A low avalanche hazard forecast was a welcome start to this weekend ski touring around Grand St. Bernard and staying at the remarkable working monastery high on the Swiss – Italian alpine border ridge. Numerous trips in recent years had ended up at inspiring but alternative locations. This time, we were going to the Monastery!
The ascent to the ‘Hospitalet’ en route to the Monastery with plenty of snow volume but a smooth and hard track in places as the foehn winds polished the route
Snow volume felt good with skis on from the large, but full, parking at Super St. Bernard. The weather forecast was good and lots of teams were ready to head out and enjoy the sunny mountains…but someone had forgotten to tell the actual local weather! Strong foehn winds pushed powerfully over from the south and the ascent of the track up to the Monastery required some determination to make steady progress in to the sustained head wind and polished hard snow off camber track!
Leaving Super St Bernard on a snowy but firm and wind scoured track up towards the Monastery.
The strong winds and lightly veiled sky meant the snow would not be transforming quickly and, after a mini picnic stop in both the tiny hopsitalet rescue shelter and the mighty monastery itself, we crossed the border on to the Italian side and found some sunnier & calmer slopes to ski on!
Booted and suited and ready to set sail (on skis) from Grand St. Bernard
More sun softened snow on the Italian side of Grand St. Bernard with the ski traverse under the road tunnel. We walked back up through the tunnel itself for the return leg.
Pleasant easy and scenic touring with sun softened snow on the south facing slopes on the Italian side of Grand St Bernard. Mont Fallere, 3090m, in the Val d’Aosta beyond.
These southerly slopes were both nicely sun softened and well exposed to the west giving pleasant sunny afternoon touring conditions. But the PM re-freeze starts promptly in early March and we had enjoyed the lovely skinning touring a little too long before turning around to ski…
Nicola in spring snow but with a small but noticeable afternoon re-freeze forming a nippy little crust!
There was now a nippy little new re-freeze crust to add additional challenge to the turns leading back to the road tunnel and the return ascent back to the monastery.
Returning to the Monastery across the well frozen lake at Grand St Bernard on the Italian Swiss border.
The late afternoon return to Grand St. Bernard, across the frozen lake with the Pain du Sucre beyond.
It’s worth allowing a bit of time in the touring weekend at Grand St. Bernard to just hang out at the Monastery and soak up the unique ambiance of this high mountain refuge which has 1000 years of experience of hosting travellers and pilgrims, passing from the south to the north side of the Alps through this key strategic passage.
Barry the 3rd, one of a long line of St Bernards to have lived and worked at Grand St. Bernard. Now the dogs live in Martigny during the winter but they are back up at the col for the summer season.
Sunday dawned better than the long term forecast had predicted but still with the southerly winds pushing over the border ridge and the promise of increasingly gathering clouds rolling over from Val d’Aosta. It did not look promising for the quasi spring snow to give us the full magic carpet ride so we opted to head north on to the Swiss side and hunt out some turns in colder snow on the shady aspects to be found in the Combe de Barasson:
Ascending in to a steady head (foehn) wind in the Combe de Barasson on the northern Swiss side of the border ridge.
Our theory found some fruits, there was ‘frisette’ to be skinned and skied through in the Combe, but the turns were reeled in as the visibility was reduced with a few flocons of fresh snow arriving from the south. There was a track leaving the Western Barasson col and heading up the appealing and easy looking ridge line towards the Tete de Barasson and Eastern col with other teams skinning up various broad couloirs at the back of the Combe.
Some good cold snow but with old tracks and reduced visibility, still not easy skiing from the Col de Barasson West
We took an additional lap of skinning to explore the interesting and varied terrain at the back of the Combe and access a slightly steeper shady and sheltered line that we noticed had a little fresh snow blown in.
Ed, Chris, Nicola, Phil & Miranda in the Combe de Barasson before our steeper exploratory descent!
This gave some fun turns despite the poor contrast on the snow and a good exercise in planning what type of snow might give you some good snow, choosing terrain accordingly and creative fine tuning along the way!
Miranda reaching the point where we could now ski back to the parking…but that descent would not be all plain sailing!
Despite the gathering clouds, (and gathering blisters!) the team remained motivated for another bonus lap and we added another half an skinning journey to give a bigger fall line descent back to the parking. Despite the nice open north facing bowl type terrain, this last run gave some robust skiing through sastrugi and the team were not disappointed to reach the smooth track leading back down the valley to the parking at Super St Bernard. Now much quieter and with some more snow forecast for the week ahead. ..
Phil managing some steeper turns well with a light crust in very light touring gear!
As an appreciation of our guests appreciation of this trip….(and a blatant plug for future courses!) we will conclude with some feedback from our great team on this weekend:
A thoroughly well planned, informative, and enjoyable practical weekend of Ski Touring in an amazing area. Rob’s knowledge of snow conditions enabling where to go for a safe and enjoyable experience was a foundational aspect of the course, which I found extremely useful, coming from a UK Winter Mountaineering background.
Chris
It was a great weekend and team – it is great how you make it a team experience, both in the planning and during the day, it definitely makes it a more postive experience for everyone
Nicola
If you would like to experience both the inspiring ski touring around Grand St. Bernard, and a fascinating stopover at the working monastery, we still have a few places available on our 2 intermediate course, 21-22 March 2025, details and booking here plus you can already book on to our intro ski touring trip for the same weekend in 2026 here.
Conditions are good for ski touring in Chamonix and you can keep an eye out for specific updates and conditions info for this on our dedicated Chamonix Ski Touring page here.
Likewise, the Vallee Blanche has been in good condition and we have had lots of teams enjoying the descent with conditions Vallee Blanche updates here.
We have some places still available on other spring courses in both Chamonix and the UK including Mont Blanc & Matterhorn training weekends in the Scottish Highlands and Snowdonia.
Scrambling & big boot rock climbing, Matterhorn training in Snowdonia
