SnowSlider - Blogging From the Snow by ise

Skiing yesterday I was amazed how good the snow was particulary off the side of the Lona area into the trees, deep light powder and as good as anything we’ve had this season really. Today was about the same, the cloud kept rolling in and out and there was the odd period where it was a bit awkward but the skiing was just excellent.


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David and Chris had planned to do the Bishorn today/tomorrow but the forecast for tomorrow is poor so David suggested the Val Rechy instead, by the time we’d got to the top of the Lona lift I’d persuaded him to try the Lona instead. My plan was to ski into the plateau near the Lac Lona and then climb out over a small col between the Diablon and Sassiniere before skiing down through the Alpage des Torrents to the Moriy Barrage. Incidentally, Chris Longbottom has just bought La Ferme here in Zinal, an old restaurant near the centre of the village and will be opening as the new owner in the summer.


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We got back from our Wild High Level Route on Friday afternoon (photo’s to follow) and it was pretty wild weather travelling from Sierre back to Zinal on the bus, the bus itself was just fine but a number of tourists had failed to make it up the valley and were blocking the road while they tried to fit chains.

So on Saturday we got up for the first lift hoping for a powder day, what we actually got was snow so deep it was actually hard to ski in places. But, it was a good day, clear skies for a time and although the skiing was a little difficult it was good. Sunday over at Grimentz was improved, the cold temperatures possibly drying out the snow a little and we got some great skiing around the area. Avalanche risk is running at 3 and on the high side so bigger off-piste excursions were not practical.

It was actually a nice day for photo’s and unusually I forget to take a camera, these are taken on the phone on my camera and they’re not so bad really. I met up with Neil and Claire in Zinal this morning and we skied a while over there before heading to Grimentz via dsome of the couloirs off the top of the Sorebois (pictures) which were pretty good. From there we also took another wide line off piste into the tree and hacked down an awkward gully before rejoining the main run.
Grimentz was pretty good as well, some of the little off-piste pitches skiing well and then a final descent from the Orxival taking line to bisect the Avoin piste above Grimentz, this skied well at the top and the traverse out while long was actually fairly skiable, a 10m section right near Grimentz needed us to take the skis off but otherwise the cover was good. In fact, we skied some fairly reasonable powder in places all day.