Whilst the spring snow cover is still pretty good in the high mountains the sunny weather in April has cleared much of the lower altitude snow and our Ski Bishorn team set off for the long and physical approach to the Tracuit hut up the summer path in trainers.
The summer path approach to the Tracuit Hut from Zinal with the magnificent upper Val d’Anniviers beyond.
This is a long & physical but stunning and scenic hut approach with magnificent picnic options en route!
Scenic picnic stop en route to Tracuit from Zinal with the Zinalrothorn on the left and Dent Blanche on the right.
The very short rocky scrambling section was dry and sunny and arriving at the hut gives good views of the upper glacier and summit climb for the next day…
The scrambling passage with fixed chains en route to the Tracuit Hut
The final steps to the well positioned Tracuit Hut with the Bishorn on the left.
The upper glacier has been well scoured by the wind during the dry month of April and ski conditions were far from perfect but the good weather and great high mountain ski journey feel, plus the physical ascent of a big 4000m peak gave a great ski expedition feel and the team loved the trip.
Thank you all for such good company. And thank you Chris for sharing and applying your deep wisdom in such a deft way, reading our group astutely and enabling us to have a spectacular adventure.
Well said Jamie – excellent weekend with a wonderful crew.
Jamie & Henry, Ski Bishorn 2026
You can join our 2027 Ski Bishorn trip via the course page below. This can also be combined with our 2 day Ski Gran Paradiso trip.
The upper Val d’Anniviers has lots of other fantastic spring ski mountaineering beyond the Bishorn and we had another team really enjoy the 4 day tour and round trip from Zinal with nights at the Grands Mountets, Arpittetaz and Tracuit Huts.
Superbly situated Swiss mountain huts touring from Zinal to Cabanes Grand Mountets, Arpittetaz and Tracuit
Zinal / Imperial Crown Hut to Hut touring.
Zinal / Imperial Crown Hut to Hut touring.
We have also have teams skiing the Gran Paradiso this week with both the classic 2 day summit aller retour trip from Rifugio Chabod and the 3 day trip also exploring the upper Valsavarenche via a night at the Vittorio Emanuelle Hut.
Touring in to the Gran Paradiso National Park. En route to the Chabod Hut with the North Face of Gran Paradiso beyond.
Spring skiing high on the Gran Paradiso traversing from Rifugios Chabod to Vitttorio Emanuelle.
The glaciers are well filled in on the Paradiso and the snow cover was good but the cool morning temperatures meant the snow didn’t soften until the afternoon and, even with a tactically late start, there was a bit of teeth chattering skiing to get down to 3200m where it finally started to soften up!
Day on the Gran Paradiso tour. Leaving Vittorio Emanuelle for the upper Valsavarenche and long descent all the way down to Pont.
If you would like to enjoy a late spring 4000m peak ski and visit the stunning Gran Paradiso National Park, we still have a couple of places available on our Sunday – Monday course, 3-4 May 2026:
Or if you would like to join us next year, the dates are 26-27 April.
Tough conditions for the ski ascent of Mont Blanc this year and our team turned around on exacting hard icy conditions on the North Ridge of the Dome du Gouter.
Tough icy conditions on the ascent of the north ridge of the Dome du Gouter
We prefer to take this steeper and more technical route on the ski ascent of Mont Blanc as it avoids the passage under the seracs on the plateau route. Plenty of teams were going that way but there is some awkward icy debris to traverse and conditions on the upper mountain are also tough with hard snow or even ice not far away.
The approach to the Grand Mulets Hut from Plan de l’Aiguille via the Junction
The Bosses Ridge has been quite icy this spring and most teams have been going to the Col de la Brenva and climbing the Mur de la Cote and the long easier angled slopes above to the summit.
Descending the Midi snow ridge en route to the Col du Midi. Photo Dave Sharpe
For our remaining spring ski mountaineering group trips this season, we only have 2 places available on 2 different but consecutive trips in early May, so a great option is to join both. Firstly the Chamonix high altitude ski touring day on 2 May and Ski Gran Paradiso, 3-4 May, see below.