For so early in the season – there has been plenty of ski activity from the Skyway Monte Bianco lift with lots of early bird enthusiasts putting in tracks on the Toule Glacier and its steep surrounding slopes and couloirs. Numerous teams were out today, skiing, climbing, snow shoeing across the glacier and generally enjoying the reasonable early winter snow conditions, sun and relatively low winds.

We enjoyed the steady progress breaking trail through beautiful pristine sastrugi snow on the way round to the Col Rochefort and some fun intro winter mountaineering along the lower ridge of the Aiguilles Marbrees.

Snow cover is understandably still generally lean, with lots of crevasses in evidence, but on the other hand much improved by the passage of a series of autumn storms giving snow generally above 2000m and indeed, there is basic cover down to the Pavillon mid station and lots of tracks down to it via the Toule Glacier and even the steep front cable face under the lift.

There were also plenty of tracks descending the couloirs either side of the Skyway station, which looked pretty narrow and rocky lower down, before spilling out in to the Toule.

There were also plenty of tracks on steep sunny slopes coming off the Aiguilles d’Entreves and down into the same Toule bowl and one team had climbed the normal route on the Aiguille du Toule, above the Col de Toule and possibly skied the West Face to access the hanging col between the Entreves on the Toule where they skied some tentative turns in soft snow before cutting left to avoid some newly exposed rocky barriers below due to glacial recession / low snow volume.

A few teams had toured over in to the Vallée Blanche and there were some nice looking tracks coming down the Gros Rognon variation after what looked like a fairly crevassed access skin through the crevassed country below the Combe Maudit where there were also touring tracks. Some big holes up there!

As well as a team on what looked like ‘La Vie en Rose’ (M5) on the Grand Flambeau, there was also a team climbing a central mixed route / snow couloir on the West Face of the Marbrees, probably the the ‘Directe des Cristalliers.

It looks like there is plenty more snow on the way over the early half of this weekend – and down to much lower altitudes than so far this winter, which should improve the mid winter touring options and help building the ice for cascade climbing.
Get in touch this winter if we can help with some cascade ice climbing and winter climbing, mountaineering training, glacier snow shoe walking, private guiding for ski touring / off piste.
If you prefer to join one of our group courses, we have places available on our winter & spring 2023 ski touring, off piste and Mont Blanc & Matterhorn training group courses…
Ski Courses
- 14-15 Jan, Intro Ski Touring Weekend in Chamonix – Places Available
- 23-26 Jan, Off Piste & Ski Touring Skills Progression – Course Full
- 23-27 Jan, Off Piste & Ski Touring Skills Classic – 1 Place Available
- 30 Jan – 3 Feb, Off Piste & Ski Touring Skills Classic – Course Full
- 11-12 Feb, Val Feret & Rifugio Bonatti Ski Touring Weekend – Places Available
- 11-12 March, Grand St. Bernard Intro Ski Touring Weekend – Course Full
- 20-23 March, Off Piste & Ski Touring Skills Progression – 1 Place Available
- 20-24 March, Off Piste & Ski Touring Skills Classic – Places Available
- 25-26 March, Intermediate Ski Touring Weekend Grand St Bernard Monastery – 1 Place Available
- 23-28 April, Spring Ski Summits (with optional Ski Mont Blanc extension) – 1 Place Available
- 27-29 April, Ski Gran Paradiso (with optional Ski Mont Blanc extension) – Places Available
- 27 April – 3 May, Ski Mont Blanc – Course Full

Mountaineering & Training Courses
- 4-5 Feb, Mont Blanc Winter Training Weekend Cairngorms 🏴– Course Full
- 8-9 April, Mont Blanc Training Weekend Snowdonia 🏴 – Places Available
- 15-16 April, Mont Blanc Training Weekend West Highlands 🏴 – Places Available
- 22-23 April, Matterhorn Training Weekend Scottish Highlands 🏴 – Places Available
- 13-14 May, Matterhorn Training Weekend Snowdonia 🏴 – Places Available
- 20-21 May, Mont Blanc Training Weekend Snowdonia 🏴 – Places Available