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Stop thinking of next season and get out there...

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Well, I spent yesterday evening building the next bike and doing some tinkering on the brakes on ValaisGrom's downhill bike. I've now switched to 'Summer mode' and am as obsessed about mountain-bike kit and machinery as I am in the winter months about ski gear. But this time of year always makes me think a bit. And the 'attack' on Weathercam for his dogs' interest in emerging marmots made me think a bit too. People commenting were concerned about his dogs' impact on the marmots. Dogs genuinely worrying marmots to death would be appalling. But there's just no evidence that a terrier running over to a gendarme marmot, who whistles to warn his group and others, and then dives down to a place which he knows to be safe, is killing marmots. There IS evidence that marmots in very isolated places (Alaska) spend more time alert and not foraging when disturbed, but its not clear that this is life threatening, nor is it necessarily transferable to European settings where marmots are habituated to contact with humans. Knowing quite a bit about marmots, these are tough, intelligent rodents, who know the difference between a human (no real threat anymore), a dog (bloody annoying) and an eagle (deadly to their adolescents).

And so I thought some more.

In the winter, most of us hurtle around the place, hauled up by chairs and gondola, minds and discussion on the next descent. We are oblivious to the fact that we are fixated on a covering of the real terrain - the blanket of snow which enables us to do the thing we love in the way we enjoy - and from which we get a huge buzz. Seldom does anyone think about the world beneath the snow - the Alpine environment without the essential whiteness which we long to come and hate to see go.

But I am posting because of this....the Alpine world is astonishing. Stop all the stupid talk I hear amongst youngsters of '...if we mess up this world technology will mean we can terraform Mars...'. Even Stephen Hawking contributed to this insane mindset. Book your skiing time, for sure. But if you can get out there at other times of year, the reward is astonishing.

How about this. Last July, we wandered up to the top to the top of the hill after some DH-blatting down the marked trails. Although ValaisGrom and I still fixated a bit on the riders occasionally getting air on the red trial along the top of the cliff, we ambled over to the World Cup timing hut at the head of the 'hidden valley'. This is a favourite area for messing around in the winter - it collects deep powder and is easy access. As we entered the head of the valley - now so green it hurt your eyes, we were knocked sideways by the scent of vanilla. Really, really, strong scent, not just a vague hint. And immediately I could see that the vanilla orchids were out. Tiny black-purple pyramids, thousands of them. The whole valley was full of these astonishing plants. Sitting down, you could begin to see the insect activity all this encouraged. The sun was now full on the flowers, and the heat was evaporating the volatile oils - and this had called a thousand bees up the mountain, who were busily moving from plant to plant. I'll remember that hour for the rest of my life, and the ValaisGrom will too.

And the next day we ambled over to the drag lift up to the Col at the back of the resort, where we know the marmots are. What we didn't know until that morning was that the marmots had dug a den under the lifties' wooden hut. It was hilarious to think that they had spent the whole winter under the hut, as skiers came and went, the lifty stomped around in the hut, the music played from the sound system the pisteurs use, and the clanking machinery - with all its thunderous vibration - had been the marmots background noise as they slept out the winter. We watched the adolescents playing and falling over each, the adults foraging and the sentinels guarding, all oblivious to us as we had a lunch from a vantage points twenty metres away.

And so it goes on. The ibex in the Val D'Herens, the chamois in the woods above Mollens, the ancient deer-stool (nest) just below Plumarchit, thousands of toads obsessed with sex in the pools in the Foret du Finges, and the tiny Alpine plants hanging on at 3200m on the screes at Plaine Morte. I love the heat of the sun and the sharp coldness of the air at altitude.

The thing about Weathercam and the whole randochien discussion is that they are getting out there. Not hauled up only to rush down, and then get back to the UK. They are out there in the Alpine environment. If we are to keep it in a reasonable state, we need actually to get out there into it, to understand and appreciate it. To tread lightly, of course, but to understand what an extraordinary place it is.

Footnote: it may seem that a summer Alpine holiday will cost a fortune. It doesn't. Air B&B and ordinary b&b is cheap, throughout the Swiss and French alps. If you are really green, then train out, post-bus up to village, and then just walk out the back door....straight onto the hill. That's what we will be doing....
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I love summer here. No downhill, far too scary but some gentle mountain and road biking.

For me though hiking in the mountains is the best. When I'm alone I just walk in the mountains above the resort which I know well. Choosing carefully though I can get right away from things and there is of course some great scenery.

When my girlfriend is here we choose more ambitious routes in the Ecrins National Park. La Berarde, Plateau d'Emparis, La Grave, the Vercors and the Chartreuse are havens for hikers. Hoping to do 1 or 2 overnighters to refuges (there are loads of them) this summer.

As she lives in Provence we've also done some over there. The Luberon is very challenging and the Calanques on the coast between Marseille and Cassis are great too. We even took our boots on holiday to Norway last summer and hiked above Bergen.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
claude B - yes, you need to travel slow and tread light to really see and feel (and smell) the place. Provence...I will never forget Saignon, and the astonishing stone-age sites in the limestone gorges at Buoux - the climbing is excellent, and it's great to wander through the gorges, hearing the clink of gear, and wondering which impossible overhang someone is clinging onto....

Is there a 'best' time to visit the Calangues? I read the stories from the sixties, when it must have been almost empty, and really magical. They have been pretty crowded when we have headed that far South....
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
@valais2, And the joy of Autumn in the alps too, you really summed up the sheer pleasure of exploring Valais out of the winter season.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@valais2, I think the summer is best avoided, too hot. Best to start from Cassis and that is a very popular place when it is fine. So I guess Spring or Autumn.
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
That's every day skiing in the Brecon Beacons Wink

Walk, photos, ski in that order.

More often than not 2 out of 3 Smile
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@valais2, agree with your sentiment entirely, we enjoy the summer in the Alps just as much as the winter. We enjoy hiking and route spotting and the smells, sounds and of course the views, simply wonderful. I personally thought the attack on Weathercam was unnecessary, I can see how his dogs could be a nuisance, but marmots are a hardy breed and they’re clever enough to outwit any dog ime, he’s out there living it not sat behind his keyboard.....well done to him.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
@Mike Pow, ..having been plodding through the endless rain of the Beacons, hats off....
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
One of the unexpected upsides of owning an Alpine apartment has been just how enjoyable the summertiime has been, especially when the télécabine is running and a walk is really mainly downhill! Far easier to get ready and walk out in the morning compared to the winter equipment faff as well. We're not MTB/VTT types at all, but still enjoy doing some of the contour-hugging tracks which involve very little effort. For example, in Verbier, that line you see running from Croix de Coeur to Ruinettes is a flat, wide track in the summer - easy to walk, run or cycle all the way to La Chaux.

For wildlife lovers the spring and summer butterflies are amazing: it's actually quite hard to avoid walking on them, there are so many underfoot (below: papilio machaeon gorganus, Col de la Marlene 2300m, between Savoleyres and Pierre Avoi)



And if you're after a photo to silence the office MTB bores, hire one for the day, and you can take it up to the Col de Gentianes all via the gondolas, cycle the 100m to the Mt.Fort glacier and then get a shot of you in front of the glacier at 2950m. If you're a serious cyclist, then take a look at the circular Tour de Mt.Fort http://www.verbier.ch/en/fppoi-tour-du-mont-fort-pro-rider-18.html. And if you are a really serious off-road cyclist, consider entering the annual Grand Raid Cristalp - 125 linear Kms and 5,000m of vertical climb: http://www.grand-raid-bcvs.ch/index-en.html which is sort of the summer equivalent of the winter Zermatt-Verbier cross-country Patrouille des Glaciers https://www.pdg.ch/bienvenue/?no_cache=1

For those of you who've been to Nendaz, you may not have realised just how big and old the larch trees of Prarion are. Some are as much as 12 metres in circumference. This enclave of mountain larches dates back to the end of the last ice age, and is one of only 3-4 remnants of that time that remain in the Alps, now at even greater threat from Global Warming.

For the OP, the 'Marmott City' that's just below Savoleyres (where the piste divides into a red left and blue to Croix de Coeur) is in a salt layer that runs from there to the top of the Etablons chair. In the summer you may see the cows licking the rocks by the top of the Etablons lift for the salt. It's very easy for the marmottes to excavate in the friable salty layer, compared to the hard gneiss of the rest of the area. It also explains the salt erosion sink holes by Marmott City and the very deep sink hole that's such a between-piste danger in winter, on the left opposite the Audi Funpark.


Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Mon 6-05-19 16:03; edited 5 times in total
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It is still the endless winter in St Anton Very Happy Very Happy

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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
valais2 wrote:
@Mike Pow, ..having been plodding through the endless rain of the Beacons, hats off....


Cheers
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