Andy Houseman: Spring time in Chamonix

I've just got back from a couple of weeks in Chamonix and the late season skiing has been amazing. Although I’d wanted to head out and get some climbing in I ended up skiing all the time with the only climbing action been a quick nip up the Swiss Route on Les Courtes on the last day.

So lots of days skiing of the Midi and up at the Grand Montets along with some big days out touring trying to get some miles back in the legs with amongst others a trip up the Aig d’Argentiere which gave a great ski down from the summit on spring snow and a quick sprint up the Col du Tour Noir (although snail pace compared to Killian Jornet and friends who arrived just after me – very inspiring to see how fast those guys move).

Josie and I made use of one of the short weather windows and headed through to Italy to the Gran Paradiso 4060m, the highest peak solely in Italy. We only had one good weather day so decided to go from the valley to summit in a big day, great effort from Josie considering she’d just spent the last two weeks at sea level in Norway! We stayed at the Victor Emanuele hut on the way down to ski out via the Tête du Grand Etret the next morning before the weather came in. As long as you leave relatively early this is a much better option for getting back to the valley rather than skiing straight down to the approach track from the hut in the late season. Back in Chamonix the next day we woke up to 20cm of fresh snow in town so more powder days – you got to love spring in the Alps.

To round off a great trip Charlie Boscoe (http://chamconditions.blogspot.co.uk) and I nipped up the Swiss route on the North Face of Les Courtes, a classic face in the Chamonix range I’d never got round to climbing. Although it’s not a very technical route it had a couple of good steeper pitches and was just so fun to be back climbing in the mountains again with amazing weather and some good banter from Charlie. It was obvious I was going to be really late for a final meal with friends in Chamonix that evening so we skipped the summit and traversed just right and high tailed it back to the valley as quick as Charlie’s little approach skis would allow! I’d taken my Black Diamond Verdicts up the route which at 102mm under foot aren't exactly a light weight mountaineering ski but made the ski down a lot more enjoyable in the saturated afternoon snow pack and where Charlie had been glad of his short approach skis on his back on the climb up they were giving him a proper run for his money on the decent, I'm sure he was still loving it though?! Really it is way too hot to be coming off the south sides in the late afternoon at the moment and we had a pretty spooky and slow decent trying to manage it safely in the roasting afternoon sun with wet snow slides everywhere.

It was quite surreal to be fighting my way through the London Underground the next day on the way up to Manchester for the first of the two Ellis Brigham Adventure Talks – definitely know where I feel most at home. The evenings in Manchester and London went really well with a great atmosphere and big turn out last night in Covent Garden, thanks to Ellis Brigham for putting on the events and to the other inspiring speakers who took part.

Next up is the Fellsman tomorrow – a 62 mile ultra trail round the Yorkshire Dales. Signing up to this back in December seemed like a really good idea at the time… forward to t-minus 1 day before the event and I've got no idea of why I signed up! I've managed a fraction of the running I’d hoped for over the last few months and the longest run I've done up to now is a mere 17 miles so my plan of trying to get a reasonable time is definitely out of the window and coupled with a sprained ankle last week whilst running in Chamonix think I’ll just be settling for completing it at a fast walk if atoll.

IF – and looking at the forecast its a very big if - the rain holds off it sounds like it should be a fun and social event and will hopefully give me a bit of incentive to have a proper go at a ultra trail one day. And if/when it does rain its just going to be dam right miserable!