Nice one grapedrink! Way to get er done! gnar gnar! :yourock::yourock:

Shame the stars did not align for the cosmiques, but you'll be back next winter, right? There's a couch in Cham' with your...

Hmm maybe it's time for a G3 day... what's the front side looking like over there? Can you make the traverse under cabane? Are the rocks all filled in?

The combe is nice over there but that front...

Evening y'all!

Wow this place brings back memories. How's everybody been? What's new in the last year or so?

Looks like the great photos and info just keeps flowing here... I'll have to try and...

Really feeling like winter here in Chamonix, with snow way down and not melting fast, due to lingering clouds...

Flashbacks of skiing, although hard to think about that with so much climbing left...

I think the season still has a few more sneaky powder days left. In any case there's enough base to get in some great tours. We did the Barre des Ecrins last weekend in sloppy spring snow that felt...

QUALITY. Way to go nhtele and others.

Follow up with some pics from today... did the Col du Cristaux. Snow was deep up high, a bit thick and crusty down low but still fantastic. The weather couldn't be beat.

Awesome.

Fantastic conditions the last two days in Chamonix, with an unexpected premature ending to the storm and blue skies though most of the day yesterday. The snow is light and knee to waist deep above...

The last couple of weeks has been completely off the hook. I've rarely skiied powder this deep, and certainly not as much of it. It's probably been the best extended period of skiing in my entire...

Anybody up for skiing tomorrow (Thursday)? I suddenly have a day free and am feeling the call of the road... Verbier? G3? Just a day trip since the weather looks to be coming in again. PM me.
...

Reports of 30cm+ fresh and light at Les Grands Montets today. It's been raining heavily in Chamonix for the last two days so I guess it will all be fresh again tomorrow.

Let it snow!

The first time I did the Vallee Blanche changed my approach to what sort of things I wanted to ski and was a big driver in my eventually permanent move to Chamonix. Unless you've done a lot of...

What he said. Thanks for posting.

Whoa pretty dead in here these days. Can we rename this thread to "No snow for the Euros"?

I finally finished my ice climbing mission for the upcoming ENSA exam - five day trips to Cogne in two...

Face shots in Flaine today. My legs are fried from skiing so much powder. Hope everybody else is getting out there, if not, go out tomorrow! (and post photos :-) )

Ripz, Al, what's the word on G3? Has everything on the front side filled in or was it all swept away by high winds yesterday? Is the traverse under the cables OK?

We were there last week to climb...

ENSA Couloir TR:
http://birtle.com/Blog/2008/FeelingtheLoveforBrevent.htm
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=110039

And teaser pic:...

...I'd heard a lot about this one and wasn't sure what to expect. Nobody had bothered to point it out to me, but once you see it, it's such an obvious and elegant line, and appears very gnarly. It's...

Up to our knees in light powder in Chamonix. Heavy down low and ridiculously high temperatures were already rendering south-facing slopes very unstable. And changing the powder into slop. Get it...

Geo, thanks for the recommendation. "A" wasn't bad at all... way more tracked out than your photos, but we found some good stuff all the same.

Next weekend?

And in the "why didn't I do this...

TR: Couloir des Poubelles - one off my lifelong tick list today...

Page/Photos: http://birtle.com/Blog/2008/TakingOuttheTrash.htm
Thread:...

I finally ticked off the Couloir des Poubelles at Les Grands Montets today. It needs a short rappel past a jammed block near the beginning. Other than that, the rocks and ice are completely covered...

And, better late than never, some photos from Courmeyer on Sunday (it was VERY nice over there):

Blahblahblh & higher res photos: http://birtle.com/Blog/2008/PowderBattlePlans.htm
...

Took some decent photos (or rather, my friend JC took some decent photos) on the Grand Envers today.

Page & Photos: http://birtle.com/Blog/2008/DemoDay.htm
Thread:...

...Back into town to take a long lunch break then up the Midi with JC to do the Grand Envers. Not the best conditions there either - what wasn't tracked out ranged from slightly wind affected to...

Photo out the home office window in Cham'. It's very hard to concentrate on work in these conditions!

Powder Alert!

It's dumping here in Chamonix town. 20cm from this evening and still falling. Tomorrow forecasted to be sunny.

Is it snowing in Switzerland? Italy? Trying to make a battle plan....

It would have been 800m of climbing through 75cm of powder, so no, I don't think that would have been faster. :smile:

Anyway at the glacier we assumed it was over just past. Just past, we assumed...

Foggy, did you airbrush out the electric lines in that picture? Or did you ski it before they put them in or something?

In either case there's about 2 meters more snow in that picture than there...

...is not really recommended. Actually the snow was perfect - we made the first two tracks down in bottomless, although somewhat wind-affected powder. Slight fear of wind slabs, but in general the...

Where are the cleavage shots? I'd like to see them too!

TR from the Glacier Rond today at birtle.com and teaser on TGR -
http://birtle.com/Blog/2008/TheGlaciarRondinJanuary.htm...

Looks like TGR has some competition (or needs to hire you). Amazing video!

Thanks for the props, Roo.

Surprise bluebird powder day in Chamonix with excellent conditions skiing off the Midi.

The forecast had clouds and rain so I was surprised to not see nothing but...

Thanks everyone for all the great reports and keep them coming!



Zermatt tree skiing is great too. How about G3? Is the coverage good for the front side stuff (summit to parking)? I'm in for...

And here's a list of ski resorts in the Jura, hence my confusion - http://www.jura-tourism.com/fiches.php?id=8&idChap=102&idSM=4&langue=2

I got the joke now. Thanks Roo and Franz for helping out....

Next weekend!

Light snow for the last two days over there.

Mat and about 10 others there.

Where's Jura and how was it there?

Courmeyer very very good today. 20-30cm light as can be, deeper in places. You still hit an icy base anywhere that got skied before the storm, but everybody left with powder smiles. :biggrin:

It...

Just dropped in to wish everybody a happy new year, having been away from TGR for so long! I got back on Dec 28th from two months in SE Asia.

Looking forward to skiing with y'all soon as I can...

Wow! surprised to see the web cams... we've got nothing on the ground in Cham'. Arctic temps though and I'm itching to get in my ski boots...

way different and cool...

Headed back to Zermatt this weekend to shred some GNAR... was glad to have left the avo gear at home though as the only gnar on offer required carving skis with sharp edges. :mad: But had a fun day...

What an amazing shot of Geo!

Nice chatting with you guys there, next time let's ski together.

With an opening day like that one, this season is just going to go OFF...

Wish I would have discovered this thread earlier... for now I posted a wrap-up for the summer for anybody interested - TR: (NSR) Chamonix Summer Climbing In Review Part Deux

Let it snow!!!

Couldn't agree more...

Here's what I've been up to these last few months, and why I've been pretty silent - TR: (NSR) Chamonix Summer Climbing In Review Part Deux

Now that the climbing's out of...

The Alps are now covered in about of meter of fresh at altitude. I clicked on my skis for the first time this weekend and enjoyed knee-waist deep blower pow at Saas Fee (see "Snow for the Euros"). A...

Sat Sept 28 --- Saas Fee, Switzerland --- Dusted off the skis and clicked in for the first run of the season! Jokes and laughs all around, with Matias, Pete, and Tim (Tim fresh off the plane from...

Dusting off the TGR bookmark... what did I miss since April?



Matias and I are 90% gonna be in Saas Fee Saturday, moving to Zermatt for a Saturday evening bar tour. Then if we're not too hung...

Wow how did I miss this thread?

Looks like I'm not the only one that hasn't been thinking SNOW!

Way to get out there everyone.

I clicked on TGR because I was thinking about snow, now I want to go out an climb more. Those are some awesome routes! And a few gnarly adventures. Way to get out there and thanks for posting.