Col de la Portette

1/ Looking at the Col de la Portette (2354m) from the western side.
It's just to the right of Graeme's pack in this picture.

It was my turn to choose the ski tour this morning. Col de la Portette, sounds good, don't you think Graeme? Yes, that's the one you didn't want to climb.....well yes, you will need to climb it this time!

Seriously hot this morning, with a change predicted for later in the day, the snow was rapidly becoming rotten. We had chosen to climb the eastern side of the Col which at the same time 3 days ago was OK. But today, the heating process was occurring far more rapidly. It was touch and go stability-wise and with the benefit of hindsight it would have been far better to do this tour in reverse, ie., climb up the still frozen western side of the col and ski down the sunny face still early in the morning.

We made it to the Col, just in time and celebrated our climb by texting Pick in NZ to wish him Happy Birthday and to celebrate the occasion with a run down the western face. His reply "Whoohoo - glass of red 'n hand!" We are sorry to report, Pick, it was a terrible run! I think you would have described it as "frozen elephant snot!". Steep and lumpy, it was survival slide slipping and speed traversing until we found some spring corn on the more southerly aspects. We dedicated these far more pleasant runs to Pick instead!

2/ Refuge de Plate - 2032m

Arriving at the Refuge de Plate around 11am, we encountered a family group of Brits with a guide. The matriarch and patriach of this family group were wonderfully inspiring. Well into their 70's with touring gear from the same era, they were doing a fine job. They have an apartment in Flaine and come out every year for skiing and summer walking. It is my fervant wish that Graeme and I are still ski touring when we are their age!

The Refuge is only open in the summer although it does offer emergency winter shelter. Climbing up the ladder to the attic, we felt immediately at home. A few candles, mattresses and blankets. The attic interior reminded us very much of a NZ DOC hut. West facing this Refuge would be an awesome place to watch the sun go down!

3/ Inside the winter room of Refuge de Plate

Surrounding the Refuge are a number of other huts. Collectively called the Chalets de Plate, we are not sure what they are used for? According to the Refuge website only one farmer still grazes sheep here. They refer to extra accommodation in tents set up on the terrace. Woe betide if you are accompanied by a canine or you're a snorer, according to the website - you'll be relegated to the tents!!

4/ The Chalets de Plate

There is endless summer walking in the Alps! Graeme and I could imagine walking for months visiting all the little refuges along the way. With no heavy tents or cooking equipment in our packs - how good would it be?? Aaah, the temptation to stay longer....!

Stopping for a quick lunch on the climb back to Flaine, we were back in the resort around 2pm.

Despite passing the older English couple before and again after lunch, we were so impressed by their fitness and stamina. It was a long hot climb in wet snow. They did so well! Little did they know our motivation....

Graeme and I raced each other up the last 200m or so, in anticipation of our now customary Panochet!

Really Getting to Know our Backyard

1/Flaine Backcountry

After our quick reconnaissance yesterday morning, we were all packed up early and ready to explore Flaine's big back yard - The Desert De Plate. This is a huge horseshoe shaped valley dropping away to the north. The peaks enclosing the valley are in the 2500 - 2700m range and their slopes are mainly, E, N & West facing, making it an ideal area for ski touring.

My fears of a really unstable snowpack were allayed yesterday and it looks like we'll have the opportunity to do many different tours during our remaining days here. Also today, while still warm, the intensity of the sun was tamed by some thin high cloud. This should further reduce any wet slide problems!

Our first ski tour in this area was with Christoph (our funny french guide) back at the end of January. In contrast to the conditions now, back then we were skiing powder snow all the way to the valley floor!

Spring skiing is great fun. Generally fairly low avalanche risk and if your timing is right, you get some great skiing on spring corn by late morning.

Today's tour took me to the Col de la Portette (2354m) for a look over into another south-west facing bowl. From the Col, I could see a cute summer Refuge - Chalets de Plate. I keep referring to this part of our tour in the first person... because it seemed that there was some reluctance on the part of my "learned leader" to make the climb. On reaching the Col, I was very surprised to find that Graeme still had the contents of his pack strewn out on the snow.

Fortunately, the Oxleys are equipped with some very handy walkie-talkies. These are perfect items for being able to politely inquire of your partner, "What the @**!, are you still doing down there?" Even more polite banter continued as he advised me to come back down again as his planned route had changed. Hmmmm!! How kind of him to allow me such a wonderful opportunity for extra exercise. Graeme can be considerate like that!!

2/ The breath-taking cliff and views to Mont Blanc.

Well at least my dear Graeme's alternate plan found some great views and good spring corn. Skinning up again to the edge of the mountain ridge, we were able to look over the sheer cliff to the towns in the "l'Arve" valley - Passy, Servoz and Sallanches. We could see the busy Chamonix autoroute with it's massive viaduct winding it's way through the narrow valley far below us. To the SE, Mont Blanc dominated the horizon.

We'd made good time and despite the good views it was too early for lunch. And besides which, spring skiing is all about timing. The snow for our run back down was in perfect condition. Still firm with a lovely layer of "cream cheese" corn snow on top. With the heat of the day increasing rapidly, all could change in minutes.

Wooohooo! Of we go! Down for our picnic. Here's the footage!

3/ Understandably given the Col debacle, I had rights to first tracks on this run!!

4/ That was nice!

And the best part of a European ski touring day? The cold Panache (Shandy) after the long, hot skin back into the resort around 2pm. Actually, if I think about it, a cold Brewski from the back of Pick's truck after a similar TC tour - ain't half bad either!

A Quick Recon & We Introduce Rick to Telemarking!

Shaking off the sunny sky blues, we got ourselves motivated today.

A busy day today! We want to take a quick reconnaissance of the Flaine back-country, be back in Les Carroz by 11:30 to meet Rick for telemark lessons and then home for dinner with Hubert & Marie.

1/ Flaine Backcountry - Desert de Plate

It's been so hot here this week, that I am seriously worried about the stability of the snow pack.

There's been no frosts overnight and the freezing level is floating between 2200 - 2600m. There's a heap of natural wet slides around and I tossed and turned with nightmares about falling down Flaine rock holes or getting caught in an avalanche. I am driving Graeme crazy with all my fears and making it impossible for him to plan any tours! Who'd be married to me?

Compromise was a "dawn raid" of the Flaine backcountry. The deal, no freeze-up, no go! We were on the first telecabine from Flaine to the top 2500m at 8:45am. Looks like all my nightmares are groundless. The snow - she was locked up solid! All the holes are well covered but still easy to see. It was a slick, quick run down to the floor of the Desert de Plate but it gave us a much better idea of all the aspects and angles. Much to Graeme's relief, I am much happier about touring there now. Back up at the top of Flaine at 10:30 am for the lift down and back down the hill to meet Rick in Les Carroz for his first telemark lesson.

2/ Having a good look around Flaine backcountry in the early morning sunshine

3/ Ground Zero - Rick not looking confidant about this Telemark Caper!!

Oh no! We've created another telemark enthusiast. After a nervous start, Rick picked up telemarking really quickly. By the second run he was linking turns and by the fifth run we had moved off the beginner slope to something steeper! Well done Rick. Graeme likes to think it's his tuition that does the trick. I'm not sure about that ....I am also his student. Rick's comment of the day. "I like it much better than snowboarding!" Well duh!!!???

4/ I'm not sure I should put a caption to this one?

This evening, I invited Hubert and Marie for dinner. Marie has been here for the week with the kids and Hubert has joined them over the Easter break. French children are on holidays again! Can you believe it? Two weeks in Feb, 2 weeks over Easter, 6 weeks July/August, 2 weeks Oct/beginning Nov, 2 weeks at Christmas. That's 14 weeks of holidays! If my calculations are right, that's 3 -4 more weeks than Kiwi kids get? Add to that, children in the Haute Savoie region don't go to school on Wednesdays - well there's skiing to do, after all!!

Conversation is alway interesting with H&M. Their english is perfect (unlike our abyssmal French), but I still think some things are lost in translation. Marie tried to tell me that French people don't drink that much. Using their family as the example, she told me that she and Hubert only have wine on the weekends. Hubert explained that he also never has wine at business lunches or during the working week. I'm not sure about this? We saw Hubert after a hectic week of wine-tasting (business trip) in the S-W of France. Do you think they are kidding us?

The other classic French observation arose because Hubert is now sporting a very nice new pair of bifocal glasses. They look very smart on him, although he is concerned that he can no longer see his feet clearly anymore? I reassured him that "feet aren't that interesting!" But the discussion about spectacles led us to a question about whether you have to have an eye test to get a drivers licence in France. "Well....no, not really. If you are wearing glasses in your licence photograph, then you can be fined if the police pull you over and you're not wearing them" explained Marie. "But if you don't wear your glasses when the photo is taken, even if your eyesight is poor, then there will be no penalty" Marie chuckles wickedly. "Silly French way, hey?" "No not really....it just explains so much!" I reply.

It was a late night as we delved further into the french education system, familes, working mothers, house design...so much to talk about...so little time.

Not the Best Day for a Ski Tour!

1/ Daniela & Luciano. Sure they're smiling now...but it's only the beginning.

Somehow we managed to struggle out of bed this morning after the mountain top dinner last night. We were meeting Daniela and Luciano for one of the organised ski tours being held each day during the festival. Sensibly D&L didn't go to the party last night. The were bright eyed and bushy tailed. A sharp contrast to our own bleary eyes and sagging tails!! Nevertheless we made it to the cable car on time and the morning cappucino at the top helped start our engines.

2/ A busy day for the ski tour!!

It was not the best day for a ski tour. The weather has changed. It was warm and foggy today and the powder snow at the beginning of the week is now only a distant memory. The excursion turned out really to be an endurance event, travelling in a dense fog, with 70 or so other telemarkers up and down the ridge-line separating Italy and Switzerland. Ordinarily the views are really quite something, so it was disappointing to have only the view of Graeme's bottom wiggling in front of me as he shuffled along on his skins. Ordinarily a good view in itself, but I have seen rather a lot of it over the recent months!

I had learnt my lesson from the last ski tour and today I donned my "normal" skis rather than try and pretend that I was anything else other than a very ordinary intermediate telemark skier. Nobody seemed to mind and I wasn't immediately ostrascised from the telemark community. Such is the relaxed attitude of these kind people.

About half way into the tour, I am sooooooo relieved that I didn't use the telemark skis. After a 2.5 hour skin up to the ridgeline in a white out, we had to back track to find a safe skiable slope back to the resort. With such poor visability, the original tour plan was abandoned. As is often the way with ski touring, the snow was heinous. Either heavy and wet or diabolical breakable crust. It would have been impossible for me to ski this on telemarks. I had enough trouble on my alpine skis! Graeme seemed to have no trouble at all and made a wonderful job of skiing in such difficult conditions. He received a terrific tip from John on our last tour and it was reinforced in the lesson we had yesterday. Graeme has been able to apply the "Cat Step" to very useful effect in the breakable crust conditions.

3/ Luciano loves his cake!! And cheese too!!

The "Ski Tour from Hell" as Daniela termed it, culminated in a final steep climb back to the ski resort. The final skin required about 10 or so kick-turns, so if you were not able to perform these easily, it was extremely hard going. The technique for a telemark kick-turn is actually very tricky and Daniela found it almost impossible. She was totally exhausted when she finally made it back to the ski resort.

Nothing a good bowl of pasta and a delicious cake couldn't fix however! We waited for D&L and joined them for lunch. Sadly, they are leaving this afternoon, as Daniela has to be back at work on Friday. But we've swapped emails and hopefully we'll have time to nip over to Italy and the Aosta valley before we leave France.

Late afternoon, we stopped by to see some ski films submitted to the Livigno Mountain Film Festival that is being held concurrently with La Skieda. We were especially interested to see a telemark film from Australia. A low-budget film, it nevertheless had some fantastic footage of skiing in the snowy mountains and around Hotham and Falls Creek. I am not sure that the European crowd was really that impressed by the skiing footage. I mean to say, skiing around on windswept hard packed slab snow understandably doesn't push their buttons. But there was some footage of a Val D'Isere patroller who spent a winter at Thredbo. His observations about our intense sun, blue sky and lovely snow gums went over well with the audience.

By early evening, we are back in our little apartment and I am busy blogging away, trying desperately to catch up. Graeme has left me to it, heading off to see another film or theatre production as part of the festival. I can't blog and socialise I'm afraid. But now I am back to the general silence of long term marriage!! ...I should hopefully make some progress.

4/ I love European villages. The view from our apartment window.
A horse stabled next door being fed for the evening.

Ski Touring with an old Aussie Bloke

1/ Ski Touring out from Livigno this morning.

Each morning of the La Skieda Telemark Festival, there is an excursion led by professional guides to one of the surrounding peaks or valleys. With the bright sunshine and the hope that there was still some powder to be found on the north facing aspects, we organised to go out for a ski tour with John Falkiner. John, originally from Geelong, Melbourne, now lives in Verbier, Switzerland.


John is most famous for the stunt skiing in James Bond films but his involvement in the ski industry over the last 30 years is legendery. He knows a lot of the guides in Wanaka, but the funniest coincidence is that Graeme remembers taking a ski lesson from him way back in the 70's at Mt Buller! Graeme wore his Mt Buller beanie and giggle sun-hat (donated by his patroller brother) today especially for John!

2/ Graeme putting in some nice turns!

I was very relieved that our tri-lingual group (3 English speakers, one Italian and 2 French) were intermediate skiers and we were going to take an easier line down the mountain. I had elected to use the "misery sticks" (telemark skis), figuring that, after all, it was a telemark festival and it would've been rude to turn up for the tour with alpine gear!! A bit like arriving at an AA meeting with a bottle of wine!

As expected, John had a good eye for the easiest skin line and where to find the best snow. But I can't say I excelled in the telemark department, I think I managed 3 telemark turns for the whole morning! But the snow was too good to waste with ugly tele-turns and in the end I just wanted to put in a nice set of parallel turns. This telemark skiing thing is going to take some serious persistence and leg endurance on my part!

3/ John & my tracks! Hardly "figure of 8" are they?

Graeme was easily the best skier of the group. The french and italian women were very tentative. This excursion was obviously one of their first ventures skiing off-piste or away from the comfort of the resort. As a consequence, there were many stops and breaks in the journey while skis were collected, sunglasses cleared of snow and confidence restored. As a credit to our guide, we all managed to make it down in one piece!! But there was no pressure. We assured John that we were more than happy with the pace. We enjoy just getting out in the mountains and the weather was glorious!

4/ John Falkiner -"Probably wondering why he had been stuck
with a bunch of beginners this morning!!?"

Joining us on the tour, was Andy, from Edinburgh who was learning to telemark. John and his partner, Kathy, have been to the last three La Skieda festivals and we can see why they keep coming back. Where else do you get free ski guiding and lessons everyday from some of the top professionals in the business?

There was some serious incentive to get down the hill. Below us in the valley, a fantastic La Skieda luncheon awaited us!

Refugio Mario Bezzi - Day 3

1/ Atop Truc Blanc -3405m

It was a sad farewell to Mario and his magical Refugio this morning but his delicious food and comfortable beds have revitalised us. The temptation to stay just one more day is almost overwhelming. But Christophe has another trip booked for tomorrow and must return to Les Carroz. C'est la vie!

Despite "day 3 legs" and a heavier pack, it turned out to be a better day on the hill for me. I conquered a many of my initial fears and postively zoomed up the icy slopes this morning. No "cup of adrenaline" for morning tea this time. Although the weather forecast is hinting at some bad weather on its way, today it's another pefect sunny day for the run home.

It was my turn to summit a little peak. Now don't get excited.... it was 55 m smaller than Graeme's Pointe Bassac Sud and I could skin up the southern face of my peak - Truc Blanc (3405m). But even better, I could ski down her sunny face in corn snow to the Col below where Graeme awaited us. After his supreme exertions yesterday, I fully understood why he decided to sit this climb out.

The views from the top, like Graeme's yesterdays, were breathtaking. Looking South-west over another huge bowl called the Gran Paradiso the ski touring is endless and can be linked by travelling from Refuge to Refuge through the mountain passes. Just incredible!

We had reached Truc Blanc by mid-morning and so, it was decided to make a start on our long descent back to the valley floor rather than to hang out at the Col where a cold breeze was blowing. Along the way, our trusty Christophe sniffed out all the nicest pockets of powder.

3/ Lunch and admiring our tracks

3/ On Colle di Giasson (3154m). "My" peak is above my head in this photo. Graeme's peak is to the extreme right of the photo and in the background!

The run home was truly amazing. While there had been some heli-skiing activity in this valley a few days previously, there was still plenty of lines to be had in the frost dried powder. Whoohoo! Check out the film footage - the 3 video clips of skiing in this valley are at the end of all the photos.

And to top off a perfect day, our last task was a fun ski down through the conveniently spaced spruce forest to the valley floor. From there it was a flat skin along the road back to the car. This was truly the longest skin we had done in 3 days...at least it seemed that way. I could see the dam wall, where Christophe's car was parked, but like a mirage - it just kept moving further & further away with every step that took!

But finally, we made it to the car, and to a gorgeous little hillside hotel for a congratulatory beer and then home via the Mont Blanc tunnel. I am sure that the drive home was as equally exciting as the journey here, but I couldn't tell....I was asleep!

4/ Skiing the trees, for the final leg home.

Refugio Mario Bezzi - Day 2

1/ Setting off early morning. Only the 3 old German blokes ahead of us.

Today I found my personal limits!

An easy climb for our guide Christophe and Graeme - that I found very difficult. The route to Pointe Bassac Sud - 3460m involved steep skinning on hard snow.

Unfortunately, my fear of "slipping" let me down and I made slow progress up the peak. Even despite the extra "bite" of my new ski crampons, I found that I really lost my nerve, especially when we were transversing a very steep slope with a cliff below. Try as might, I could not get the vision of me sliding uncontrollably down the slope and over the rocks!!

2/A break at a flat spot on way to Pointe Bassac Sud

To add insult to injury, I was ashamed to find myself being passed by the nimble 69 year old Mario, who was out for his daily run. He had started over an hour behind us after doing some cleaning and food preparation at the refuge. No fear of slipping from this this mountain goat, he strode past me without even breaking a sweat. Typical.... he wanted first tracks!!

But despite all the doom in my head, it was another perfect day. Bright sunshine and a gentle northerly breeze. The boys burnt me off at about 3200m and continued up the ice and rock scramble to the summit of Bassac Sud on foot. I was pleased to see that Christophe put a rope on Graeme as they climbed together, although with Graeme at 6'4" and Christophe considerably smaller, I did rather wonder what Christophe would do if my surefooted hubby did actually trip? I guess it's a moot point as both boys had no problems. Graeme managed the last 200m climb with ease! He is my hero!!

In the meantime I dug myself into the snow and passed the time watching the aerobatic antics of a big Eagle and a small group of Choughas who really wanted to eat the bread that I had left for them, but were too shy to land while I was there. I really like these Chougha's. They are excellent pilots. To me, it seems that they are really just flying about for pleasure, using the wind currents to lift and float them above the mountains.

2/ Graeme atop Pointe Bassac Sud - 3460m. Mont Blanc is the highest peak in the background

No sooner than the boys returned to pick me up and we had our skis on for the run down the hill. Christoph wanted to make sure the sun wasn't going to ruin the pockets of shaded powder that he had spied on the way up. Poor Graeme barely had time to catch his breath before we were hurtling down the mountain back to the refuge.

Graeme skied like a champion. He must have been exhausted but he linked turn after turn. In contrast, I skied dreadfully. After a day of adrenaline pumping through my system, my legs were like jelly and were no longer taking instructions from the brain above! In the end, I gave up trying to be stylish and opted for the "speed is best" approach. "Point 'em" down the hill and get down asap! After all, I had the incentive of a hot shower and a delicious 4 course Italian feast awaiting me!!

Well at least that's what I thought. But Graeme and Christoph wanted to practice our rope skills. The sun's last rays had left the refuge by this stage and we had to practice our crevasse rescue in the chill of the early evening. Nothing like freezing to death to add a bit of "realism" to the practice session. Did I mention that hot shower and big feed? That was all I could think about towards the end. Christoph must have also been thinking similarly. I could have kissed him when he suggested we take the rope inside and practice some more knots over a glass of Italian red!! What a guide!

After another delicious Italian feast, Graeme and I were so tired we literally collapsed into our beds, to dream about the next day!

4/ Thawing out inside and practicing some knots. Christoph & I

Refugio Mario Bezzi - Day One - Part 2

1/ A racoon (Christophe), Rudolf the Reindeer (Andy) & chinese bloke (Graeme) enjoy a wine with The "Mario Bezzi!"

Named after the charming old man who has been the guardian of this refuge for nearly 40 years - Mario Bezzi, this refuge is a true European Alps experience. Originally built for the Italian Army, it is now leased by Mario and provides walkers, skiers and climbers with an outstanding level of comfort in the high mountains from Mid March to Mid October. This place has showers, toilets, bedrooms with linen and the most delicious italian food you could ever wish for.

But what really makes this place, is the crusty old mountain man and host - Mario. He does not speak a word of English but speaks French fluently. He takes time to talk with all his guests over dinner each night. He is a font of knowledge about the mountains and in particular his own little valley and peaks. Christophe is very respectful and he spends a lot of time talking with Mario about snow conditions and our proposed touring route.

Mario is very interested to learn that we are from NZ and even more so when he finds out that Graeme is a telemark skier. With Christophe interpreting for us, he explains that telemark skiing is the "birth of skiing". He respectfully bows to Graeme and drops his knee to imitate a telemark turn. I think we may have made a good impression!

2/ The Bar Area in the Dining Room

Imagine after a hard day ski touring sitting down to a beautifully prepared meal, a bucket of minestrone brimming with vegetables, another huge bowl of pasta, a meat course ( we had veal scallopine with fresh green haricot beans on the first night), cheese platter and then chocolate mousse for dessert. I was feeling a little bit of a fraud eating so much on the first night as we had only skinned for 5 hours or so along the flat valley.

Did we also mention the lovely Italian wine too! Oh, I am in heaven!!

Mario and his friend ( who is 78 years of age!!) are on their own here to clean the refuge and prepare all the meals. Totally amazing!

3/"Est-ce tu peut haricot, Andy?" "Oui, Merci!!"

We are sharing the Refugio with only 2 other parties. So much for the crowds! There are only 10 of us here. And Christophe and I are the youngest! There is a group of 4 swiss ski tourers and another group of very senior German men. I particularly enjoyed talking with one of the swiss guys who had been to NZ. Given the Swiss lake of coastline, he predictably loved the Bay of Islands and the Abel Tasman Track.

No-one lingers much after dinner. Ski-touring is hard work and everyone will be up for breakfast at 7am and away into the mountains by 8am. We are much relieved that we are not making this trip in April as the usual morning starts at 5am or 6am to avoid avalanche danger in the late afternoon. Graeme and I are more your "latte-style ski tourers!!"

Just as we are about to turn out the light, we gazed out our bedroom window to see Mario's special friend. It's a mountain fox who comes every evening around 8:30pm to the kitchen door. After years of receiving a guaranteed feed he is tame enough to take food directly from Mario's hand. But he is still very shy of anyone else and will quickly vanish if someone else tries to feed him or take a picture. Mario had explained to Christophe, that this fox always seems to know that the Refuge opens in Mid March. He manages to survive on slim pickings for the majority of the winter, only to be spoilt for choice when Mario arrives in March.

With thoughts of foxes with thick winter coats and endless bowls of pasta we drifted off to sleep!

4/ Tucked up in our cosy little room for a terrific night's sleep!

Refugio Mario Bezzi - Day One - Part 1

I have a strong feeling that our ski touring trip to Refugio Mario Bezzi will be a highlight of our European skiing holiday. There was not a cloud in the sky when we set off this morning and the forecast looks good for the next few days. We are headed to the Italian side of the French Alps, basically out the back of the famous french resort of Val d'Isere.

As usual the most terrifying part of the journey is the car travel. Christof noticed yesterday that I spent most of my time in the backseat with my eyes shut tight. Christof is quite multi-talented! Not only is he a mountain guide, but he can also drive a Landrover Defender at rally speeds down a mountain, while talking on his mobile phone, searching for a CD to play from the overhead visor, changing gears and pointing out all the relevant mountain peaks and couloirs we pass! Meanwhile in the back seat, I am grabbing for the "Oh Jesus Bar" and praying to whoever might be the patron saint preventing car accidents! This morning, Christof asked "Tu est fatigue?" My answer - "Non, merci. Je suis desole, mai, j'ai peur!" Christof: - "C'est etrange? On n'est pas dans la montagne encore?" But kindly, Christof took the hint and slowed to what he later termed a "grand-mere vitesse" and I could allow the blood to flow once more into my knuckles!!

Thanks to the handy Mont Blanc Tunnel we are in Italy in 25 minutes from Araches. Basically heading down the Aosta valley, we turned north west up a valley to Valgrisenche (45° 38′ 0″ N, 7° 4′ 0″ E ). At the end of the valley is a deserted dam. This is where we parked the car and began our climb into the Mario Bezzi Refuge.

The Dam wall is really just a historic relic - it no longer holds back any water. Ever since the Vajont dam disaster in 1963 when a landslide caused a tidal wave to wash over a dam wall, killing 2000 people, high alpine dams, which can be vulnerable to landslides or avalanches, have been banned throughout Europe. Someone might like to mention this to the Clyde & Alexandra residents???

1/ Looking north to the main French Alps with the defunct Valgrisenche Dam in the foreground.

While, Christof has been to this area a few times, it is only the second time with clients. Most clients don't like the long flat walk up the valley into the hut - about 3 hours. We didn't mind at all. The weather was truly magnificent and the valley vistas - amazing. Huge icefalls clinging to the valley walls, historic villages, and the only the steady rhythm of our skis sliding on the snow to break the silence.

For the first time in the European Alps, we were alone!

2/ The incredible valley views! Check out that icefall!!

3/Lunch on a roof - interesting!!

Lunch was enjoyed sitting on the roof of a summer residence now buried in snow and abandoned for the winter. The sun was deliciously warm and it was hard to resist the temptation to take a quick kip in the sunshine.

But we had another 2 hours of ski touring to go to climb up to the Refuge at 2284m. It was around 4pm when we reached the Refuge. OMG!! I had seen pictures on the internet of this place but I really had no idea what it was going to be like.

4/ The "Mario Bezzi Refugio"

Read on Part 2 for more pictures of the Refugio.

Ski Touring in the High Tatras

After a good night's sleep we awoke ready to face the day. And what a day it was! Ski touring in the High Tatras National Park with Tibor & Dana. The High Tatras are Slovakia's highest mountain range running appoximately E-W in the north-east corner of the country. The national park encompasses the mountains and also spreads northwards into Poland.

The Tatra’s are made up of a chain of granite peaks all around 2500m. The highest peak is Gerlachovsky at 2654m. Below the mountains is the forest, which although decimated by catastrophic winds, still abounds in natural wildlife. The forest has bears, wolves, wild boar and wildcats! I was certainly hoping that we would not enjoy any close encounters with these beasties! I don’t like bears! An unfortunate viewing of that film “The Edge” with Anthony Hopkins about a man-stalking bear has given me a fear of bears similar to all those gullible viewers of the “Jaws’ movies. Personally I prefer sharks!!

1/ They're not joking!

It had been snowing lightly all night with a cold and strong easterly blowing. Despite the weather, Dana and Tibor took us up through the sheltered forest to a lovely chalet nestled in a mountain cirque by a frozen lake.

It was as a lovely skin up the mountain trail through the forest. Tibor & Graeme striding ahead swapping stories about outdoor equipment with the girls trailing behind. We were busy solving the world economic crises! According to Graeme, we were also using up our allocation of words. He has recently read somewhere that women use 35,000 words per day and men only 20,000! He takes every opportunity to cite this new piece of useless trivia!

2/ The Boy's using up their word allocation!

The snow continued to float down as we broke the tree-line. Unfortunately, the clouds were down and the peaks were hidden. But every now and then the clouds would lift and we would get a glimpse of the ice falls and high peaks covered in the snow. Dana pointed out the ice-falls where she and Tibor climb. After reaching the high valley, we arrived at our lunch destination, another perfect chalet in the mountains. This chalet is very popular with climbers in the summer who come to climb the high peaks. But in winter it is quieter and the friendly staff have more time to talk with their clients. Tibor used to work here and this chalet is where he met Dana – 21 years ago. We enjoyed a local speciality – sounds terrible to our western palate, spiced sour cabbage soup and rye bread, but I can assure you it was delicious!

3/ The Team outside the Chalet

And then the fun part! The ski down through the trees! I always loved skiing in the trees as a child in Australia and today's run through the forest of the High Tatras will be a special memory for me. Graeme took some fantastic film footage skiing behind me as we sped through the forest. Definitely worth a look!

On the way home we stopped at the local ski resort above where Dana and Tibor live to collect water from a mineral spring. It is an acquired taste I must say. The water is slightly aerated and has a strong ferrous taste. I am sure it must be good for you (Dana & Tibor are certainly very healthy) but Graeme and I think we’ll stick to our own health tonic – red wine!!

4/ Tibor filling the bottles with mineral water. It's -8C - check out the bare hands!!

Finally tucked up in Dana and Tibor’s gorgeous little house in Stola we enjoyed another delicious Slovakian meal. Tibor is rather a famous climber in Slovakia and he even has films made about his climbing and mountaineering. We persuaded him to show them to us and settled in for the evening!!

Ski Tour #2 - Comment ca va?

1/ Skinning up to Pointe de la Rateliere

So how was Ski Tour #2? Well, words fail us!

Today we enjoyed a breathtaking tour with the head of our local guiding company - Christoph. He is a personal friend of Rick & Liz's. A mature fellow (ie, our age!!) - he was very much our kind of guide. Good sense of humour. Laid back but conservative and safety conscious - he was very much the "old" and not "bold" type of guide that we like!

Another superb sunny day with freezing overnight temperatures ensured that the snow remained light & dry. We headed west with Christoph from the top of Flaine - 2480m down into an area called the Desert de Plate. It is called this because underneath the snow it's a plateau comprised entirely of stratified rock. Unlike the alpine meadows of the other high mountain areas, it must truly resemble a desert in the summer when the snow has gone.

We headed down to the bottom of the valley, along with many other Frenchies who thought that today would be a good day to go ski touring. Fair enough! It was Saturday after all. But, that is the reality of Europe. People everywhere. However, the valley is huge and there's actually plenty of room for everyone. And of course the advantage of having a guide is that they know all the secret locations.

Christoph led us away from the people and back up again on the far western flank of the valley. From there we skinned and climbed up to a small peak - Pointe de la Ratelliere -2708m. Lunch was spent gazing out over the alps. The views from the top were incredible. To the South West, Mont Blanc and the Chamonix peaks dominated the skyline and to the west was Les Houches and in the distance Le Grave.

On the way up, we skinned through some amazing rock formations. It was like walking through a canyon or ice-seracs on a glacier. It was eerie and beautiful at the same time.

"The Rock Canyons"

And the skiing? The photo of Graeme putting in a nice set of tracks pretty much answers that question. Lovely frost dried, well consolidated, boot-top powder. Great fun to ski in!!

Graeme : "completing the set"

Inevitably, there are too many photos of today! For the enthusiast - click here.

After our second descent we continued down the plateau to Chalets de Sales. A collection of small farming chalets, it is abandoned in the winter except for a 72 year old fellow named Raymond. Christoph is a friend and regularly visits with him. Raymond refuses to leave the valley in the winter. There is no road access to this area and the walk from the nearest village Sixt-Fer-a Cheval is a hard one with a roped descent down through a steep icy gorge. Or a walk up & ski down to Flaine. The mind boggles how Raymond manages to get his supplies but apparantly he skins up and over into Flaine most days!!

Passing through Chalet de Sales, the plateau ends abruptly in a narrow gorge with a sheer cliff towards its end. As we travelled through the gorge we were privileged to see Chamois and the rare Alpine Ibex ( a long horned alpine goat) grazing the steep sided gorge far above us. Christoph has the eyes of an eagle and it sometimes took us an age to find the animal he was pointing to.

4/ The Frozen Cascade de Sales

At the end of the gorge, is a sheer cliff over which a waterfall tumbles 50m to a second terrace.

Hmmmm. Interesting! It's been a while since I have done an abseil. I certainly have never had to do one with my skis and poles attached. 48m doesn't sound very high, but when you are peering over the edge of a cliff, it is still a little daunting. Again a picture is worth a thousand words, so if you'd like to see Christoph and I repel down this ice cliff click here. Graeme has made some funny commentary, so it's definitely worth a look.

Following our little dabble in mountaineering, we continued down the gorge and the wooded forest to Sixt. We struggled to follow the nimble Christoph with his tight turns. I lost count of the number of times I had to use an emergency snow plough to avoid wrapping myself around a tree or hitting a big boulder in the frozen streams we were descending!

And in typical French fashion, our adventure ended with a beer in a little mountain cabin while we waited for the free resort bus to take us back to Les Carroz. How civilised!

It was a long day - 8:30pm - 7.30pm! Great value and we are well pleased to have made Christoph's acquaintance. We hope that we'll have a few more adventures with him along the way!!