to the bar for a beer.

Late afternoon Peter Cliff came into the bar and introduced himself, as well as Tony Brindle his assistant for the trip.

We were still 2 short but we went upstairs for kit checks in our rooms and just emptied our rucksacks on the bed. Peter did a bit of weeding out of surplus clothing but not much.

Then we all had dinner together downstairs after which the final 2 arrived at 9pm and introduced themselves – Ed and Peter.

Our Guides

Peter Cliff an International Mountain Guide based in Argentiere, Tony Brindle (aspirant/trainee mountain guide and management consultant at the YMCA Lakeside Centre)

Our Group

Kieran (a London Underground maintenance engineer), Ed Grimshaw (a management consultant living in Coniston), Peter (a forester), Sheila (a GP from London) and me, Dave Butcher (Technical Manager for Ilford Photo).

Weather and Snow Conditions

The weather was hot and sunny making for difficult snow conditions – lots of heavy ‘porridge’ snow away from pisted areas.

We spent the first 3 days being taught how to ski difficult snow away from the pistes, which we all did quite badly!

Monday 4th May 1992

We walked from the hotel to meet Peter Cliff at the Lognan telepherique (the main lift from Argentiere) for 10am. We put skis on at the top and then caught the Bochard chairlift to the top and had a few ski runs down to find our ski legs and for Peter to check our abilities on pisted snow. Then at 11.30am we switched and did a few off-piste runs but it was now hot and the soft deep wet snow was tricky to ski. All of us were having trouble with the snow conditions. We skied down a gully full of moguls and stopped for lunch at a restaurant. I discovered that hot dog and orange juice isn’t a typical lunch for ski mountaineering!

After lunch we used the Bochard lift and the piste to work on our technique. I had to put more weight forward to press into the tops of my boots and push the ski tips down. One of Peter’s pet phrases was describing someone as having ski posture like a sack of potatoes if you were too round shouldered!

I learnt a lot about ski technique from Peter during the 6 days, he explained things in a way that I could understand. By the end of the course I felt that I was a much better skier, both on piste and off-piste.

We ended the day with drinks in the hotel bar with Peter Cliff.

Tuesday 5th May 1992

On the second day we went to the top of the Grand Montets lift, it was really cold in the shadows but warm in the sun.

We put skis on outside the lift station. It was steep and narrow to reach the glacier below which was covered in icy moguls and still in shadow. We all started skiing but Peter Cliff stopped us part way down and told us how badly we were all skiing and that if we fell on the next section we would go down a crevasse and die. Not the best way to put our minds at rest considering that this course was the first time skiing off-piste for most of us. Though this had the desired effect and made us ski more slowly and carefully. We skied around and under the cable car over the top of the glacier through loads of avalanche debris to the top of the Bochard piste, the easy bit compared to what had gone before.

At the Bochard piste Peter gave us an ultimatum, keep up with him as we ski down the piste or leave the course. It was a pretty easy wide red run and we started down with Peter in the lead then Ed, Peter (forester), me, Kieran and Sheila. We stopped half-way down and waited for everyone to join up. Peter stayed very quiet and we just continued down. At the bottom Peter Cliff stopped suddenly to look back up the slope and was almost run over by the 3 of us as we were following him so closely!

There was no sign of Kieran or Sheila. Kieran arrived a minute or two later – he had fallen after being cut-up by a snowboarder so his excuse was accepted. Kieran looked very stylish on pistes with his feet looking as if they were bolted together. Unfortunately, this style meant he was not very stable off-piste or in poor snow where a wider stance would have helped.

Sheila eventually appeared but was not going well, her arthritic hips were preventing her from skiing well in the difficult conditions. Peter decided that she would be unable to do the tour and told her she would have to stay behind. Sheila had joined the course knowing this was a possibility and was disappointed but not surprised.

The rest of us, without Sheila, went to the top of the Grand Montets again but this time we headed straight down for the Argentiere Glacier. The sun had softened the surface and it was much easier than the ice we skied earlier. We came down through the icefall and crevasses to reach the Lognan lifts. The run was several kilometres long and it was exciting skiing for all of us off-piste newbies.

We stopped for lunch and waited for Sheila to join us as arranged. We wanted to repeat our last run over the glacier but instead we all went up the Bochard lift, traversed away from the piste and practised using avalanche transceivers.

Peter then left us to finish the day however we wanted so we skied around the Bochard piste a couple of times before catching the lift to the valley. The snow was really soft and heavy now.

Wednesday 6th May 1992

The original plan was for us to ski the Vallee Blanche which Sheila couldn’t do so we asked Peter to change to something which we could all do. We caught the bus to Chamonix and walked up the hill to the Brevent lift station where Peter had planned for us to do a 1 day tour from the top station. Unfortunately, when we arrived from Argentiere it was shut for maintenance.

We walked back down the hill and caught the bus to the Flegere cable car where Peter had a run in with the lift staff. Mountain Guides expect to travel free as they’re bringing trade to the lifts with their clients but for some reason they didn’t accept Peter as our guide. Eventually he did get his free lift pass and we all followed him through after we’d paid. We stopped at the mid-station for a tea break.

After the break we all went up to l’Index for a short tour back to Brevent. Just as we were about to start a series of avalanches came down the slopes under which we should have skied. We would have been down there if we hadn’t stopped for a tea break! The plan changed again and Peter gave us a lecture and demo on testing snow and then we practised digging snow pits ourselves to test the snow condition. Then we spent the rest of the day skiing around Flegere as preparation for the 3 day tour coming up.

The snow became very wet and heavy so we stopped and decided to go down. Peter Cliff looked quite pale and ill and he said he was unsure if he would be able to do the tour, we’d have to wait and see.

Peter turned up later and did another gear check, including harness adjustment. The group gear was then shared out. I took a snow shovel and a spare ski pole.

The following 3 day ski tour was my first ski mountaineering trip in the Alps. Previously I had skied 3 Munro’s as day trips and done a few weeks in total of downhill skiing, mostly in Scotland and 1 week in Austria at Neustift and Stubai. I also did quite a few sessions skiing on dry ski slopes at Rossendale and Sheffield. I would describe myself as a steady skier but definitely not stylish!

Ski Tour Day 1, Thursday 7th May 1992

The day started with all 7 of us taking the Grands Montets lift (3250 m) from Argentiere. At the top Peter Cliff decided to have another kit check and told me I was carrying too much. He pulled out my waterproofs and all my hill food as Peter told us he doesn’t stop for food breaks (“you can eat when you reach the hut”) and I gave it all to Sheila who had come to see us off. He did the same for the other 3 too so Sheila had quite an armful of stuff to carry down.

From here we skied down the Glacier des Rognans across recent avalanche debris keeping above a rocky outcrop to the Argentiere Glacier. We stopped in the middle, well spaced out in case of unseen crevasses, to put skins on.

Then we skied up the glacier past the Glacier du Milieu, Refuge d’Argentiere (2771 m) and the Glacier des Amethysts all on our left. Finally, we turned off the Glacier d’Argentiere to ski up the Glacier du Tour Noirs to practice using skins on steep ground. The slopes were covered in about 5 cm of fresh snow on packed ice so on the steep slopes our skis had a tendency to slide away if you didn’t get the edges in properly.

All was going well until near the top of the steepest section Kieran slipped slowly all the way down the slope with Peter shouting down for him to “use your poles to stop” then when he was flat on the slope Peter called down “use your ski edges”, that didn’t work so Peter said “dig your elbows into the snow”. Kieran did that and skinned his elbows badly but didn’t stop until the bottom of the slope. Peter shouted down for him to come back up but he refused and waved at the nearby Argentiere hut that he’d never been to before and said I’ll go straight to the hut. Peter quite rightly wasn’t amused and skied down, tied him onto a short rope and effectively dragged him back up to join the rest of us.

We headed up further and the snow was softer so easier to ski. Then we took skins off and headed down towards the Refuge d’Argentiere. There was a bad section just above and behind the hut which we crossed singly 100 metres apart in case the slope avalanched. We checked in at the hut and then drank lots of tea to rehydrate before going outside to hang up our climbing skins to dry in the sunshine and admire the view from the terrace with a beer in hand, until clouds rolled in mid-afternoon. The 2 toilets were a bit primitive, 2 steel cabins each with holes cut in the floor.

Supper was chicken casserole, with red wine and bread. Peter then volunteered us to help do the washing up which we did and the guardian then rewarded us with some nightcap drinks.

We had a room to ourselves with room for 10 but there were just 6 of us so we spread out a bit when we turned in at about 9pm. Snorers near the window!

Ski Tour Day 2, Friday 8th May 1992

Some climbers in our dormitory were up early and made lots of noise sorting their gear until Peter told them to do it outside but we couldn’t settle so we all got up a few minutes later at 5am, much earlier than was needed. Breakfast was muesli, bread, marmalade and tea.

Once we left the Refuge d’Argentiere we were on the Ski Haute Route for the entire day. This is the ski mountaineering route between Argentiere and Zermatt in Switzerland which usually takes 6 or 7 days to complete. I completed this in 1993 and recently updated my photo diary – click here to view.

We left the hut at 6am, it was still twilight, and walked down the slope carrying our skis about 100m as it was very rutted with knee-deep ‘post-holes’ where people had walked up yesterday afternoon in the soft wet snow. Then we waited for Peter Cliff to catch up and tell us what to do next. He told us we would be skiing downhill so we put skis on to reach the foot of the Glacier du Chardonnet.

We headed down a steep icy slope, traversed around some ice banks and a bit further down to the Glacier d’Argentiere where we stopped to put on skins and harscheisen (ski crampons). Then we started up the Glacier du Chardonnet and made good progress up the lower steep section until Kieran slipped again and went a few hundred meters down the slope. He was having trouble getting the edges of his skis and harscheisen to grip.  Peter and Tony immediately went down to help him back up again while we waited.

Meanwhile, a group of 3 Americans walked past carrying their skis on their sacs, unlike everyone else that we saw. A few minutes later we heard shouting from above, one of the group had fallen down a crevasse and was saved from falling far by his rucsac. Peter made a point of explaining how that probably wouldn’t have happened if they had been on skis to spread the weight.

By now Peter thought we were behind schedule, making for challenging conditions later on, so he hurried us along as we skinned up the glacier. At 10am we reached the Col du Chardonnet (3323 m) and changed our skis from uphill to downhill mode and removed the climbing skins from the underside. While doing this I failed to notice that Tony had put one of his skis partly over the top of one of my skis and as I lifted it up his ski shot off down the Chardonnet Glacier looking as if it wouldn’t stop until Argentiere High Street (no ski brakes on touring skis)! Just when we thought all was lost the ski hit a divot, shot in the air and landed tip first in the snow. Tony was off like a shot and soon covered the 400 metres to be back with his ski after 10 minutes or so. We hoped Peter Cliff didn’t see the incident!

While all this was going on Peter Cliff was setting up a belay rope for us using the permanent belay point installed at the top of the col. One by one we clipped onto the rope and abseiled come side-slipped down the east side from France into Switzerland, with Peter at the top of the rope of course. Forester Peter went down first followed by Ed who found himself upside down at the top of the steepest bit – he said he hadn’t realised that the rope was still being paid out and as the rope he was holding tightly went slack he went with it head first instead of sliding his skis. We didn’t seem to be having a good day! Kieran followed me then Tony followed him. Finally, Peter took the rope in, packed it in his rucksack and skied down without any rope, showing us how it should be done!

From the foot of the col we traversed around the Glacier de Saleina on softish snow and stopped at the foot of the slope to a col for lunch. At least, everyone else stopped for lunch but Peter Cliff had taken all my hill food out of my rucksack before we started so I just watched everyone else eating!

Then it was time to put skins on the skis and ski up to the foot of the col, crossed the bergschrund where we took our skis off. From here we walked up carrying the skis up the last steep section to the Fenetre de Saleina (3261 m). Peter wisely carried his and Kieran’s skis to avoid any mishaps.

At the top we removed the skins from our skis, put them on and skied around the bowl of the Plateau du Trient to Col d’Orny. We stopped to put our skins on the skis once again and skied up the last short bit to the Cabane du Trient (3170 m) to arrive at 1pm. The terrace was a fantastic viewpoint over the Aiguilles Dorées and the Aiguille du Tour.

We went inside and drank lots of tea until we rehydrated then we sat on the terrace and watched the clouds drifting in from the Glacier du Trient and other groups arriving below us on the col.

We were all very tired but Peter kindly volunteered us to unload a helicopter cargo net of hut goodies that was dropped as we sat on the terrace drinking beers. Several trips later carrying cases and crates of wine, beer and food it was done and we returned to our beers.

We had clear blue sky and it was warm all day. The hut guardian was very friendly and looked after us very well although I was less than impressed with the cheese and tomato fondue that we all had for dinner. It looked like the chef had cut himself while making it with all the red bits of tomato floating in amongst the yellow gloop. An allergy to dairy products and general hatred of fondue didn’t help! Peter seemed to know the guardian and his wife well and, for helping with the delivery he generously plied us with a few drinks before we turned in at 9.30pm.

Ski Tour Day 3, Saturday 9th May 1992

Breakfast was just after 6pm. We put our skis on just an hour later and skied down to the Col d’Orny and then around the edge of the plateau towards the Aiguille du Tour. It was mostly downhill but on the few slightly uphill sections we were able to keep moving by stepping onto the uphill ski pointing slightly downhill. This kept us moving and was a neat trick I often used after this.

Eventually we stopped, put skins on our skis and raised the heel bale for uphill skiing. Then we roped up for the first time on skis and started uphill around Plateau du Trient crevasses and ice cliffs below the Aiguille du Tour. We had 2 ropes of 3, I was with Tony and Ed, as we all headed around the foot of the Aiguille du Tour (3544 m) to the unnamed Col between Aiguille du Pissoir (3440 m) and Le Pissoir (3319m) south of Col du Pissoir.

We side-slipped the steep top section by zig-zagging to and fro. As the slope eased we skied down on good snow with tall cliffs on our left and the Col du Midi (3232m) ahead of us before veering off to the right below the Aiguille du Midi on the Glacier des Grands. As we skied lower the snow changed to breakable crust and caught most of us out, I fell once here. Peter stopped us and talked to us about continually probing the snow as we skied so that we could adjust our style to suit the conditions.

We continued across the Glacier des Grands to just south of the Croix de Beron (Croix de Bron on french maps) where we regrouped and continued the long steep traverse on the Glacier de Beron, it was very hot now. We all made it down to the easier slopes below even though the snow was very soft now. We passed a few skiers coming up sweating buckets in the heat.

Then at about 2100m it was into a very unpleasant narrow gorge with steep sides filled with recent avalanche debris for several hundred metres. We all found it very difficult to ski through this. Kieran fell and slid into Peter Cliff knocking him over as he was just below him, they slid about 15m together. As they both stood up Kieran did it again and once more Peter was knocked over. Peter was furious with Kieran. It was tricky underfoot but falling over twice in quick succession, each time taking out your guide, is not a good look!

Peter and Kieran walked the rest of the way while the rest of us attempted to ski around and over the large blocks of avalanche ice debris. Eventually we had to stop and take our skis off too so Peter told us to walk down to Trient on our own. We were just a few hundred metres from the Trient river.

I took off a layer and put on more suncream ready for the hot walk out in the sunshine. We crossed the Trient Glacier torrent and followed the track down past the Chalet du Glacier (closed 1583m) and on the last few miles down through the woods to the road which was covered in avalanche debris in 3 places. Trient village (1279 m) was reached at 11.30am and was the end our trip which we celebrated with a well earned beer in the cafe. Peter Cliff joined us several minutes later and arranged transport back to Argentiere. We were all surprisingly quiet in the minibus taxi back to the hotel in Argentiere.

We returned to the Argentiere Hotel le Dahu where we were put in newly refurbished rooms with ensuite shower and toilet, luxury! We cleaned up and changed into walking clothes. I met up with Ed and Peter (forester) and we went for a walk up the path alongside the Glacier d’Argentiere. We stopped at about the 1700m mark, took some photos and returned to the hotel.

We had dinner in the hotel then went to a couple of other bars in Argentiere. On returning to the hotel late evening there was now a wedding reception in the hotel and we were all invited to join in! Everyone was very friendly, the drinks were free for the rest of the evening. I talked with Peter Cliff and Ed for a lot of the time, Peter was like a different person laughing and joking, very different from this morning when Kieran took him out twice. I eventually went to bed at 1.30am a little the worse for wear. At breakfast I discovered that Ed and Peter Cliff eventually turned in at 4.30am!

Sunday 10th May 1992

After breakfast, I caught the train to Martigny and then to Geneva Airport. I flew back to Manchester Airport with British Airways where my wife Jan picked me up and drove me home to the Peak District.

Clothing

Patagonia Capilene Lightweight long-sleeved T-shirt

North Cape zip polo shirt

Buffalo windshirt

Rohan Superstriders breeches adapted by my wife to come down 8 inches below my knees

Mountain Equipment fleece jacket

Berghaus Yeti knee-length alpine gaiters glued to my boots with a rubber rand under the sole

Equipment

Nikon FE 35mm camera + Ilford FP4 film

Kastle Tour Randonee skis, collapsible poles and Harscheisen (ski crampons)

Salewa Messner step in scissor crampons

Dynafit Tour Lite ski mountaineering boots with knee length Yeti Gaiters attached

Pomoco ski climbing skins

Mountain Technology 50cm ice axe

The post Ski Mountaineering Peter Cliff Course and 3 Day Tour appeared first on Dave Butcher.

We took just over 6 days to complete the route and went via Verbier, hoping for better weather than the other route through the Grand Combin range. The weather was pretty good the whole way, which was lucky for us.

Preparation

I didn’t have a fitness plan but had a week skiing in Solden, Austria, in January and another week skiing around Zermatt, Switzerland in early March. I had also done a few trips in February and March to Scotland to hike/climb quite a few Munro’s (Scottish mountains over 3000 feet / 914 metres). Finally, at the end of March I also had a couple of sessions at the Sheffield Dry Ski Slope. This is like skiing on toothbrushes so it’s quite different to skiing on snow but it toned the muscles up a bit.

I also live in the English Peak District and walked the hills at the weekends.

Our Guides

Our mountain guides were Brian Hall (from Derbyshire near where I live) and Jon de Montjoye (English but now living in Vallorcine near Chamonix). There was also an aspirant (trainee) mountain guide, Richard Masters, an instructor from Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms.

Our Group

Mark Rogerson (pathologist from Northwich), John Cameron (garage owner and ski instructor from Perth), Mark McDonnell (marketing manager), Michael and 12 year old son Mathew from Toronto, Gian (Radiologist), John Carney (on extended 9 week leave from his job), Team Purple (7 climbing friends who all wore purple Buffalo windroofs and were dubbed Team Purple as a result, including Kate and Patrick).

We were also joined by professional photographer Jess Stock and Vaila Macdonald (his wife and extreme ski world champion). Jess was taking photographs for a book on ski mountaineering around the world with a chapter and one iconic tour for each month of the year.

Our guides Brian and Jon had arranged for the group to have a practice day using the Le Tour ski lifts to practise off-piste technique, including side slipping down steep slopes and abseiling over an overhang while roped up. We split into 2 groups and I was mainly with Jon and Team Purple was mainly with Brian.

Ordering Black and White Fine Art Prints

Prints are available using the 6 digit number at the end of the caption to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just go to the Contact page and send me a message with this number and I will sort the details with you from there.

Wednesday 14th April 1993 Travel to Chamonix

Jan dropped me off at Manchester Airport in the morning for my flight to Geneva Airport. Then I caught the train to Martigny where I changed to the mountain railway to Chamonix for a spectacular ride through the mountains. Then a walk from the station through Chamonix to the Hotel L’Arve.

Thursday 15th April 1993 Argentiere Skiing

I decided to catch the bus to Argentiere and ski there for the day. On returning to the hotel my roommate had arrived, Mark McDonnell. He’d also arrived early to have a day skiing before the trip started.

Friday 16th April 1993 Argentiere Skiing, Evening Group Meeting

We agreed to go to Argentiere and ski the Grands Montets a few times to find our touring legs. It was a good day for skiing around the pistes too, there was blue sky with clouds below us. Grands Montets is a good viewpoint for photos as well.

There was quite a group of people in the car park outside the hotel when we returned from skiing and it turned out they were in the same group as us, waiting to ski the Haute Route. I had no idea there would be so many, there were 15 of us. At 7pm we all collected downstairs for the welcome meeting and kit check with our guides Brian Hall and Jon de Montjoye. In total the group was 20 people including us clients, 3 guides, Jess and Vaila.

Saturday 17th 1993 Group Preparation Day

We were picked up from the hotel and driven up the road to Le Tour so that, before starting the tour we could have a day with the guides checking out our off-piste skiing abilities and other skills, like using an ice axe to self-arrest. We also had a couple of goes at abseiling with our skis on. We used the lifts to get around the Le Tour area and then skied down off-piste. After lunch we skied down towards Vallorcine and then put skins on the underside of our skis so that we could ski uphill. After the lists closed for day we skied down to the Le Tour car park below where our transport back to Chamonix was waiting.

We were then split into 2 groups which we mostly kept for the trip. There was the group of 7 climbers so they were kept together in one group with one or two others and Mark R, Mark M, John Cameron and myself went with Jon. It turned out we were a faster group which suited my pace better and gave me more chance for taking pictures as there was always a group behind so no chance of being left behind or getting lost!

Day 1, Sunday 18th April 1993

We stayed in the same groups as yesterday but Michael and Matthew joined us for today making a group of 6 plus Jon. We started in Argentiere (1251 m) by taking the early lifts up to the Grand Montets (3250 m). Then at 9.10am it was time to put skis on and we skied down with Jon to the Argentiere Glacier. Here we stopped to put skins on and at 10.15am started up the Chardonnet Glacier to the Col du Chardonnet (3323 m). We stopped for a break to let the other group catch up then, after 10 minutes, continued to the col.

We reached the Col du Chardonnet at 12.45pm. There was quite a queue to descend here and when our turn came the steep descent was aided by a rope so that we could abseil-cum-sideslip down safely and reasonably speedily. I had skied this same route to Cabane du Trient last year with Peter Cliff but the descent from Col du Chardonnet this year was more difficult. I went down 5th and there was soft snow cut into a groove just wider than my skis, rather than the grippy smooth ice of last year. You had to be careful not to put the tips or tails of the skis into the snow bank on either side as it tried to tip you over.

We regrouped near the base of the col. Then it was around to the foot of the next col for a lunch break while we waited for the other group. It was hot now with the sun beating down on us. After 45 minutes and still no sign of them we started the climb up to the Fenetre de Saleina (3261 m). Jon and Mark R skied up making lots of kick turns but everyone else, including me, walked up in the bucket steps already made in the deep snow carrying our skis.

From the col we all put skis back on and skied down a gentle slope of heavy snow continually stepping up onto the uphill ski to keep going without losing too much height. Once across the Plateau du Trient we stopped to put skins on and skied up the last bit to the Cabane du Trient (3170 m) at 5pm for the first night. Dinner was at 6.30pm so we had time for lots of weak tea to rehydrate and then a beer or two.

My Nikon FM slr camera broke a shutter blade and was unusable for the rest of the trip.

Day 2, Monday 19th April 1993

We were up at 6.30am, dressed and packed our rucksacks before breakfast at 7am, which was bread and jam with tea. After a quick trip to the toilet we all gathered outside to put our skis on at 7.30am. It was another sunny day.

We skied with Brian today and John Carney joined us. We left the hut steeply downhill on icy snow while keeping to the right flank of the descent route, side slipped a steep section above a heavily crevassed Trient Glacier and then skied the traverse to the foot of the Col des Ecandies (2796 m).  From here we took our skis off, put them on our shoulders, and walked up to the col in the deep bucket steps already there in the snow. No-one skied up this one. Then at the top of the col it was skis on again before we skied down in deep powder and then heavily mogulled churned up slopes with patches of breakable crust. From the bottom there was a good run on spring snow then avalanche debris before skiing through some woods. It was heavy snow from here to a chalet cafe above the village of Champex at 11am. Mark M fell just before the trees and split his lip in the breakable crust snow and Gian spent about 15 minutes doing a temporary fix to hold Mark’s lip together. It would need stitches later.

We stopped at the cafe drinking cold Coke and waited for the other group, they turned up just 15 minutes later. Then we skied down a few hundred yards to where the snow ended, took our skis off, and walked the rest of the way to the village of Champex (1465 m) which we reached at about 11.30am. We had lunch in a restaurant in the village by the lake, I had roast beef and rosti – very nice! It was sunny and warm with lots of ice on the surface of the lake.

From Champex the snow ran out so at 1.30pm we were ferried in taxis to Verbier (1490 m), where I bought a Nikon AF2 compact for 250 SFr (about £115) to replace my broken Nikon FM slr. From Verbier we met at 4pm at the Attelas lift which we took to the top. Then we traversed around the mountainside on quite unstable slopes of heavy snow, with lots of snow slides around us, to get above the Cabane du Mont Fort (2457 m) so that we could ski down to it for our second night, reaching it at 4.30pm.

We had a big evening meal of vegetable soup cum stew followed by spaghetti, mince and salad. It had stayed hot and sunny all day again.

Day 3, Tuesday 20th April 1993

We were up in time for 6am breakfast of bread, jam and tea, and skiing by 7.10am on another cold bright morning. We were with Jon today and there were just 5 of us as Michael and Matthew were with the other group.

The first part was skiing on a pisted track with lots of avalanche debris to ski through. Some of the bits were the size of houses brought down by the hot weather – we had watched some of it sliding down yesterday afternoon. As we went higher we made our own way up the glacier ignoring the tracks of other skiers. Both groups were together at this stage. The last section to the col was steep and icy and the other group fell well behind. We reached the Col de la Chaux at 8.45am and had a short break while both groups assembled together.

Then we had a long downhill section on good snow before skinning up to the Col du Momin (3003 m) followed by a slight downhill and a long hot slog climbing most of the way, with one small downhill section that we kept skins on for. The last bit was steep and icy and the skis slipped around a bit until we reached a small shelf 100 metres or so below the summit of La Rosablanche (3336 m) where we took our skis off. From here it was just a short steep snow climb to the top at 11am. I followed Jon and Mark R but most stayed below. The view was spectacular so I stayed on top taking lots of photos for 15 minutes or more. It was sunny and hot with clear blue skies.

I came down and joined the others in having a snack. The other group started arriving from 11.30am. We took the skins off our skis and left at 11.45am. The snow was deep, heavy, wet and difficult to ski. As well as this our route to the hut was at risk from avalanches so we skied well spaced out. Despite the urgency we had to do lots of traverses in the tricky snow to descend the steep slopes and reached the Cabane de Prafleuri (2624 m) at 1.30pm.

We spent most of the afternoon sunbathing outside the hut, it was very hot. At the refuge we had to fend for ourselves (no guardian to cook for us). In fact Jess and Vaila cooked for us as a thank you for allowing them to join our group. We were relieved to be able to unload the heavy food and drinks from our rucksacks that we had been loaded up with in Verbier! I was carrying about 2kg of food which I really noticed when skiing downhill doing turns.

Day 4, Wednesday 21st April 1993

Breakfast was bread, jam and tea at 6am and there were 7 of us in our group as Michael, Matthew and Gian joined us. We were skiing with Brian by 7am and skinned up to the Col des Roux above the hut at 8am where we removed our climbing skins from the skis.

It was a steep descent from the col followed by a very tiring slightly downhill traverse across steep snowy slopes covered in fresh avalanche debris. The tiring bit was continually stepping onto the uphill ski to avoid losing height. The last section at the head of the valley was a good descent to the end of the frozen Lac des Dix (2360 m) where we stopped for photos and sun cream as there were blue skies and it was hot.

After our short break we put skins on the skis and zig-zagged up the steep slope at the head of the valley. Gian took us off-course for a few hundred metres but we soon realised and were back on track, caught up with Brian and soon found ourselves at the Pas du Chat. From here we traversed the slopes to follow a snow covered moraine bank that led us up to the back of the Tete Noir. We were to the west and quite a bit above the hut so we took the skins off our skis. From here we skied down on good snow until near the hut when it became heavy wet snow. We walked the last 50 metres carrying our skis over our shoulders and arrived at the Cabane des Dix hut (2928 m), a busy hut, at 1pm. There were fantastic views all around from here.

I had sausage and rosti at 13 SFr for lunch and drank lots of tea to rehydrate at 1.50 SFr per litre as I only carried 1 litre of water. I refilled my aluminium Sigg bottle with 4 bottles of mineral water at 4 SFr for 300ml. Later we switched to a beer or two at 4 SFr per small can. It was a good modern spacious hut. The weather closed in late afternoon and there was light snow so we were pleased that we reached the hut while it was good weather.

Day 5, Thursday 22nd April 1993

It was breakfast of the usual bread, jam and tea at 5.30am so that we were skiing with Jon at 6.30am with the same group as yesterday. It was a short distance of a few hundred metres down to the glacier where we put skins on. 

We headed up the shallow slope to begin with then it steepened and was covered with 5 cm or so of fresh snow on a firm base. After this we crossed the crevassed slopes of the Glacier de Tsena Refien close to the Pointes de Tsena Refien.

Next was the Col de Tsijiore Nouve overlooking the very impressive Mont Blanc de Cheilon (3870 m).  From here we skied southwest under some very large ice cliffs and over a heavily crevassed area using several snow bridges and lots of zig-zags to the Col de Brenay, a large plateau which heli-skiers were using as a drop-off point to ski back to Arolla in the valley below. It seemed somewhat perverse that it had taken us 5 days to reach the point they had reached in 5 minutes!

We dumped our gear on the plateau and quickly skied up to the top of the Pigne d’Arolla (3796 m) at 9.50am. There was blue sky and a few clouds, particularly towards the Matterhorn which we didn’t see. We took the skins off our skis and skied back to our rucksacks and continued down about another hundred metres to get out of the cold wind where we stopped for a short lunch break.

The weather started to turn and we skied down slightly mogulled slopes followed by a steep traverse through some thick cloud to the Cabane des Vignettes (3160 m) which we reached at 11.20am. We took our skis off and carried them as we walked the last 50 metres to the covered walkway leading to the hut entrance.

I had sausage and rosti for lunch for 12 SFr and lots of tea before we had one or two beers after we felt we were rehydrated, judged by the number of times we went to the toilet!

The hut has a very impressive position on top of high cliffs and is built of stone. The outside toilet is the most impressive of all, reached by a narrow 20 metre long metal walkway, both of which were bolted to the side of a cliff with an enormous drop beneath the toilet seat!

By 2.30pm the weather had closed in completely, turning colder with blizzards raging outside. Without a doubt this was the most spectacular hut of the trip.

Day 6, Friday 23rd April 1993

Breakfast was at 5am, the earliest that the hut guardian would do it. There was a long queue for the toilet as we left – fortunately, I had taken the precaution of going before breakfast. It was just about first light as we left at 6am. We needed crampons just to get out of the hut door and along the covered walkway because of the sheet ice. Then there was a steep drop on the left hand side as we traversed carrying our skis across to the top of the main route down from the hut. Once across this we changed from crampons to skis and with Brian we were off with 3 cols to cross.

We soon skied down to the Col de Charmotane (3016 m) below, where we put skins on our skis and skied up in clouds but visibility wasn’t too bad. The slope was steep for last section up to the first col of the day, the Col de l’Eveque 3392 m. The clouds lifted slightly but still no distant views. It was a good ski down on a slightly moguled slope at the top, with a traverse round a rocky bit called La Vierge and then down to the plateau of the Haut Glacier d’Arolla, opposite the Refuge des Bouquetins.

We had a brief stop here to switch our skis from downhill to uphill mode by adding climbing skins and releasing the binding so that we could slide the ski forward with longer strides. It was a long easy skin most of the way up to the next col but with a sting in the tail of very steep ice near the top so we stopped just below this to put ski crampons on. Then, after lots of tight kick turns on the ice by flicking the heel to bring the ski around quickly, we reached the top of the second col, the Col du Mont Brule 3213 m. We had a long break and lunch at the top waiting for the others and I took a few photos of the view to the east.

Then it was time to take off the skins before moving off for a long downhill traverse to reach the plateau about 100 m below the Haut Glacier de Tsa de Tsan in clouds. It was a bit cooler now and with a cold breeze.

It took us 2.5h to skin up to the Col de Valpelline 3568 m but there were no views to the Matterhorn because of thick cloud. Shame, it should have been one of the highlights of the trip.

Brian Hall gathered us all around and told us to ski close together and follow him as the route was heavily crevassed. We took the skins off our skis and skied down closely following Brian, as instructed. The Stockji Glacier was covered in about 30 cm of fresh powder snow and was indeed heavily crevassed. Part way down Jess Stock thought it would make a good shot for the book if we skied into a crevasse with a snow bridge part way down and back out again, which several of us did. He photographed each of us as we skied out of the crevasse. Probably not the most sensible thing I’ve ever done!

Then we skied south of Stockji to the Tiefmatten Glacier. It was quite dull now and my glacier glasses were too dark and low contrast such that I couldn’t see the snow clearly around my skis, so I switched to goggles. These were much better but I had to be careful that they didn’t mist up which was why I hadn’t worn them much on this trip. We skied below some enormous ice cliffs keeping fingers crossed nothing would break off as we skied past.

Lower down we traversed along very soft snow and breakable crust until we reached the foot of the moraine below the Schonbiel Hut. Finally, we put skins on again to ski up the glacier, onto the snow covered moraine and skinned part way up a steep snow slope above the hut. Then it was time to take the skins off and have a final few hundred metres ski downhill to reach the Schonbielhutte (2694 m) at 2.30pm for our last night in the mountains.

The hut was empty except for our group. I had sausage and rosti 13 SFr for lunch and lots of tea to rehydrate. The evening meal was pork fillet, a bottle of wine was 24 SFr and a small beer 4 SFr.

The toilets were a short distance from the hut and were very primitive but they had the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen from a toilet, across the valley to the north face of the Matterhorn!

It was a long day which ended with us sitting on the terrace of the Schonbielhutte sipping beer looking straight across the valley at the north face of the Matterhorn (4478 m) as the clouds parted later on. Quite a way to end the day.

Day 7, Saturday 24th April 1993

Breakfast was at 6.30am and we started skiing at 7.30am. It was quiet in the hut, most on the Haute Route carry on to Zermatt instead of stopping here.

We skinned uphill away from the hut for a few minutes following the route that we came in from, then traversed a steepish slope down to the moraine. From here we continued up to the edge of the Schonbiel Glacier on fresh snow where we stopped to take off the skins from our skis and convert them into downhill mode by clipping the heel down.

We skied down the Schonbiel Glacier in fresh snow on a firm base. A bit lower down there was a junction with the routes into Zermatt, we chose the right hand side of the valley and skied through dozens of small clear round marbles of ice glistening in the sun, mostly 2 to 5 cm in size. Then we made our way down through the trees, along flat sections where we were continually stepping onto the uphill ski to keep moving until we stopped and took off our skis and carried them to walk the last 15 minutes to the Restaurant Stafelalp at 9.30am. We had hot drinks while we waited for the others, I had a hot chocolate.

Jess took the team photo outside the restaurant (although I’ve never seen it which is shame). Then at 10.15am we skied down the Weisse Perle ski piste on reasonable snow where we had a leisurely ski down to the flesh pots of Zermatt (1614 m) ending at 10.45am just 100 metres from the Furri lift station as the snow ran out!

We caught the lift down to Zermatt and walked through the town to the Hotel Bahnhof near the station by 12pm. It was packed, so John Cameron and I went to another nearby hotel and had lunch there. I had schnitzel and chips for a change. We headed back to the Hotel Bahnhof for the agreed meeting time of 1pm before walking down the road to get a taxi-minibus to take us back the 2.5 hours to Hotel l’Arve in Chamonix.

Travel Home Sunday 25th April 1993

After breakfast and saying goodbye to everyone from our group that were still there I walked up to the station and caught the train to Martigny. From there I caught a train to Geneva Airport and flew back to Manchester Airport with British Airways. My wife met me and drove me home, I was too tired to drive!

Summary

What a fantastic trip in mostly good weather with excellent company. We were lucky with the weather as we heard several stories of people who had bailed out on previous trips. Apparently, some years most people make it and other years very few manage to do the whole route – all depending on the weather and snow conditions.

I was a steady skier before I started, having been skiing for 5 years and skied 3 Munro’s (the highest mountains in Scotland over 3000 feet / 914 metres) in Scotland. However, in Team Purple, who were all climbers, there were a few who hadn’t skied that much including 1 guy who had only skied for 7 days ever! He seemed to snowplough the whole way and I suspect that was part of the reason that the other group was moving slowly at times. Everyone successfully completed the trip.

I was very physically tired at the end of the trip but soon picked up after a couple of days. My weight was 69kg when I left home and 67kg on my return despite eating huge meals and downing a few beers in all of the huts on the route.

Cameras

Nikon FM 35mm camera + 28mm lens to start with but the shutter blades broke on the first day.

I bought a small Nikon AF2 35mm compact camera in Verbier so that I could continue taking mountain photos during this trip. The Nikon AF2 went back for repair after just 6 months (the rewind mechanism broke).

I bought a Mamiya 6 MF medium format camera and sold most of my Nikon gear after this!

Film

Ilford FP4 and 100 Delta 35 mm – I used 7 rolls of 36 exposure film.

Equipment

Kastle Tour Randonnee 180cm skis

Silvretta 404 touring bindings and harscheisen (ski crampons)

Kastle collapsible Ski Poles

Pomoco climbing skins for skis (orange colour on left of photo)

Dynafit Tour Lite 2 ski mountaineering boots with Vibram-type sole for when not on skis. These were great for everything except the downhills where they were too soft and flexible to provide much support. I used them for several years though as they were comfortable for everything else.

Camp Arctic 10 step-in crampons – rigid with a bale at the front and just 1 strap around the ankle so very fast to put on and take off.

Mountain Technology 50cm ice axe – I was told this would be unnecessary so I left it with my travel clothes at the hotel in Chamonix.

POD Outside Rock 40 litre rucksack – plenty big enough for my kit and some group kit

Sigg aluminium 1 litre water bottle. Bottled water was always bought the night before to fill it and I bought extra water to drink before starting each day as well as mugs of tea at breakfast. At each hut on arrival we bought a few 2 litre jugs of tea as we were really dehydrated. We kept drinking it until we had been to pee a couple of times, then we switched to beer in the afternoons and small glasses of wine with our evening meals.

Hill food – a few Clif Bars and chocolate bars, very small amount

Sun cream/block

Julbo Glacier Glasses with leather baffles at the sides and over the nose to stop stray light. On sunny days I had eye strain by days end. They were too dark and the contrast was really poor. One of the ear loops of the frame broke towards the end of the trip which didn’t help either! They went in the bin on my return and were replaced with excellent Vuarnet Glacier Glasses which I used for many years.

Smith ski goggles – mostly wore the glacier glasses but these were worn when skiing in the clouds as the glacier glasses were too dark and with low contrast lenses made it difficult to see the snow underfoot.

Clothes

North Face Stowaway Gore Tex lightweight jacket. I wore this a lot as it was a windproof and another warm layer but didn’t weigh much if it was warm and had to go in the rucksack.

Berghaus Gore Tex Overtrousers – not used the weather was too good

Rohan Superstriders Breeches – modified so that they were covered well below my knee, stretchy thick warm fabric, reasonably windproof

Wild Country Yeti Gore Tex Gaiters over my boots to seal the boot and gaiter together with a built-in rubber rand outside the boot. The gaiter part came over the bottom of the breeches.

Mountain Equipment Ultrafleece jacket – not used much during the days but worn in the huts to keep warm

Mountain Equipment Ultrafleece pullover – warm and reasonably windproof

North Cape midweight long sleeve zip polo

Patagonia lightweight Capilene long sleeve T-shirt – not worn much as warm enough without it.

Underpants x 2 pairs. I swapped to the 2nd pair after the 3rd day as that was roughly half-way.

North Cape thin long johns but these were too warm so I mainly used them at night in the huts. Sleeping between coarse blankets you needed something to make you feel more comfortable. For the 10 years that I was ski touring I don’t remember seeing anyone using a thin lightweight liner bag that you would use now.

Liner Socks and thin Knee Length Socks. I had 2 sets of these and wore them on alternate days so I always had a dry pair each day.

Hestra leather palmed fleece lined ski gloves – these were fantastic, my hands were always warm!

North Cape thin liner gloves – I didn’t use these inside the Hestra gloves but instead of them on warm days.

Lowe Alpine fleece lined cap which covered my ears and the back of my neck. I also had a sun hat.

Mountain Equipment fleece balaclava – not used, the weather was too warm.

The only spare clothes I carried were spare socks and underpants.

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