A few shots around Zinal as I’ve not posted many for ages, in part because I’ve been doing some other things elsewhere but also because I’ve not taken any. I actually left without my camera this morning but turned round to get it as an afterthought.

We were noticing it getting busier during the day, not sure if there’s a particular reason for that or it’s a sign that people are arriving for the holidays and grabbling a few extra hours on the slopes.

There’s always a series of slides along that ridge although I  think these were triggered by the piste security guys, it’s an obviously unsafe slope although the angle may not be too clear from the photo’. It’s likely it’ll snow again and we’ll see people skiing it regardless though, I’ve actually watched one person trigger a slide on it and they were lucky enough to ski out. His mates were stood underneath and we’re lucky not be hit by the debris.

And finally, looking like a long way down to Zinal. This can be a gem after fresh snow but the moguls have got to a size where the snow can’t fill them in, nevertheless it was about the best I’ve skied it this season.

It was a really nice winter morning in Zinal, cold, clear and just below freezing in the village. Undaunted, we got in the car and drove until we found some poor weather down the valley at the Aletsch ski area using the lifts into the village of Bettmeralp. The Aletsch glacier is the largest in Europe at 23km in length and 120 square km, the glacier itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The skiing is pretty good, it’s actually quite a large area with a pretty extensive lift system with a fair amount open today.

Obviously it’s pretty deserted right now and between gaps in the clouds we didn’t really see anyone much else around.

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This is a local or Swiss thing, the route over the Lötschenlücke is reckoned to be a sort of Swiss vallee blanche which might be about right as a Swiss version would probably involve a couple of hours climbing and the use of public transport. The Lötschenlücke itself is a high pass between the Bernese Alps, connecting the Lötschental valley to the Aletsch Glacier in the canton of Valais.

I decide to leave my car in Spiez and take the 0556 train to Interlaken before switching to the Jungfrau trains changing at Lauterbrunnen and Kleine Scheidegg, this makes sense as on the return I can hop off the train at Spiez and be home earlier. This being Switzerland of course there’s a fair few ski tourers boarding the train already.

It’s a big glacier and the run down to Konkordiaplatz can be pretty good but today it’s a bit tricky, we encounter two problems, first, the snow is boilerplate, about 10cm of ice with softer, old snow underneath and it’s hard to ski, the second problem is more serious though, the visibility is so poor that some micro-navigation is needed to avoid the two large crevasses near the top of the glacier, so for a short section we’re all in a line picking our way through.

Having cleared the worse of the dangers the sun comes out and we can see Konkordiaplatz and let skis run easily down to it. Konkordiaplatz is a remarkable place, it’s the junction of four glaciers, the Aletschfirn, the Jungfraufirn, the Ewigschneefäld and the Grüneggfirn, it’s also the start of the Aletsch glaicer and gives it’s name to the “Konkordiaplatz Charter” an agreement between the local governments to protect the unique environment of the Jungfrau-Aletsch UNESCO World Heritage site. The Aletsch Glacier is the largest in the alps in fact.

Now the climbing starts, we all stop to fix climbing skins, shed layers, top up sun cream and take a drink.

We climb for a couple of hours breaking the climb at one point to have a picnic lunch which is pleasant with a little sunshine breaking through and great views of the mountains.

Arriving at the Lötschenlücke it’s pretty cold as the wind whips up over the pass so it’s on with extra layers and off with the skins before starting the descent. The descent here is marginally better than the other side, it’s possible to turn without jump-turning but the snow gets progressively heavier as we’re descending.

You can see (above) how the snow, acting like a fluid, has flowed over the landscape leaving patterns like the sea does on a beach.

The debris of older slides (above). We also pass the new Anenhütte which has opened up since I was last here, back in March 2007 the old hut was destroyed by an avalanche, I’ve not stayed at the new one but the photo’s look fantastic.

By my reckoning we’re able to ski about 4km further than my last time on this route, we skied to Faflenalp at 1800 or so before and called a taxi to get to Blatten, this time the road is snow covered and closed so we ski down it to Blatten, have a beer, take the bus to Goppensten (predicatably full of tourers) and hop on the train through the Lotschberg to Spiez.

Not a bad day out, something around 27 km of skiing, approx. 700m of climbing and 2500m of descent.

The skiing in the Réchy is great as usual and we ski a short way down before climbing out for the cabane.

We managed to ride on of the first lifts and we were at the top of the lift system around 0900 before the top drag lifts were running so we started to make the climb straight out of the cable car, a rising traverse under the north side of the Allalinhorn itself.

This is a pretty reasonable climb and fairly pleasant as the sun came round onto the slope a little. After a while we’re into a slightly more awkward area of the glacier and rope up as a precaution for the crevasses.

Up on the Feejoch ridge the snow’s a bit firmer and we switch to crampons for a short distance before returning to skis. For some reason at this point one of my bindings starts to play up and I step out of the ski quite a few times which is a real pain. These are a pair of Dynafits and it’s been fine lower down and fine when I’ve used them before for climbs at home so I’m not entirely sure what the problem is today, my boots are extremely tired and I suspect the insert is too battered now but I think it’s related to the way I twist my left leg around, this broke the boot last year and got repaired by Garmont but I’m having some problems again now.

Switching back to crampons again for the short summit ridge we arrive to blue skies and pose for a few photo’s and admire the views over to Zermatt and the Matterhorn before returning to where we’ve left the skis and starting a 2000m descent to Saas Fee.

]]> http://snowslider.net/2009/04/04/saas-fee-allalinhorm-4027m/feed/ 0 http://snowslider.net/2009/04/01/abs-airbag-takes-extended-trip/ http://snowslider.net/2009/04/01/abs-airbag-takes-extended-trip/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:55:17 +0000 ise http://snowslider.net/?p=613 For anyone that doesn’t know already, an ABS bag for skiing has airbags on the side inflated from a small cylinder in the rucksack and fired using a small pyrotechnic in a trigger on the rucksack. I’ve had one for a few years and it’s something I don’t use a lot but from time to time skiing alone in certain conditions it seems a good thing to carry.

Monday 10th March 2009

So it was back on the 10th March that I was skiing with the rucksack over in Grimentz on a stormy day with a lot of fresh snow. When I’d finished for the day I was sat at the bus stop and tried to remove the trigger from the sack and could tell immediately it was a little stuck, I didn’t want to pull it sharply off as that would inflate the airbags so I removed the gas cylinder to stop that happening. But, I still managed to fire the trigger which is a nuisance as you can only fire them once before needing them recharged. Still, I live in a ski station in the Valais, how hard could it be to get a new trigger?

First, I discover according to the manufacturer there’s basically no local dealer I can go to. I’d bought the bag in Neuchâtel so it was out of the question that I go there. At this point I’m still thinking, “how hard could it be to get a new trigger”?

The best route seems to be to send an email to the manufacturer, afterall, it’s after working hours but someone will see it first thing in the morning and get back to me, I’ll pick the mail up when I’m out skiing on my iPhone and we’ll sort out how to get the trigger fixed.

Friday 13th March 2009

Wrong! Three days later I get a response from the manufacturer telling me the bag needs checking and the importer needs to get it back. This is bit irritating, it shouldn’t take three days to reply to a customer support request for some safety gear and I only want a new trigger, really after three days I ought to have that by now.

So, I contact the importer by email copied to the manufacturer and the first reply I get is from the manufacturer telling me the importer’s not available until the next week. Obviously, this isn’t really good enough and I tell the manufacturer this, to which I get this bizzare response:

We understand that you need your pack but please keep in mind that it was you who pulled the trigger without cartridge inside.

Funnily enough, I do recall it was me that pulled the trigger, I was there at the time.

Then it seems there’s a stroke of luck, the importer is available and sends me a mail apologising for not helping me faster saying the service from the manufacturer is sometimes a problem. Even better, he says if I send them the bag they’ll send it back the same day, or if there’s a problem send me another to use. That sounds great, it’s just the sort of service I expect.

Monday 16th March 2009 - Thursday 19th March 2009

So, first thing Monday morning I go to the post office and send the bag by priority post to them, they’ll have it by Tuesday so I think there’s no reason I’ll not get it back by Wednesday or Thursday. But, it gets to Thursday (19 March) and there’s no contact from them, so I email them again asking if they’d actually received it. This doesn’t get any response at all.

Tuesday 24th March 2009 – Thursday 26th March 2009

On Tuesday 24th March, by now two weeks since I’d tried to get this sorted out, I emailed them again and got a response on Wednesday 25th. There was no explanation about why they’d not contacted me earlier or where this promise to send it in 24 hours had disappeared to simply a demand for my postal address to give to DHL as they won’t deliver to a “postbox”, in fact I’d not asked them to, I’d given them my “PickPost” address. Pickpost is a thing we have here in Switzerland that allows you to get things delivered to any main post office and get a text or email telling you they’re available for pick up.

Why do I use “pickpost”? It’s quick and easy and they keep things for a couple of weeks, it’s really handy as couriers struggle to find our main house, the chalet has no post box and it’s much easier than waiting for the delivery people to arrive. This is a case in point, I know I’m certainly not going to be around for a couple of days so a courier will just end returning the rucksack to the sender. I explain all this to the importer and by Thursday 26th I’ve a response from them saying it’s not a problem, they can still send via the post service but they need an address and won’t send it to a postbox. Assuming this is some of billing address I send them my home address.

Of course then I realise they’re proposing to mail it my main address which is exactly what I don’t want to happen so I ring them and vent some of my irritation with them. It’s the afternoon of Thursday 26th March by now, I’d fired the trigger on the 10th of March, the importer had promised 24 hour return from the 16th but I’m beginning to give up hope of seeing my rucksack again.

But, apparently it’s all OK now, they’re going to send it by post to the address I’d given them originally, there’s no explanation given about why they’d not bothered to contact me between the 16th and 24th of March but at least the rucksack is on the way back.

Wednesday 1st April 2009

Only it’s now Wednesday 1st of April and I still don’t have my rucksack. I emailed them yesterday and asked where it was. I got this helpful response :

The Swisspost informed me, that the Postfach address you sent me is not authorised to take packets. Anyway, they are so kind to keep the packet till you pick it up. It is really a nightmare and don’t tell me that this is our mistake. Please call the Post where your Postfach is

This of course is nonsense, I’ve given my Pickpost address , the Pickpost service exists only to receive parcels but it doesn’t explain why Pickpost haven’t contacted me so I ask the importer what address it’s been sent to and, of course, the answer comes back with the wrong address. It’s been sent to a local Post Office but without my Pickpost account details so they’ve no idea what to do with it.

I think this is some of the most appalling customer service I’ve ever experienced. This is safety equipment and it’s not cheap to buy, if you need support then you expect it to be quick and efficient, there’s really no way that I should have been left for three weeks without my rucksack or had to chase the importer to even get a response at all. The importer acts like they’re doing me a favour and tells me normally they only deal with shops, that’s absolutely super but it was the manufacturer who told me to contact the importer so they’re not doing me any special favour at all. I wouldn’t need to deal with the importer or manufacturer at all if they’d a dealer and service network of any size, I’d contacted the nearest dealer, who was miles away, and they’d not bothered to respond.

My very strongest advice is anyone is think of getting an ABS rucksack is not to bother, it’s vital that there’s a good support network for this type of gear and my experience is that the support isn’t up to an acceptable standard, at least here in Switzerland. There’s a new Swiss product called SnowPulse which cannot fail to be better, all they need to do is actually have some dealers in sensible places like ski stations and they’ll be a lot better.

Do I have the sack even now (Wednesday April 1st) ? No, I don’t. I’m just going to the post office to see if they can find it. Of course, by this time I could have hopped backwards to and from the original dealer in Neuchâtel who was Défi Montagne who are fantastically helpful and would have sorted this out quickly.

Above left, a view into the valley we skied yesterday under the Orxival.  And right, a view into the valley from today.

By the time we were descending to the Illsee the light was a bit poor and the snow a bit marginal but it was a good pitch and a pleasant climb out again. All the nicer as I’d not toured on my Kilowatts before and not tried the old skins on them, happily the old skins fit a treat and I don’t need to buy any more.