I think today was about the busiest I’ve ever seen the lift here, each time I looked out there seemed to be a queue. Fortunately I’d not intended to go skiing today so it wasn’t a big deal. Up the valley towards the glacier isn’t great conditions currently, there’s a risk of avalanches from the unsecured slopes either side and it’s not a great time to go that so we took a route I’ve used a few times down the valley. There’s a nice little route we use crossing the forest and tracking along the river for a way that’s always enjoyable.

That pile of stones is an old lime oven, apparently last used around 1880 there’s the remains of several ovens and the activity along the valley floor.

Looking up there (right) at the Garde de Bordon (3310m) or actually the small peak on the ridge leading to Garde de Bordon itself, as far as I know it doesn’t have a name. There’s a volume of snow to come down of the ridge though yet unless they decide to bomb it from a helicopter which they occasionally do.

Looking up the valley at Mont Durand (left) and the Besso (right).

I did some nordic skiing over here a few weeks and it was obvious that the snowshoeing would be pretty good so when I needed somewhere to go today this seemed an obvious idea. We set off using one of the winter paths but this meandered a bit too much so we took a direct route in the forest to get to the Bison Ranch. We’d planned to get some lunch here which was fine but the menu was a bit limited. soup or bison sausage only, fortunately both turned out to be great with some vin-chaud and home made bread.

It’s holiday time in mainstream locations but places like Nods are pretty much untouched by holiday traffic so we were the only people we saw on snowshoes all day with the exception of a couple who turned up at the restaurant at the same time.

I was over at Les Fourgs on Monday for some nordic skiing and thought we’d pop over today for a snowshoe tour in the same area. When I’d been skiing I’d seen a few signs for “Sapin Président” and wondered what it was so we went to take a look. Not surprisingly it’s a tree! Quite a big tree in fact and one that’s around 450 years old.

I’d no idea who Edgar Faure was but he’s a local politician who died in 1988 having occupied a number of high offices such as Prime Minister and President of France and several positions in the legislatures of thelocal departments.

Ste-Croix is in the canton of Vaud but in the Jura range mountains on the Swiss-French border, Ste-Croix is just a few km from the French border. Despite it being local to the valley house I’ve never been over there in the winter, in fact I’ve only really been to the Jura to enjoy the sport climbing on the crags there. This was a fairly random trip on snowshoes, I’d looked at the map and had a couple of ideas for routes but we were flexible.

The best idea seemed to be to just park somewhere and head out, I only really wanted to get an idea of the terrain in the area so I’d no particular objective in mind. In the end I decided to head for the top of Mont Cochet which is a pretty small peak near the town, there’s some ski lifts below there which weren’t running today. Snow was good though, just not really enough for them to piste I think but perfect for snow shoeing.

On the top of Mont Cochet there were a handful of people including a guy on skis with a couple of lads on snowboards they’d presumably carried up. Really cover wasn’t ideal for it particularly on the descent they’d picked as I think the wind had shifted a lot of the snow, it could have improved lower down though. What was funny what the skier set off seemingly determined to call out every rock he encountered, so he set off shouting caillou” every few seconds, you can only assume it was a long descent!

Apparently the abundance of rowan berries we seem to have this year is a good omen for a snowy and cold winter. So far it’s more in line with long range forecasts though, it’s not bad but we’ve seen temperatures ranging from -20′c to +4′c or higher.

The snow’s still pretty good although down here it’s below 2000m and it’s got a bit saturated by rain and melting, without the snowshoes it would be pretty heavy going.

More signs of spring with local flora beginning to establish itself after the snow receded.

After the first hour we switch to snowshoes and continue climbing in the the high Orxival valley before making a high traverse across variable snow to Grimentz and a welome drink in a bar then back on the bus to Zinal.

After being up in the snow it was very spring-like on our descent back to Saint Luc, some early flowering plants already taking advantage of the retreating snow line.

]]> http://snowslider.net/2009/04/11/col-de-vijiva/feed/ 0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ 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.