Touring in April

A snowHead

Hello, I quickly read around here every week or so and find it helpful, so I thought I would ask for any advice people feel like giving. I don't have an exact question rather I am just opening to door to who-knows-what info that may come my way regarding the below:

My partner and I are spending two weeks mid April in and around the following areas: Chamonix, Aosta, Andermatt, Flims. Anywhere in between is possible, but these are the places we know a little about so kind of narrowed our focus, otherwise the choices are endless Smile

Our objective is low level back country touring.

Equipment is snowboards and snowshoes + all basic BC kit.

Accom and transport is campervan.

I am an experienced off-piste rider, partner is confident but at a lower level so we will keep in easy.

I have pretty extensive (expensive!) BC experience in Chamonix (about 20 guided days) and partner is less experienced, although she has good off-piste time accumulated. We have both done multi-day av courses etc. All decision making with be by consensus, but I will be the planner and want to keep the ascents less demanding (again, I am fitter and than she is). We have a rule that all routes requiring glacier travel are unfortunately out of the question. All tours are going to be single day.

Motivation is to carefully open the door to unguided BC touring that the two of us can enjoy together now and into the future. We want to develop skills together (nav, mountain craft etc) and don't want to jump into the deep end. This trip will be the first step in a longer journey of annual single day and multi day BC adventures in coming seasons. We have to start somewhere and there is no rush.

Obviously it all comes down to at the time snow conditions (looking oh so promising for spring!) and weather. But so far I have drawn up a tentative list of appropriate tours, most of which are in Chamonix district (mainly over the back of Flegere) and a heavy concentration in Les Contamines (an area I have not yet toured in). We could fill our time easily around Cham and whether we do much in the Flims, Aosta or Andermatt areas is unknown.

Having read the above, my question is a general request for any info people feel like giving on how to stay safe and/or have fun Smile

. There is a wealth of experience out there and I know I will regret it if I keep quiet and never ask around.

We can drive anywhere so if you were I, where else would you go? Is there a place that in April is just full of appropriate itinerary options? Any thoughts on good places to pull up in our camper?

We are out there each weekend and have been tip toeing around for the last few weeks due to the persistent snowpack issues. Even though our trip starts in three weeks we are already making the assumption that the av risk this spring will be just as prominent and unusual as it has been for most of the winter season.

Long first post Embarassed

cheers
damian

A snowHead

damian, welcome to snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I'm surprised some of our touring peeps haven't been by yet but this might their month to...tour..!!

I'll bump this up to see if they see this post this time round..

You could try Freshtracks for areas like Andermatt which seems to have a few day trips which are doable on skins or DH planks.

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Michelle - thank you for the welcome.

JT - thanks for the bump.

We will be visiting Les Contamines this Saturday to familiarise ourselves with the terrain and do a bit of general reccy. Then Sunday to Andermatt (where we have an amazing track record of hitting white out days! I can't remember the last time I saw the summit.)

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

damian,

Go to the Freshtracks site, they seem to have quite a bit on touring that isn't so hardcore.

I don't how feasible the trip to Disentis is but some of the routes off the back of Gemstock are easy day trips as you will probalby know. Kendersteg has a good reutation and is in the same sort of region. Then there is Arolla which I mean to get around to sometime and of course, val d' Annivers.

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Andermatt is great day touring country. Ones Iv'e done and can reccommend:
Piz Alo, down back of Gemstock, return by unteralptal. Nice, safeish route, flat on way out for boards
Piz Centralo - again from Gemostock
Train to Oberalpass, then climb up to the ridge facing andermatt (several mountains), e.g. Badus, nice descent all way back to Andermatt.
Gemstock to GotthardPass, ten minutes climb, 1 hour descent, train back from hospental.
Hospental chair lift, up round the back of the winterhorn, then down to Realp. Check for avalanche danger on this one.

I would advise buying the swiss winter maps (blue ones) they have good routes, clearly marked with times on the back.

Be wary of Cham because of crevasses... but great touring to be had there.

Take care in the BC and tell people your route, carry correct kit, check avalanche warning level, weather etc. Forewarned is forearmed.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

damian, See Les Contamines, one of the safest and best touring spots in the world.

After all it is free

SMALLZOOKEEPER, thanks for the input. We are aiming to be in les Contamines for about 1 week and have already taken a look around to familiarise ourselves a little.

lewis, thank you also for your ideas. They are on the list. You are also correct about Chamonix and crevasse risk. We have ruled all those tours out completely. Crevasse rescue in a pair is hard work. I always prefer to travel as 3 or 4 in crevasse terrain.

JT, freshtracks do offer some good packages buuuut...
- although they would be good for my girl, they would bore the brains out of me (at great expense)
- we determined to break into low level unguided day touring this spring
- I don't like package holidays (not part of my culture I suppose... not meant as an insult Smile

)

Besides this adventure in April, i am very much looking forward to spring. I am guessing )(hoping) that as various high passes open up, so to will access to roads that in turn give access to day tour opportunities. I have been looking for a Swiss website that advises the open/closed status of all mountain passes but so far no luck.

damian, Went with Fresh tracks last y. V good, and not at all packaged. We're going to the Slivretta to do the same as you - compare notes when we/you get back ?

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damian, surprised I missed this first time round. Another shout for Les Contamines. See if you can get hold of the guidebooks Chamonix Ski Touring and/or Mont Blanc on Skis (the latter by Anselme Baud). Both have good coverage of that area. There are some very nice day-tours available from the lifts (like Col de Fenetre or Col des Chasseurs). If you can face the 1500m slog up to the Conscrits refuge (on the Tre la Tete glacier), you will be rewarded with an awesome array of descents and a very nice quiet (when I was there anyway) and friendly place to stay. You can break the ascent up by just going as far as the Tre la Tete hotel on the first day then doing something like the Aiguille de Berangere with a ski back down to the Conscrits the next day.

At the end of your stay, there are a number of ways back down to the valley - all of which are more than 2000m vertical. The Armancette glacier is the prize, I would say. I REALLY want to do that one. Having said that, the one I have done - from the top of the Pain de Sucre de Mont Tondu was fantastic when I did it too. Having 2ft of powder all the way down didn't do any harm obviously Toofy Grin

Hmm - just read that you're keen to stay away from glaciers so maybe the Conscrits trip isn't for you. I wouldn't say it's the most gnarly glaciated terrain, but it isn't the most mellow either. Maybe something to work up to?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

damian, sounds like you have a little more experience of this than me, so I'm not sure I can add much. I was going to suggest off the back of Flegere, but you've got that down already. I've got that pencilled in sometime for my first unguided tours too. The only thing I would say though is that I understand the top of the Bérard valley to be very avalanche prone, so be careful.

One area that you don't list, but I understand to be a bit of an experience is touring around the Gd. St. Bernard pass. An hour or two up from the roadhead gets you to the monastery, where you can stay and use it as basecamp for a few trips around the surrounding peaks. The day I went up there (Mayday bank hol) was rubbish though, we only got up to the monastery, in virtually zero vis and slushy snow, the guide clearly wasn't interested, and we came back down again. He did spend most of the time telling us about all the great stuff you could do from there, but it was a bit of a waste of a day in our case (we'd actually only gone up there because the road up to the reservoir above Vallorcine was blocked).

I'm off to the Gd. Paradiso (4100m Very Happy

)with Freshtracks Easter week. I know it's probably of no interest, but last time I heard there were two spaces left on the trip (4 spaces taken out of 6).

snow reports

GrahamN, I've been there ! snowHead

And yes there's load's of stuff to do.... We approached the monastery in the fog - suddenly seeing this huge building appear out of the cloud was very weird...... Very Happy

Gran Paradiso is on our wishlist, if only because of the Italian food wink

, let us know how you get on snowHead

ski, That's good feedback, cheers. I will keep them in mind for next season as a guided intro to the world of multi day hut tours.

And yep, more than happy to compare notes on return late next month! Have a great time

GrahamN, regarding the Gd. St. Bernard pass road head, I guess you can drive up there before the road has opened and just stop where the snow starts? I am utterly new to alpine pass roads so please excuse me if that question sounded silly. As for Gd. Paradiso.... that is firmly on the list for next season, enjoy it.

Arno, thanks for the specifics on les Contamines! very helpful. I have the guide books you mention and reading them gives me that excited 'too much to do, not enough time' feeling. When you speak about the area, what time of year are you referring to? I anticipate that many lines (tours) will end with a dry path walk out from about 1700m down... depending on aspect etc

One fun area to intro my girlfriend to earning turns is over the back of Brevant, riding down to the lake then walking back up. The work-reward sequence is oddly reversed, but for the hell of it you can enjoy a luxury lunch at the restaurant at the top of the cable car. Great incentive to keep your less fit partner focused during the ascent Wink

You know it makes sense.

damian, not a silly question at all. Coming from the Swiss side, IIRC, we turned off the main road just before the tunnel started (I guess on to the old road), drove a short way up the valley and came to a layby/carpark just before a barrier in the road. There were a couple of snowy cars there, so clearly they'd been left there for several nights (no ideas on security position). No ideas on facilities on Italian side, but I'd expect something similar. They were actually clearing the road the day we did it, and we had to dodge a snowplough making its way maybe 1/2 km up the mountain from the roadhead (teasing the Swiss as we passed that the Italians were more efficient and had made it to the top before them Very Happy

) when we came back down - then thread our way back down the verges. Only needed to walk about 200 yds at the bottom.

If you do intend doing that, I'm not sure if you have to book places in the Monastery or not, but it would be worth checking. We just turned up, but only stopped for a bowl of soup and some spaghetti - after wandering around a virtually deserted building, as there was pretty much no-one else there.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

damian, i went at the end of march/early April. A lot of stuff (like the Cols I mentioned) does end in a track/footpath at the bottom of the valley. When I went, this was skiable all the way to the road at the Notre Dame de Gorge chapel. It is quite sheltered but I expect conditions will vary from year to year. Not sure whether it's preferable for it to be a walk or boardable for a boarder - there wasn't too much poling as I remember but there were some quite flat bits

A snowHead

Arno, GrahamN, thanks for the additional info and descriptives. Again, very helpful.

Here's something I just found. For anyone BC hiking in the Bormio area, a list of mountain passes and their open/closed status and some useful info.

Stelvio Pass ... 2758 m.... theres gotta be something good up there in late May?

http://www.bormioonline.com/en/bormio/mountainpasses/?d=3/9/2006%204:10:50%20PM&pa=2238

and this one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_passes_in_Switzerland

A snowHead

damian
If you're going to go off the back of Brevent, you can make it into a fuller tour by going over the Aiguillette Des Houches, and ending up further down the valley, opposite Les Houches. The problem with this route though is you'll probably have to hitch out down the road, as I think only school buses go on this road. The classic route off Flegere is to over the Col des Aiguilles Crochues and Col de Berard, and down to Le Buet; a couple of warnings as you're on snowboards; the traverse between the 2 cols is OK as a toe-side traverse for regular riders, but I wouldn't like to do it heel-side if you're goofy, and the route ends as a track through a forest, which can be a bit of a battle on a board, especially as the snow will be very soft this time of year.

I've never toured 'round the other areas you've mentioned (I've had a similar record as you with white-outs in Andermatt); Contamines is on my list, but most routes I've been looking at involve glaciers.

Another suggestion I'd make is to go further south; there are several there and back routes you can do from the Col du Lautaret (between Grenoble and Briancon). The col is just over 2000m, and open all winter as it's a main route. If you can read French, the Ski de Randonee, Hate-Alpes book by Olizane press has a good selection of routes.

As to opening times of passes, most road maps mark approximate opening times - I've got a 1:700000 map of the alps (by Hallwag, I think), which has given me all the info I need

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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Glad to hear you had a good season, damian. I've just read your Mt Blanc ascent report (look at the other ones later) - good effort. Mt Blanc's certainly one on my list to do in a couple of years - we planned to do it a couple of years ago but were hopelessly inexperienced and optimisic so canned that one. My brother did it by the same route as you as a hike in September 2004, and also said it was the most difficult thing he'd ever done. It's really interesting how altitude affects different people differently. The highest I've made it so far is 4400m (Mt Whitney in California), with no real problem other than a poor night's sleep at 3600m, but that really is a walk in the park (trainers and shorts perfectly adequate).

So what's on your list for 2007 Smile

?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Nice work on Les Courtes!

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thanks guys,

les Courtes NNE was very enjoyable Smile

As for altitude sickness, we were certainly quite fatigued from good old hard work and I am sure that counted towards feeling so crumby. But fatigued or not, the few times I have passed above 4000m I start to feel some effects, not bad, just mild headache and lethargic. It gets worse from there up, every 100m makes a difference in my case. Below 4000m and I feel totally normal. I agree about sleeping at circa 3500m. It is a very disturbed sleep.

Help!!

Touring in April

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