SnowSlider – Blogging From the mountains by ise

It’s not snowed for a while now and it’s been peak holiday time so all the off-piste is totally tracked out, but it’s been cold and if you’re prepared to put some climbing in then there’s still some great snow to be found. I rode the lifts to the Bella Tolla and then climbed the south east side of the Bella Tolla, I started on skins but the hard icy snow soon needed ski crampons and even then I was struggling to make progress so I racked the skis and scrambled up to the ridge at the top. From there I’m rewarded with a view into the valley, it’s not untracked but it’s certainly not tracked out and the snow’s obviously pretty good.

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It’s a busy time in most ski stations, school holidays around Europe and in Switzerland always draw the crowds in of course. The good news is that the snow is still quite good in places even though it’s been some time since the last fall, but the better news is that the snow pack is very stable and we’re running at a risk of 1 on the standard scale which is really as low as it gets. That means it’s just a perfect time to get out and do some ski touring and I picked a route I’ve not done before over at Saint-Luc. The route basically takes the valley behind the Hotel Weisshorn up to a high point called Forcletta at 2874m so it’s around a 700m climb which is pretty easy.

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