Mont Rogneux a classic ski touring peak in the Val de Bagnes

Stunning views of the Petit Combin

At 3084m high, Mont Rogneux sits proudly along the ridge linking Six Blanc at the top of Bruson to the Grand Combin, a 4000er.  It is one of the classic ski touring peaks in the area and can be done in one or two days and from a variety of start / end points.  This makes it skiable for most of the winter season.  If you would like to take two days you can spend the night at the Cabane Brunet.

Views towards Verbier and beyond from the summit of Mont Rogneux

I chose to ski the peak from Loutier via the Cabane Brunet.  This seems to be the most popular way up the peak, although it is also skied from the top of the Bruson ski lifts via the Tete de la Payane, and from the Val D'Entremont to the west.

The Barmasse parking above Loutier and the road to the Cabane Brunet from Switzerland Mobility

The Barmasse parking lot at 1302m sits on the main road to Fionnay just beyond Loutier, it is large enough to accommodate numerous vehicles, and needs to be as the walk to the Cabane Brunet is a popular outing in its own right.

A multitude of ski touring possibilities within a short walk from the Cabane Brunet

From the parking there is a road heading west towards Le Tongne which is normally pisted by the hut, and you can follow this the entire way.  It is about 800m vertical from here to the Cabane Brunet and is well signposted.  If you want a slightly steeper and quicker variant, after around 1km of skinning there is a summer track that heads south up the hill (and is signposted for ascending only).  The track has a pleasant gradient and makes for a more interesting route to the mountain hut, unless you want to chat with friends, in which case the road would work best.

Smiling skimo selfie

Most people will take around 1.5 - 3 hours to reach Brunet where the hut guardian will happily serve you a hearty lunch, coffee, or on a Wednesday evening, cheese fondue.  And for a lot of folk, this will be the high point of their day out, returning via the fields or the road depending on snow conditions.

Cabane Brunet

However, if you're hungry for another 1000m of ski touring and the possibility of peaks and untouched snow, Mont Rogneux is most peoples next target.

Mont Rogneux from the Cabane Brunet from Switzerland Mobility

From the hut head SW across gentle slopes for a few km, the route is pleasantly angled with hardly any steep slopes around or above you until the final summit push itself.  Eventually you will end up on the NE ridge which starts pleasantly and then continues more steeply.  If snow conditions are good you will be able to skin the entire way to the summit, but you might need ski crampons and given the dots on the map at times you may need to walk to the top with crampons and an ice axe.

The summit of Mont Rogneux looking very snowy

Once on the summit there are a multitude of options in descent from the steep and committing to the gentle.  You can also ski on nearly any aspect and still return to the Cabane Brunet.  This means that you can generally find some good and safe snow to ski, grab a coffee on your way down and follow the road to the bottom if conditions aren't great lower down. 

Exploring the Alps, it's always good to see a sign post that confirms your navigation!

This route took five hours, four to go up and one to return.  And I can see why it's so popular.  I'll definitely be back.

Powder turns from summit to the Cabane Brunet

Verbier Night Race - the local 'skimo' race

Skimo, or Ski Mountaineering is a growing sport with more growth in recent years than alpine skiing.  Year on year this is noticeable in the mountains around Verbier as more people take to walking up the pistes, it is featured more frequently in 'Verbier Life' and people look to escape the hustle and bustle of the ski resort; often in search of the very reason some come on holiday here, for the alpine air, some good skiing, to relax and stay fit and healthy.  Like most sports there is also a competitive side...

ISMF individual world cup skimo race start (ISMF image)

Many resorts across the Alps (and increasingly in North America) hold skimo competitions annually.  These normally fall into a category, most local races being Vertical / Individual, and having an elite/popular entry:

Vertical - A race involved uphill only often with 1000m ascent, normally 30mins to two hours

Individual - Uphill and downhill, usually including a bootpack too, often a several hours long

Sprint - a very quick 'sprinting' race, think minutes not hours

Team - In teams of two or three, sometimes over multiple days

Onto the local race then...

Verbier night race flyer

Normally held during the first two weeks of December, the Verbier Night Race/Trophee Verbier Sport Plus race is a vertical night race from Carrefour to Attelas with 962m of ascent over 4.24km, and one of the first races in the calendar.  I first entered the race during my first ski season here six years ago (when there was only the elite category!) and it has changed a great deal since.

Six years ago only a handful of amateur competitors were in skimo suits with super lightweight gear, now, despite owning lighter boots and Dynafit bindings, a significant proportion of the field were on racing skis, boots and in specific skimo 'onesies'... and that's in the popular race!

Racers on their way to Attelas (screenshot from Verbier WebTV)

Not one to be discouraged, at 6pm on the 12th December I found myself on the startline warming up in my normal ski touring softshell outfit!  At 6:25pm over 150 competitors were in the starting box rearing to go.  The start gun went at 6:30pm and we all raced up the first steep hill (a black run!) towards Attelas.

Ski poles are flying everywhere and you power straight up the hill trying to get in a good place to avoid having to overtake others later on.  This spurt of speed combined with the effort of avoiding everyone else can easily send your heart into overdrive!  I was definitely at the top end of my sustainable pace but soon broke into a good rhythm.  The first 30 minutes passed quickly and I was on course to make the race in 75 minutes.  At the half way mark I struggled to keep plugging away at the same pace and around ten people passed me.  My mind wandered from thinking of nothing to trying to justify my slowness, blaming it on my equipment weight, lack of acclimitisation, and the fact that I had just finished seven days of ski school training and had very tired legs!  This, of course, was utter nonsense, I had been in the alps for ten days, and I could have gone faster if I was fitter (I was pretty tired though)!  It was a beautiful night and looking back down the course you could see a constant stream of headtorches looking like reflections of the numerous stars in the sky.  The next 20 minutes took forever, despite the nicer terrain.

Eventually I caught myself and managed to find enough reserve to keep going, the easier slope angles allowed me to speed up a bit, increasing the gap behind me so I could no longer hear the scrap of skins of other competitors closing in on me.  At 1hr 20mins 33secs it was over, I was greeted by a cup of marche tea, a huge plate of spaghetti and my bag full of warm clothes that was carried to the top in the piste basher for me.

I don't think I can warrant a skimo suit (yet!) but maybe some specific race trousers so my nice windstopper ones don't get holes in them from the safety pins!

It was great fun and interesting to see where my fitness was at the beginning of the ski season and I was pleased to come 59th out of 131 popular entries, and around 7th lady.

https://www.mso-chrono.ch/results/553-verbier-night-race/4053/categories#populaire-dames-et-hommes

To finish my post I thought I would just write a comparison of what I competed in against what the majority of racers used followed by some top tips:

My skimo race / normal skimo setup

My Setup (I like to think it is a reasonably light but functional normal alpine touring setup!0

Skis: Dynafit Mustagh ata superlights - 1255g per ski

Bindings: Dynafit TLT Verticals - 500g per binding plus brakes

Skins: G3 Alpinist skins - 250g per skin

Boots: Dynafit TLT 6 CLs - 1020g per boot

Clothing: thin merino thermal, windproof top with insulation on the core, softshell trousers, headband, thin gloves, 300ml of water in a compressible bottle in my pocket! no rucksack needed

Equipment weight total: 6050g

Amateur racing setup (this is for an good weight:price ratio, not the lightest available!)

Skis: most lightweight ones are around 700g per ski

Bindings: now around 200g per binding

Skins: around 150g per skin

Boots: 800g per boot

Clothing: skimo racing suit 

Equipment weight total: 3700g

I think this is one the only Skimo manual in English at the moment, available on Skintrack's website

Top tips if you fancy doing a race for fun

• Although more people are buying fancy gear, plenty of people race on what they have already own including Marker Bindings and 'Fat' Skis!
• Pace yourself
• Avoid the ski poles hitting you in the face at the start by placing yourself strategically at the back away from the keener competitors!
• Enjoy it
• Book your place early, normally you get a small discount and it means you have to race!
• Pack an entire change of clothes for your drop bag including thermals and underwear or you can find yourself getting too cold at the end of the race
• Stretch before eating at the end of the race or you might not be able to stand up from the table!
• Get a good headtorch for nightraces so you can enjoy the ski back down.

Best powder days of the Verbier ski season so far

Since the recent snowfall hit the alps in the last month you can't seem to open Facebook or emails without seeing endless stories of avalanches or people shredding powder.  Each hour more photos of people enjoying themselves in the snow are uploaded and each hour my (and others I'm sure) FOMO - fear of missing out, increases.  The thing is though, within easy reach of the lifts I have only a few more ski lines that I really want to do, that will challenge me, and will still be there in many more years, waiting for the right avalanche and snow conditions.  At the moment, my primary focus is on trying not to get avalanched, and second to this is having fun.  Yes, you can have fun skiing powder at less than 30degrees!

Off piste at Savoleyres

In recent weeks there have been several well published deaths across the Alps, including in Verbier.  What has been less noticed are the amount of avalanches set off resulting in more minor injuries (most locally are published here http://www.policevalais.ch/communiques-pour-les-medias/nendaz-avalanche-hors-piste-un-blesse/ ).

Morning wintery views down the La Tzoumaz side

This, combined with some recent avalanche training last week, has made me rightly very cautious, and what our guide, Simon Hale said rings true 'the more you know about snow, the more you realise you don't know'.

Blue skies and mellow angled fresh tracks

So what did I get up to today on one of the best powder days of the ski season?  I headed to Savoleyres where the majority of the terrain is more mellow, and the few sections that aren't are well skied, very short and have good run outs.  The first few hours were spent skiing freshies on the pistes, followed by those on either side of the pistes, and lower down in the trees.  Until 10am there was still plently of powder to ski on the piste alone.  Following this was the entire Verbier side of untracked powder.  Avoiding the steeper rollovers (which commonly slide) you could ski almost directly back to the bottom lift station.  There is still the odd running stream around to keep you focused, and the occasional hidden rock and tree roots (double eject there!), but until mid afternoon it was soft and powdery the whole way.

Wind affected snow at Savoleyres, just one of many factors contributing to the avalanche hazard at the moment

And so, you can have a great day of safe skiing, despite the fact I would have loved to hit some other steeper parts, I did enjoy myself, and it's only the start of February.

Sun and snow at Les Ruinettes on Sunday

More statistics in addition to some useful snow information are available here http://www.slf.ch/praevention/lawinenunfaelle/index_EN

Making the best of Verbier ski conditions mid December 2014

Ski conditions in Verbier have been very mixed over the last two weeks.  Mont Fort opened last weekend, as did the La Chaux 'slow' chairlift and we've had everything from sun to rain and snow.

Lots of promising wintery clouds, but not much fresh snow

The mornings are normally quite good on the pistes, thanks to the incredible snow making that is going on each evening.  As we are one of the few resorts open it is quite busy with people coming from France and other resorts in Switzerland to ski here.

La Chaux earlier this week - it looks a tiny bit snowier now

By the time the afternoon arrives rocks start appearing across the slopes and most people seem to start heading down at 3pm ish.

Super pistes after some fresh snow in Verbier

So, what can you do to get the most out of the conditions?

Wake up for the first lift up the mountain, ski the best snow in the quietest conditions.

As 10am arrives head over to Siviez where two amazingly quiet slopes are open and in very good condition. It does take an extra 15mins to get there, but it's worth it.

The blue run at Siviez

The very man made red run at Siviez

Then, when you're fed up hit Chamonix for some gear shopping, and yes... cheaper food and coffee!

Gear shopping and being a tourist in Chamonix

Yesterday we had around 15cm of fresh snow and it was looking promising until today it began raining up to 2700m on the mountain.

Verbier ski conditions, first week of December 2014

The glimmer of surface hoar crystals in the sun

The temperatures in Verbier have finally dropped enough to start making copious amounts of artificial snow again, although only really above Ruinettes.  Pistes are in pretty good condition still, although they are a bit busier, and finally the end of the 'M25' to Ruinettes has softened up a little with the 'new snow'.

Busier pistes and artificial snow making, Verbier in full swing!

In town we are all excitedly awaiting the first storms to arrive, hopefully this weekend and early next week.

Surface hoar just off the pistes

However, with the cold temperatures we spotted a huge layer of surface hoar, about 2 inches deep around by Lac de Vaux, so when the new snow falls this will not be a good layer for avalanches.  I can only hope it will disappear!

Super cloud inversions in Verbier earlier this week

In the meantime, the skiing has been well interspersed with walks around the mountains.

Walking in the mountains above Verbier wishing for snow

The ticket barrier at Les Esserts - not sure how this is going to work!

First week of skiing Verbier winter 14/15

Last weekend we arrived in Verbier just in time to see the last light on the mountains, and it did not look good.  A week ago there was 60cm on snow on the mountain report and today there is a mere 35cm.  Bare all the way up to Savoleyres and Ruinettes, in addition to being too hot to make artificial snow; it looked more like spring than early December.

Ski conditions at Savoleyres

What could there possibly be to get psyched for?!

The View from the Verbier Funispace to Attelas

Yesterday we headed up the mountain for a look at the pistes and...

Remembering how to ski on pretty good pistes

1. The pistes were in surprisingly good nick
2. You can ski Lac de Vaux, La Chaux, and from Attelas to Ruinettes and the James Blunt chairlift
3. It is super quiet
4. There aren't that many rocks on the piste - a few but I've seen way more in Spring!
5. Trail running conditions are still in
6. If you have a 4x4 you can drive to Les Ruinettes!!!
7. The ski pass is cheaper this week
8. A storm is due at the end of this week
9. If you are lacking psyche hang out in a telecabine full of gap year students, they are very psyched!
10. No one is stressed as the clients have yet to arrive

However there is absolutely no off piste and probably won't be any for a long time, so pack your trainers and piste skis.

Atmostpheric views towards Chamonix - is that weather on the way?

August alpine trekking in the Samoens area of the French Alps

In preparation for my IML summer assessment (International Mountain Leader's Award / Accompagnateur's qualification) I headed out to the Alps for some flower spotting, acclimatisation and a bit of a holiday.

Amazing alpine trekking near Chamonix

With my Samoens IGN 1:25 000 map in hand my first decision was what routes would be most interesting, allow me to cover lots of ground and explore as much of the assessment area as possible.  Not only is it useful to have some idea of where things are on the ground in the assessment region e.g. huts, cols; but it means you can get to grips with the different paths, flowers that are out, and get your eye adjusted to the local maps.

I was lucky enough to see lots of Chamois (as above) and Ibex on my weeks in the Alps this year.

20/08/14
Tete de Bostan Circuit, from Le Pied de Cret, past the Bostan refuge, to the col de Bostan, over the Tete des Verdets, Tete de Bostan and down the ridge to the Golese hut and back. 18km, 1560m ascent.

Views from the way up to the Tete de Bostan

21/08/14
Folly, Lac de Vogealle circuit.  From Le Cret, up the front face to the Folly Refuge - more exciting as it was damp. 20km, 2070m ascent.

More beautiful alpine paths above Samoens

That faint line across the shale is the path!

22/08/14
An easier rest day around the tourist signed route in the Sixt-Fer-a-Cheval valley.  This was a great day in the sun, learning about the nature reserve, the geology and I managed to pick up a local English guidebook of walks in the area.  9km, 170m ascent.

The famous Cirque de Fer a Cheval near Sixt

23/08/14
A long day exploring the Sales, Anternes area of the map.  From Le Lignon, to Lac d'Anterne, over the back and down to Moede Anterne hut, down les Argentieres to Chalets de Souay, over the Passage De Derrochoir - very exciting scrambling, and back via the Sales refuge.  22km, 1700m ascent.

This Chamois hopped off the path right in front of me on the way down from the Sales hut

Exciting 200m vertical stretch of fixed equipment on the Passage de Derochoir.

24/08/14
Another longish day, but with duller overall scenery around the Lac de Gers and Pelouse plateau above Flaine from the Sixt valley. 20km, 1630m ascent.

Looking across alpine meadows to the Lac des Gers

The view towards Chamonix between clouds from above Flaine

25/08/14
The best day so far, a super long trail running circuit from our new book around the Varan and Plates refuges.  From Bay (above Passy / Sallanches), up to the Aiguille de Varan - an airy little scramble, and down across the crazy limestone pavement to the Plates refuge.  Down the exhilarating descent and back across to the van.  18km, 1500m ascent.

The ascent is up the valley nearer the bottom right of the picture, across the limestone pavement on center left and down between the crag top center left.

The amazing descent path

26/08/14
A very rainy day off in Chamonix.  In the run up to the UTMB there were a few running pop up stores open, but due to the rain I only stopped at a few of the open ones.

Selfie!

27/08/14
Walking in Verbier for the first time since Spring. 32km, 1500m ascent.  From la Chaux, around the sentier de Chamois, over the cols to the base of the Rosablanche, down to Tortin, up col de Chassoure and back.

View from just above La Chaux, Verbier.

Ibex on the sentier des Chamois walking route

28/08/14
An admin and rest day in Verbier, final bits of research to do and sleep in preparation for the exam in a few days.

A Kerner's Lousewort

29/08/14
Trail running on a different route from the same book, from the Col de Forclaz, past the Trient glacier over the Fenetre d'Arpette and around via Champex.  Incredible but busier.  21km, 1800m ascent.

Green mountains above the Trient village

The path that takes you up to the Fenetre D'Arpette

30/08/14
Chilled day finishing off revision and catching up with mates and last week's candidates.

Views typical of the alpine trekking in the Samoens area

31/08/14
Last minute navigation and ropework practice around the Folly hut area before the new week starts tomorrow. 10km, 800m ascent.

1-4/09/2014
The IML summer assessment - read next blog post for more.

Trient Glacier

Totals:
Days: 12 days, 10 of which were out on the hill, 8 of which were long hill days
KMs: 170km
Ascent: 12 730m ascent
Flowers spotted: lost count, over 100 - most exciting were the Mount Cenis Bellflower and Kerner's Lousewort (how sad am I!!!)
Animals seen: Ibex, Chamois, Marmot, Squirrel, people!
Birds seen: lots, I still don't know what they all are!

Best route:
Has got to be the Varan Plates day - long, but incredible, technical, quiet and amazing. 

Dark clouds in the distance bring and end to the sun - this has been one of the worst alpine summers in years.

Route to go back there for:
I never managed to get to do the Mt. Buet circuit.  Having been there in winter, I would love to do a summer hit, next year...