The weather was on our side this week. The first acclimatisation trip up to the Aiguille du Tour gave nice views of the summit. After that we had a glorious day at the Point Lachenal by the Aiguille du Midi, which provides great training ground for alpine climbing.
photo-blog Martina Palm 06 Jul 2008 No Comments
The start of the Mont Blanc climbing season this year was exceptionally snowy, cold and rainy. Despite that, the group led by Chamonix Experience guide Sebastien pretty much managed to stick to the programme. They walked up to the Albert 1er refuge in the mist and did a snowy and windy ascent of the Aiguille du Tour. (more…)
photo-blog Martina Palm 06 Jul 2008 No Comments
For years I have wanted to ski down Mont Blanc but it has not been that easy to time good weather, time off work, climbing partner, fitness and being acclimatised - a lot of factors that must be there. I sat in the Chamex office working Tuesday morning and looked at the weather forecast. A bad weather front was forecasted to come in on Thursday but Wednesday was looking perfect. I phoned up my friend Mel and we decided to meet by the Aiguille du Midi lift at 16.45 to go up to the Cosmiques refuge for the night to get an early start the next morning.
photo-blog Martina Palm 18 May 2008 1 Comment
The Haute Route is a legendary ski tour - departing Chamonix and traversing the Alps to finish off in Zermatt in the shadow of the Matterhorn. It is a very popular ski touring route, and last week we had a full group of six, led by French Guide Greg Sauget. It was an extremely international group, with Edson from Brazil, Sarah from Australia, Daniel from Israel, Tony from New Zealand, Hannes from Iceland and Arne from Norway. Despite very mixed weather, they made it all the way across to Zermatt and had some beautiful days of great touring and skiing.
photo-blog elizabeth 15 Apr 2008 No Comments
Brothers Alex and Fabian did an Introduction to Ski Touring week with their Chamonix Experience guide Dave Etherington. They spent four days ski touring and exploring different areas of the Chamonix valley to finish off with a ski tour of the Gran Paradiso in Italy. In the Val Savarenche there are no lift so you have to skin from the valley floor. They went up to the Chabod hut where they stayed the night prior to the ascent.
photo-blog elizabeth 15 Apr 2008 No Comments
New this summer is our Alpine Climbing Adventure and Via Ferrata week. No previous alpine climbing experience is necessary but you need to have an adventurous spirit. During this exciting week you will (more…)
news Martina Palm 10 Apr 2008 No Comments
With all this late snow we should have a great late touring season. We have a guided group skiing the Haute Route the 1st to the 7th of May. There is a slight change in the programme with a warm-up day skiing the Vallee Blanche and then going straight to the Trient refuge. Price is 1795€ including 3 hotel nights in Chamonix B&B, all refuges with dinner and breakfast, lifts and transport during the trip.
For more info contact us or see our Haute Route ski page.
news Martina Palm 08 Apr 2008 No Comments
Wow, what an end to the winter season! We are getting more and more snow and big flakes are falling from the sky as I write. We will have a few more good weeks of Vallee Blanche, Off-Piste skiing and Ski Touring. Call us to book a Chamonix Guide.
We can still run the Haute Route for any last minute bookings. Or why not a ski tour in the Bernese Oberland, a great place for late season ski touring (see our latest blog for photos). If you are feeling fit and up for a real challenge you can ski Mont Blanc normally as late as the end of May.
news Martina Palm 08 Apr 2008 No Comments
The very popular Haute Route is many people’s first experience of a multi-day ski tour. If you look further into ski touring in the Alps you quickly discover how many different ski tours there are to do. What you then discover if you actually do one of them is how quiet it is compared to the very busy Haute Route.
This group did the Haute Route last winter and wanted to try another multi-day ski tour this year. Our mountain guide Ric, came up with this 6 day itinerary starting from Les Diablerets in Switzerland. They loved it!
photo-blog Martina Palm 06 Apr 2008 No Comments
At the end of the week, the Ski Touring Course participants decided that they should probably stop playing in the lift-accessed powder and get down to some ski touring. Guide Sebastien chose the Rhemes-Notre-Dame valley in the Aosta region of Italy. Leaving Chamonix, they headed through the Mont Blanc Tunnel to Italy. After about a three hour drive, they parked the car, put their skins on and were immediately befriended by a big white furry dog, who then accompanied them the entire way to the refuge! What Italian hospitality…
photo-blog elizabeth 03 Apr 2008 No Comments
