I have just returned to Verbier from our plan B, sailing in the Croatian islands. Plan A was 7 days ski mountaineering in the Bernese Alps, from the Jungfraujoch and Aletsch. The two pictures below, from my house here in Verbier today and Croatia yesterday, leads me to believe it was a great choice!

Yachts off my stern

30 cm of fresh!

What a week of sailing it was. Because of the continued forecasted wet and cold weather in the Alps, we decided a few days before departing to go south. The islands of Croatia offer excellent sailing grounds with an abundance of yachts to charter. Easy Jet offers weekly flights from Geneva at affordable rates. We chartered Svrsata, a 40 foot Sun Odyssey 39i, out of the new port at Seget, near Trogir. She was a blast to sail, tackling strong winds up to force 6 with ease. I was never a fan of in-mast furling, but this made reducing sail super easy. We sailed to Vis on our first day out, in a solid force 5. After getting the sails right, Svrsata sailed close haul at close to 7 knots with ease. We combined that with a fine climb at “Little Thailand” on Hvar to make a real fun week of fine adventure.

Yesterday, was another fine day in the mountains, shared with fine folks who appreciate what these hills have to offer. Looking at the weather forecast these past few days, drove me to believe the worst. We flew to the Petit Combin from the cow turd fields of Le Chable in milky light, forecasted to get milkier. The flight up in this amazing, mechanical bird was so fine, Vincent at the controls, giving me THE bird’s eye view I needed to pick our line down. With Chris and Fi in the back, I  really wanted it to be perfect. Conditions were tricky with the fresh powder from last week still not transformed on hot slopes. I knew from the past few days that north and north east slopes still held good powder. But the moment one skied into the southern sectors, even slightly north west, the heat from these past few days had transformed that snow to a crusty, nasty, ski grabbing entity.

I felt my tension evaporate as we skied the first slopes, put on climbing skins, skied more fine powder, then skinned again to reach another col at 3000 meters. As the snow flakes began to fall, we flew into the Val du Bagnes, down a broad couloir, leading to another couloir within that couloir, narrowing down to one of the finest descents there are into our little Swiss valley. Have a look at the photos. I hope I can take you there from wherever you are…

It’s been quite some time since we’ve had fresh snow. Not that I’m complaining. It’s certainly been one of the best winters in the 30 years I’ve been skiing and climbing in this Valley of Bagnes. But it does create new challenges! I’ve been traveling to neighboring valleys in search of fun, soft snow, and even driving hours, getting close to Nice to play in a meter of fresh powder.

Last week’s Foehn hammered the snow on many aspects, and the high temperatures created fine spring snow on the southern slopes and awesme crust on some northern aspects. But still, these Alps offer fun for the enthusiastic!

Below are a few photos of the skiing we have been doing. A month after it’s snowed, we’re Powder Hounds, sniffing out some soft, 3 dimensional snow.

You know what’s it’s like, when something happens, or you’re with someone and you kind of… wakeup?

How long have we been skiing choice powder in these valleys around Verbier? Non-stop now, day after days, blending into one winter day, not enough time or energy left, at the end of the day, to post about it.

Then and I wakeup and see what you see, you show me, deep powder everywhere! Look around, thick coated chalets, boulders, slopes and lines, untracked thickness everywhere, away from others, just stillness and valley floors miles below, with more untracked 3D riding ahead. My super wide-bodied-127mm-under-foot K2 Dark Sides have been leading the way down the dark sides of mountains for days and days, so easy to turn, side-slip, fool around, hover over the thick coating, bumps and dips, pushing vertically into the 3D snow, simply to turn, fly and giggle.

Enjoy these photos from 2 sessions, as I try to give to you what I have myself been given. And I’d love to hear your stories below, comment…

Verbier opened one month ago for skiing, but is now open for the powder skiing we know and love! With the additional 1.5 meters of snow that has fallen over the past few days, we can now enjoy winter as winter can be enjoyed. We have done some lovely ski tours these past 2 weeks at mid elevations close to the main alpine ridge (page 41). I don’t have many photos to share unfortunately. One shot from the top of the Monts Telliers Sunday with the iPhone shows the new front moving in over the 3 lakes above La Fouly.

Ski Touring Sessions

Are you dreaming of doing a ski tour but don’t dare to do it on your own? Not sure of where to go that will be quiet yet safe enough to have fun? Would you like to join people for a day’s ski touring? I will be gathering groups of like minded folks who would like to get out and safely ski tour in this fresh new snow. We will climb for approximately 3 hours to get to some fine skiing. On the way up, we will talk about route choices and snow stability. On the way down, I’ll offer a few pointers to help you enjoy every one of those well earned turns. The cost is approximately 100.00/person. The first tour will be Friday, December 7th. Please contact me for more details and other dates @ +41 79 446 2289 or hans at verbier dot ch.

A string of storms and changing temperatures has created a compact base for the coming season.  40cms of snow lie above 2300 meters here in Verbier, and the week’s forecast calls for mild temperatures in these hills. That will melt all the lower elevations…

We escaped the valley fog today, enjoying the intensity and heat of bright, alpine light for the afternoon. What a feeling to be perched above the darkness, wandering the ridges and bowls above Les Attelas.