Incredible Powder skiing near the Dix Hut.
Every year since 2003 NCMG has guided ski trips to the European Alps. We love skiing the huge, glaciated mountains, traveling from hut to hut and country to country, with just a small daypack. The prime ski mountaineering season in the Alps also works perfectly with our busy ski guiding schedules. When they start plowing the North Cascades Highway in early spring and the helicopter leaves for the season, we are temporarily cut off from the ski terrain around Washington Pass. With the road plowed down to pavement but not open yet, our snowmobiles get put away for the summer and we head to the Alps.
This year’s Haute Route is definitely one to remember. It has the dubious distinction of being the stormiest Haute Route we can remember. Storms were measured in meters instead of centimeters, people were getting trapped in huts for days and even some of the ski areas were having trouble running their lifts.
Bernard making the most out of the conditions - skiing in Verbier.
Spoiler alert: We did end up skiing into Zermatt on a beautiful powder day but not without a few major detours along the way. Fortunately we did get some key breaks in the weather and we definitely capitalized on those breaks, skiing some amazing lines in perfect snow. I won't bore you with the day to day description, but just give you some of the highlights.
One of the best days had to be our day from the town of Arolla to the Dix Hut. We woke up to blue bird skies and a ton of cold, fresh snow.
Good Morning!
You could definitely feel the excitement in the breakfast room that morning. It had been nearly a week of stormy weather and people were excited to finally see the mountains. Our plan for the day was to go from the town of Arolla to the Dix Hut. This involved riding Poma lifts up the ski area and heading over the Col du Pas de Chèvre, but before we started skiing uphill it only made sense to get some turns in first.
Anybody want to go powder skiing?
Looks like EJ is having some fun.
Okay, I'm going to have to get on my soapbox and mention something here. No, it's not about my group crossing my track when there was plenty of room. I already told them they needed to get their own. It's about group size in the mountains.
During this trip we happened to be on the same schedule as another guided party from the States. They had 20 people in their group. They would tell you it was two groups of 10 but it was hard to tell the difference. At NCMG we believe traveling in a small group is a much better way to move through the mountains. Even one group of 10 is an unwieldy size and cuts into the enjoyment of traveling in the mountains. With that many people you are bound to have some major splits in ability and fitness and it's hard to accommodate everyone's needs and desires.
On our travel day to the Dix Hut this big group missed out on some of the best powder skiing of the trip. The guides were probably concerned about getting so many people over the Pas de Chèvre, so they opted to skip the skiing off of the lifts. I can totally understand why they wanted to get that group moving. I just can't understand why you would want to travel in such a large group.
Okay, I'll get off the soapbox now, but if you are searching for a guided trip, one of the questions I recommend you ask the company is what is the maximum group size and what is the guide to guest ratio? In our opinion, size does matter, and bigger is definitely not better.
The new ladders on the Pas de Chèvre.
One of the unique spots on the tour from Arolla to the Dix Hut is going over the Pas de Chèvre. Recently they put in some new ladders which makes the down climb pretty manageable, but also pretty cool.
On the way to the Dix Hut with Mount Blanc de Cheilon in the background.
After getting to the hut we had a little lunch and headed back out for some more skiing.
Heading up to the top of the run.
Sometimes pictures or even video can't give you the true feel for how good it was. Below is a video of our run. I think the best indication of how good it was is the stoke level of the skiers. Heads up there is some minor profanity in this video - they just couldn't help themselves.
The following day the weather turned stormy and we were not able to summit the Pigne d'Arolla on our way to the Vignettes Hut, but we were able to ski some good powder along the way. The following day was also stormy so we had to modify our plans again. We decided to burn our weather day and spend an extra night in the Vignettes Hut, keeping our fingers crossed that the weather would break the following day.
Sunrise on the Pigne d'Arolla on the way to Zermatt.
Our gamble paid off and the morning dawned clear and cold. There was a strong north wind blowing but with the good visibility we were able to set off towards Zermatt.
Enjoying the views below the Col du Mount Brule.
We had to fight some strong winds on our last climb, but we finally made it to the top of the Col de Valpelline and had our first close-up views of the Matterhorn.
The Matterhorn!
Once again we enjoyed some great snow on the descent. We felt so lucky to have the extra weather day built into the itinerary. This last day has some of the best skiing on the route, with some amazing scenery and a lot of down.
On our way to Zermatt.
We finally made it into Zermatt and enjoyed a cold beverage before skiing the piste down into town.
Enjoying a Beer at the end of the trip.
If you have thought about skiing the Haute Route give us a call or send us an email. We'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. If you would like to book a trip contact us soon. With our small groups and the built in weather day our trips fill up fast. 2016 dates are April 3 - April 10. More information can be found on the Haute Route page.