SnowSlider – Blogging From the mountains by ise

Apart from some rock climbing on Saturday this is the first time Julie and I have managed to get out together since back in June and probably only about the third time this summer, it’s the first time I’ve been out for myself since July as well. But, it’s a great time, the autumn colours are coming out and the mountain’s empty, the cows have been moved down and a lot of the migratory birds are leaving and tourists are long gone.

There’s a nice path up from the nearby village of Chandolin, it rises about 500m but the angle’s perfect and we’re comfortably up at the Tsape restaurant in an hour for a local specialty, an “Assiette Valaisanne” which is a selection of dried and smoked local meats with local cheese.

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After skiing to the barrage near Zinal yesterday today we skied to the Illsee barrage near Saint-Luc. I’ve wanted to ski this for a while, I’ve skied the north face of the Bella Tolla before but not descended so far or skied into the Illsee. It’s a good line, a descent, a climb, another descent and another climb before finishing above Chandolin.


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