A rather poor poem to win an airbag?

So Facewest are having a competition to win an Airbag. Considering some of the stuff we've been doing I've been seriously looking into picking one up. We're definitely careful, but there is always that small, rather terrifying chance that the worst could happen... especially with the conditions this year.

So I'm here for a second year,
Chamonix - a resort of the highest tier,

The season is only a third through,
With so much time left to admire the sunning views,

There's so much left to see and do,
But conditions have left me feeling blue,

There's debris everywhere,
Giving everyone quite a scare,

With this year's dangerous snow pack,
I'm missing a toggle on my shoulder strap,

My mother is worried and my friends all have one,
So please Facewest - aid me in my quest to have fun...

Safely and responsibly!

Pic 1: View from the balcony
Pic 2: Vallée Blanche looking over to Hellbronner
Pic 3: Me looking dejected
Pic 4: Skier's right of the Cornu face up Brevent. Big slides below
Pic 5: Selfie on the VB
Pic 6: Sidestepping up a ridge in Brevent
Pic 7: Avalanche training with Charlie up in Flegere

Rognon in amazing condition...

Tues 28th: Up early for another powder lap of the Midi with Jason, Andy and Charlie for his first time. Made it to the queue by 9am and was down the arête by 10:30. Would've been earlier but I had to pick up my boots first.

We decided against the Envers variants due to the recent reports of a death due to a snowbridge collapsing. Wanted to find out more before we ventured there. Chose Rognon again instead. Decided to drop in high as below the arête looked in fantastic condition... which it was. Stunning snow with hardly any tracks, steep enough to really enjoy it.

The snow was pretty sticky (-20 degrees up the top) and there was gratuitous amounts of poling. Andy, on a board, was cursing his snowboard during these sections. The first pitch of Rognon was epic and we skied it as a group. As I had the rope Charlie was out in front. He cut lower than we'd decided by mistake (in fairness it was his first time) and we lost Jason who went the correct way. As a result Andy, Charlie and I missed most of the nice steep section and had a bit of a traverse but oh well. Jason got fresh tracks down the whole section... What a *%£$.

Rest was mostly uneventful with great snow although more chopped than the top due to traffic off Petits Envers and the true VB. I say mostly because Jason's binding pre-released mid turn and he tumbled into the edge of a crevasse. For a second my heart stopped but his head bobbed back out meaning he didn't go down completely.

The exit to Montenvers was much better than last time - got down with only a small scratch. The snow definitely justified another lap but the calves said no, still tender from the previous day. Also none of the others were interested in going again.

All in all, in my 5 laps that was BY FAR the best snow I've had. Then again I've skied it in some of the worst conditions I've ever seen on snow... so oh well. Fantastic day none the less.

The top pitch in GREAT condition

Poling through the sticky snow

Jason

Jason's untouched line

Me

Andy

Charlie out of the sun

Pulling Jason out of the crevasse lip to the side

NB: Some of the photos stolen from Jason / Charlie

Mixed snow and technique up Brevent

Mon 27th: Hadn't skied for 3 days and properly for 4 or tried out my new boots (I know... first world problems) so was desperate to get up the mountain.

Woke up early for the powder day to find Charlie and Liam were both indisposed... pathetic. Managed to ski with Luke, Sleigh, Josh and LOCAL Graham. We decided on Brevent. Had a great day with mostly fantastic snow, with a little bit of shit and some comparable skiing by me. My new boots are pretty nice but are much less forgiving in balance so it took a while - and some poor skiing - to get used to them.

We started on the magic carpet chair as nothing else was open and iked up a hill far skier's left. This was my first deep / steepish pitch in my boots and my balance was hilariously bad. Snow was amazing but a little slidy. This was hardly surprising as there was debris everywhere from the morning's avalanche control (although not deep). Did another lap of the big open face hard skier's left, then down through the trees. Snow everywhere was amazing.

Got down and the Que for the magic carpet was 'big' so decided on a lap of the home run - first of the season. The long steep pitch off the side was great, as was the snow on the run. Managed to dodge all the rocks (who knows how) although Josh managed a coreshot on his new Black Crows, ouch. Fun but not again for a while for my skis' safety.

Got up Brevent again to find out that the other side was open. The snow was ridiculously deep in places. Definitely the side to be on so when Cornu opened we headed straight off the back. Had two great laps of awesome snow, first down skier's left of the run and second off the ridge couloirs off the main face. There were lots of nice big rocks to jump off and the landings were perfectly smooth. Finished up with hard skier's right traverse of the main face. Everyone ripped it down.

The others were desperate to ski Hotel face off the top bin so we headed up despite reports it was closed to skiers. It was... so Sleigh, Luke and I decided to ski down the main face skier's right of the Praz bubble. The top was OK the the snow quickly got pretty poor and it was more a case of picking your way down rather than enjoying it. Snow got really heavy and my calfs took a pounding due to my poor balance in the boots, think I strained one.

Got down and called it a day, the others were planning on the mid station but I wanted to call it before I was in too much pain to ski tomorrow and before I took a big chunk out of my skis.

Nice day

Sidestepping up

Luke ready to drop over to the back face

The short hike skier's right of Cornu main face

Looking down on Cham skier's right of the bubble

Looking up

Best sight in the world

Sun 26th: Came home after 26+ hours of work in two days, knowing I'm off tomorrow, to this wonderful sight. And its heavy... YES!

One step further in the quest

Fri 24th: So today I got one step further towards along the long path to finding a pair of ski boots that don't make my feet cry.

I'd been toying around with the idea of getting a touring boot for months and pretty much narrowed my search down to a set of either the Dynafit Vulcans or Mercurys. Unfortunately I passed up a couple of really good deals on them off Chamshare as I wasn't sure that they would work for me without a lot of help from a bootfitter.

Went down to Sanglard and had a chat with Jules to discuss whether he'd be able to make them work for my feet. With a little help from the trusty Fischer Vacuum fit machine I left an hour and a half later with my new boots - the Mercurys. Hats off to Jules, he was really helpful, informative and a pleasure to be fitted by.

In the end I decided not to spring the extra 200E for the Vulcans for a little bit more stiffness. With hindsight it might have been a better option but we will see... If they do work I can always get another set hah.

So much for my self control...

Stealing hats

Thurs Evening: Got back from work at 10pm and was straight on the beers / wine at our place with Charlie, Flynn, Nick, Frank, Jenna and Tanya. Good fun at predrinks. Went to Monkey for a few hours. Then tried to get into Amnesia but they said Tanya and Flynn were too drunk (HAH) so went to Toff instead. Had a good time and a dance there for a few hours. Managed to steal about 7 hats. No idea why there were so many about...

Decided to try to get into Amnesia again. The bouncer recognised the drunkards again but somehow in my drunken state I managed to talk him into letting us in. I said I'd be responsible for them... Anyone who's seen me on a night out will know how laughable that is. The Monkey crew were inside. Had shots, chatted, danced etc. Cormack had more free champagne - yes please. Jenna spent 32E on 4 jeagerbombs. Ouch.

Great laugh!

The drunken hat collection is growing

Low visibility Les Houches

Thurs 23rd: Got up and looked at the webcams. A sea of white... No where had any visibility so couldn't be bothered to get up early. At 10 Flynn texted saying he was going up regardless so I thought I'd join him for a while.

We decided just to do a few runs at Les Houches so went straight up Prarion and off the back. Snow was pretty good high with some powder on top of the pistes / crusty off piste, but as soon as you got lower it got verrrry brown. Left that side as I didn't want to chunk out the new skis.

We ended up doing the Khanadar World Cup run three times (easy for a black but you could easily see how they would fly down it). Snow was remarkably good right down to resort: there were only a few places you had to watch for rocks.

Used these runs as a way to put the Shiros through their paces. I couldn't believe how nimble athey were considering they're 193cm, 119mm underfoot and weigh over 5kg each with the Barons on. Carving took some getting used to with the 30m radius and full rocker, but I've definitely been spoiled by the S7s easy carving. They were also WAY less jittery through anything cut up, less hooky and they floated amazingly in the powder yesterday. Happy days.

All in all, the Shiros are exactly what I wanted. Higher radius, fully rockered and can take variable conditons without ruining my knees. Perfect.


Finally got the first haircut / proper shave of the season. Much overdue. Might have to get the beard back though

Only started skiing this season - Flynn killing it

Cheering for the great visibility

Too much hair sadface

Middle

Too little hair?

First 'Mythical Descent' of the winter. FINALLY

Weds 22nd: Had arranged to ski the Vallée Blanche with Liam, Jason and other Big Rich if the weather was good. Woke up to a stunningly clear day. Absolutely perfect weather. YES!

Met at the Midi at 10am. Was a big queue but it was mainly due to technical problems. Made it up by 11:15. Crampons on (although they definitely weren't necessary as the track was in great condition), gear sorted and down the arête for 11:30.

Clipped in to my brand new skis only to find out my new bindings hadn't been adjusted to my boot and were set way too large. Shit. Searched around for a multi tool and luckily Jason and a guide had one each and I adjusted them enough to ski. Phew. Still felt like a bit of a tit though. 

We chose the Rognon route having heard good reports, skier's right of the Gros Rognon. Conditions were much better than I expected. We only saw two nasty cracks in the snow bridges the entire run. Snow was stunning at the top. Massive smiles on everyone's faces. We stayed further right of the majority of the tracks to get fresh snow all the way down to the first steeper pitch. Snow from then on was a mix of soft moguls / sluff with pockets of powder and windcrust on the flats. 

Half way down we bumped into Andy, Tom Tom, Robin, Lee and Adrian and we merged into one big group for the way down. Stopped for a bite of lunch on the Mer de Glace.

Got down to Montenvers without much trouble. Hit a few rocks but nothing bad. Really nice chilled out ski.

GREAT DAY

The Mythical Descent...

The arête

Big Rich and Liam on the arête

Me desperately trying to fix my bindings

View from the top

Making our way to Rognon

Jason, Liam and Rich with Rognon in the background

NB. Few of the photos stolen from Jason / Big Rich

Low vis le Tour

21st: No one was that bothered by skiing this morning. Even I wasn't pushing people to get out like usual. This cold / man flu is REALLY pissing me off.

Finally got to the lift by 12 with Charlie and Liam. Still having no skis, I borrowed Charlie's DPS. I, being super special, had forgotten my gloves. It was bloody cold and windy as well. Luckily for me (and not so much for him) Charlie's pass had a problem and he couldn't ski. By the time Liam and I made it to the slopes we had two pairs of Charlie's skis and his gloves. What a nice man.

First run of the day was back down the main face. It was OK. There were nice pockets of snow between thick, thick windcrust. The sun even poked out for a bit. Passable. Went to see what my favourite run was like. Again the snow was OK but the visibility was shockingly bad. Couldn't see any contours of rollers / tracks / anything... so we went home. Even got the bubble back down. Pathetic I know. Oh well.

Still. Got home and picked up my new toy's finally ready to go...

Both sets of Charlie's skis... oops

By far the best visibility of the day... says a lot

Setup for the day

YES! Finally

DIY funtimes

18-21st: Hadn't been in the mood for skiing the last few days, especially as I'd sold my only fat skis. Snow wasn't great anyway by all accounts. Maybe up the Midi / Top Bin but we're saving it for good visibility as we haven't scouted it yet this season.

Decided to get my skis sorted instead. DIY Quiver Killered the Coreupt Ascentionist skis I bought off Graham on the cheap. Could have remounted them in the used holes but felt like a challenge. After a few hours, a dodgy drill depth gauge, epoxy up my arm and some fun disassembling the FKS bindings they're all done. Just need to use a vice to bend the brakes out now.

Finally bought some bindings to go on the Shiros. Got a pair of old (but unused) Barons for a decent price!