Earning the turns in Grimentz
16th November 2007
I’ve been wanting to get out skis since the snow fell and today presented the best chance. There’s not so many places here in Zinal it’s safe to ascend solo, climbing into the ski area is awkward because some sections of the route are exposed to avalanche risk and looking over yesterday the cover’s not brilliant anyway.
My plan was always to go to Grimentz and climb up there for a couple of reasons, the snow base should be better as I think they’ve had the cannons going on the lower slope and there’s a track that meanders up through the woods which is ideal to ascend and the route isn’t exposed to elevated avalanche risk. The plan worked well with the only mishap of the day being that I made a flask of coffee and forgot to put in my rucksack, so reaching 2200m I decided to stop for a coffee only to be disappointed.
There were some tracks on the way up which I hopped into, it makes things easier, from a couple of skiers maybe yesterday from the state of the trail. I’m not sure where they went as there was no descent tracks at all. Obviously the untracked powder is a bonus!
Initially it was pretty cold with the first couple of hundred of metres in the shade but as I hit the sun and started to warm I was able to take my shell and gloves off although it was still cold in the shade when I started to climb through the woods.
The snow’s looking pretty good on the way up, the base isn’t too good but it’s light powder and it looks like I’m going to get a good descent in untracked snow.
Above left, looking over to Zinal which will open tomorrow ! And skiing down the the restaurant at Grimentz in powder.
It’s the first time I’ve skied since the spring so taking the first turns into powder on a pair of skinny touring skis was awkward at first, but after a few turns the I’m looser and the turns are tighter. Sadly it’s shaded at the bottom so it’s hard to capture the slope.
click on photograph for larger version
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