Off-Piste Safety Morning 4 (with Nick)
Once more, we kicked off with a discussion of the Avalanche information and noted that the general Risk Level had now dropped to Level 2 at lower altitudes and Level 3 locally and higher.
On each of the previous 2 days, at some point, we'd observed the bowls that stretch out below the Toviere ridge - clearly viewed from the chair up from La Daille (Tommeuses?). Sensibly, pretty much nobody had gone near them on the Tuesday, with a few more tracks appearing on the Wednesday but - crucially - virtually no sign of avalanche activity.
So, with two days of settling now between us and Monday's storm, it was time to climb (a little)...
After booting up a short steep section, five minutes walk took us to a choice of bowls. We were able to observe, a little further along the ridge, another group drop in and - in text-book best practice - run one-by-one down their chosen section to collect at a clear "island of safety" lower in the bowl, before moving on.
After more discussion of the snow pack, and terrain, Nick dropped in first and rode down to our next collection point, and we followed in-turn into un-tracked, stable powder...
...and there was much more where that came from!
This morning was particularly satisfying as it was the culmination of careful choice not just of route but also of timing, waiting for the snows from the storm earlier in the week to stabilize. After 3 days, we were still making first tracks.
Off-Piste Course Afternoon 4 (with Lee)
We kicked off this afternoon with a trip to the farthest (from Tignes) point of Val d'Isere to run through the mellow off-piste known as the Pays Desert, punctuated by a brief stop to "listen to the silence". Some "short turn" and speed control exercises followed when back on the piste as we made our way down.
By now (Day 4 of the course), confidence was growing in the group and Lee led us to a break in the cliffs above the Foret itinerary (I think!) and got our attention by telling us to stay "switched on" for a short but exposed traverse, as there was a brief "no fall" section... followed by a short steep into the forest.
This section of the forest was less dense than the route I'd taken the day before and much more enjoyable; with masses of powder and fairly mellow slopes on which to pick our way down through the trees to Le Fornet once again.
Everything had come together again to make a brilliant day; the wide open powder fields we'd been waiting for, some mellow terrain away from all signs of anyone and some properly powdery tree skiing. Sweet!
