But kept on coming – we ended up having the best start to the season snow wise anyone can remember.

The evening of the first big snowfall we couldn’t wait any longer so we donned our cross country gear and headed out to lap Lac de Chavants here in Les Houches.

Deep untracked snow is always a challenge on skis resembling tooth picks, especially with no base underneath the fresh snow, but when it’s the first real snow of the season it’s great fun all the same.

The lift company however wasn’t going to start up early just because we had more snow than we have had in some whole seasons.

So time to skin up the piste to make some turns.

The first nice day was a Thursday, we thought there might be a few others with the same idea. Wrong – there were hundreds of people with the same idea – some parts of the les Houches ski got more track than if the lifts were running. This would only happen in Chamonix so many people taking a day off to walk up a hill to ski down when it’s not even official ski season yet!

With a little searching and avoiding the follow the leader sheep mentality of others we found ourselves some untouched snow – knee deep at least. Even all the way back down between the Chalets.

Our neighbouring resort of Courmayeur  did open on the 1^st of December, they were always scheduled to, but most people must have thought they would never open so early because it was deserted. Not only was there an almost complete lack of people, but those people skiing were not being at all adventurous.

Without any climbing, walking or even leaving the ski area we were able to find untracked powder. Not for a lap or two. But again and again, until our legs screamed out in pain and we had to stop for food and a rest.

If only other resort would open early – they used to, opening day would be dictated by weather, not some schedule arranged a year or two in advance.

In an effort to make our skis as eco-friendly as possible we use natural renewable materials instead of synthetic ones wherever possible.

We use hardwood – oak in our case to replace plastic used for both topsheet and sidewall of our skis. We use a bamboo insert to hold binding screws rather than metal or a synthetic insert used in other skis. The cores themselves are wood mostly from post-consumer recycled sources. The tip and tail spacers and reinforcements are solid oak or oak veneer.

All our wood comes from sustainable forests.

Resin

So far we have been using regular epoxy resin – a high quality locally sourced one – but regular epoxy none the less. We hadn’t found a bio replacement that either worked properly or didn’t need shipping halfway round the world.

Our philosophy being it’s got to work at least as well as what we already use, not less. Also there isn’t any point shipping resin 10’000km just because it’s bio – its carbon footprint would make the fact that it’s bio pointless.

But now we have a solution – Designed in California, USA by Entropy Resins , but made by Ferrer-Dalmau (http://www.entropyresins.eu/) of Spain – Bio resin that really works for ski making and is made locally.

Flax

We’ve played around with Hemp as a reinforcement for skis in the past and while we could get skis to flex the same as fibreglass reinforced ones they weren’t as strong by a long shot – they were also a little heavier, but not by enough to stop them working.

One of our main problems with hemp was the only material we could find was woven canvas, which is more apt for making jeans than as a structural reinforcement.

Fibreglass itself isn’t a terrible material. It’s really just sand and a lot of energy – just an awful lot of energy – but no unpleasant or rare materials used in its creation, unlike some other reinforcements.

From Bcomp of  Fribourg (http://www.bcomp.ch/) , Switzerland we have Flax fabric, which is intended as an alternative to Fibreglass – its intended for use as an industrial composite, not the garment industry.

Making the bio ski

Our first new bio ski is a full bore, take no prisoners approach, both Bio resin and Flax reinforcement

We have adjusted the ski’s core thickness to account for the difference in the Flax vs Fibreglass stiffness, but otherwise it’s the same ski as we would normally make.

We’ve made a Bouquetin 180 as this is the ski we have the most days on testing ourselves so it’s the one we know best.

It’s not just a one shot deal – even if the snow test hit’s a perfect 100% satisfaction it wouldn’t be a very through way of doing things.

We have also building a pair of skis with Bio Resin and Fibreglass just to make sure the resin works.

As an equal measure we’ve made a pair reinforced with Flax but with regular epoxy resin.

Testing

First off is static testing for longitudinal (along the length) and torsional (twisting) flex tests.

The Flax ski tested identical to the fiberglass ski in longitudinal, and slightly softer in initial torsional. But as once you started to twist the ski more than a few degrees the torsional results were the same.

Lab test are great for hard data – numbers. But we need to know how it feels on your feet.

The first weekend in November, Verbier opened a few lifts. Time to ski.

The ski performed exactly as expected, same ski, just a little softer, more forgiving to initially engage in the new turn, but once pushed has the same power. With the flax laminate being a little thicker than the fiberglass one there is a little more dampening effect as well.

I had no doubt that the skis powder performance would still be great, but as there was a little bit on the side it had to be tested.

Watch the video here…

Future

For the future we would like to only use renewable or recycled sourced parts and products used in the making of our skis.

To that end we are working closely with The BioComposites Centre (http://www.bc.bangor.ac.uk/) of the University of Bangor, Wales, in an effort to find sustainable replacements.

The next part is possibly bio derived ski base!

www.idriskis.com

Just in case and not one to miss some fresh snow I along with Susie, Rhianon and Nate headed up to see what we could find.

Earlier in the morning

The first turn is the toughest.

Out onto the face

Up onto the ridge

Mind the gap!

First track on the ridge belongs to Mr Nate Wallace!

Some nice turns in the wide open…

A few pretty turns…

Nate getting some pow!
The Midi looking wintery now

Another angle on the day – watch the video here…

The snow was a couple of centimetres of soft velvet over a smooth firm base. The arête was a little icy in places, but reassuringly so. Ice does not give way into an avalanche and drop you down the mountainside. Most of the summers crevasses are under an nice firm layer giving us a wide open playground – pity they close the lift in 3 weeks

www.idriskis.com

Since the end of summer we’ve had a few storms, nothing massive, but enough together to fill in the worst of the holes on the glacier.

I’m still suffering from broken rib 6 weeks back, so just a few quick turns to tick the box and scratch the itch. But there is a little more to it, than hike up ski down go home.

The ready room – Vallee Blanche exit from the Aiguille du Midi Telepherique

An uneventful stroll, down the knife edge ridge.

A few quick turns on nice but not stellar snow.

Smooth with some barely breakable crust, firmer in some places than others. Care full to butter the turns, not dig in hard and catch an edge.  Thinking the Chamois under me feet is only just wide enough.

Bringing me to…

The Grand Jorasses behind, with the Grand Combin further back and the Matterhorn in the distance.

It’s so beautiful at this time of the year, the sun is low to give depth and colours, not the blanched white of high summer. But still warm enough not to be arctic, even here at 3400m.

Time to skin…

Why do a few short turns inevitably entail a long skin? Glad I wasn't boot packing to get home

It’s only taken me a few mins of walking and even less time on skis, but I’m 400m below were I started. There is not enough snow to get much lower down, let alone entertain the idea of heading out to Montenvers and taking the train down. So the only way is up.

Tracks down and track up, having to rest quite a bit now

At the rimaye (bergschrund), there is a bit of navigating of holes to do, but the snow bridges are all frozen and relatively safe.

Obligatory product shot - time to swap skins for crampons and take it slower

The skin up thus far has been hard work but nothing really technical. I’m tired so it’s slow going up the last and more difficult part.

Back to the ice cave and I need a rest - my chest is not happy, but the itch is scratched

Check out the video of the action by clicking here…

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Had a 30 min wait at the mid station while they decided to open the top – no weather or other problems???

Looking out at the north face of the Petit Aiguile Vert, the first part of my ski...

What it looked like in summer back in the 1960s!

Looking up from the base of the stairs – all a bit frozen – putting my skins on was not a great idea – skis stay on the pack, crampons on feet.

Looking down from the top, not a giant slope, but rather firm underfoot.

Upper slope survived – time to head down the Rognons glacier towards Pointe du Vue.

Some nice spring turns to be had…

Running out of snow!

Skis back on the pack and time to walk. The Argentiere glacier looks nice, but not nice to ski!

Just a stumble down the track to get back to Mid Station…

Watch the video here

After a few days of cold rain in Chamonix we awoke to a sunny day with mountains covered in a fresh white blanket – time for some skiing.

Looks like winter!

It’s not as easy as just catching the chairlift to ski the piste.  Skis on packs and crampons on feet, a few hundred meters walk down an arête 50cm wide with 3km vertical  of exposure at nearly 4000m above sea level.

Ready for a walk!

We were expecting some fresh snow, but we got lots of fresh snow – better than many days in mid winter!

Susie's turns

Some nice turns...

Once we skied as far as we dared, before running into crevasses or out of snow, it was time for skins on our skis and walk back up tour starting point. Then walk back up the Arête.

The climb back up

Thanks to Susie for suggesting that the rain cloud may have a silver lining.

Watch our video here:  A few powder turns in June…

www.idriskis.com

Team ready!

Starting out for our climb involves a walk down the ridge from the summit station on the Aiguille du Midi and short ski round to the refuge Cosmiques.

1 am alarm comes very quickly;  you don’t feel like breakfast but it’s necessary.

Out the door and skis on, a short slide brings us to the base of Mont Blanc du Tacul, skins on the base of our skis and up we go.

Pre Dawn

A few hundred meters up and it gets steep and firm, change to Crampons and skis on our backs.

Two hours grind further on and we are on the shoulder, changing back to skis to slide over to Mont Maudit – it’s still very dark.

It’s time to rope up as dawn approaches, it’s chilly but not cold, there is a perfect stillness in the air as the light changes.

The Shoulder of Maudit is a steep but short, fixed rope, axe as well as the crampons. We are rewarded by an amazing vista, deep into France, Italy and Switzerland.

Maudit Panoramic

A short decent brings us to Col Brenva, things have changed and got harder. There is a stiff breeze trying to freeze us, we are feeling the effects of Altitude and one of my crampons has collapsed.

Kimberly and Col Brenva

We eat some food, tie and strap my crampon together, and start up the final slog.

Broken Crampon!

It’s not very far in terms of distance or height from Col Brenva to the summit of Mont Blanc, but it’s the toughest part of the climb – how hard a gentle slope can feel when the Altitude, and cold are biting away at you.

Last Steps...

At  11 am, having been on our feet for just over 9 hours, we’ve made it. It’s a beautiful sunny day and we can see (almost) forever in every direction. Anything higher is a long way round the curvature of the earth.

Summit Team - Glen and Kimberly Plake and me!

Me on the summit!

Smiles, Photos, Snack and it’s time to ski.

At 4807m there is a lot of wind, hence our first few turns are on hard snow. A little lower and we have powder to play in. Amazing to ski with everything below and nothing above.

Glen Plake

Seracs tower above us, beautiful but menacing, our snow changes from powder  to smooth, refrozen silver and finally to spring snow as we approach the Grand Mulets Refuge.

Kimberly in the Powder!

Me in the powder!

Below the Mulets we rope up, keeping our skis on to enter the Junction of glaciers and cross onto the Bossons.

Below the Mulets

Traversing the Bosson glacier

Skins on, a bit of scrambling and we are on the slushy traverse below the Aiguille du Midi – not far now – two short descents, some rough loose scree scrambling and a short walk brings us stumbling up the Mid station of the Aiguille du Midi 23 hours after we passed though it on our way up.

Final Slope...

The stumble back!

Many thanks to Glen and Kimberly Plake my intrepid ski and climbing partners on this rather special outing.

Our route...

In a break between showers I headed up the Aiguille du Midi to see what I could find.

As expected, I first found crowds – not having seen the sun in a while, most of town had turned out. But once up high, the pushy, ‘all in a rush’ atmosphere of the lower lift station was replaced by a gentle calm – Fresh snow and sunshine.

Panoramic from the top of the Aiguille du Midi - The clouds stretching out like a sea below us

Untouched snow...

Not being first down the ridge, I was expecting a hard pack, possible icy surface to walk on, but with so much snow I was in the snow rather than on it, even with 70 or so people having trodden the ground ahead of me.

On skis and off down the Grand Envers, not completely fresh track, but with less than ten tracks ahead of us, finding fresh turns was not hard.

The first and second pitches were steep but not so intimidating in fresh snow.

Then a surprise, an unwelcome one! –  the sun had backed the snow forming a thin and ‘annoying-to-ski’ crust. For the next two pitches we had some trickier snow to ski. This is where a Rockered fat ski like the Kamoshika makes life easier. I was able to cut into the crust and carve in it while the tips stayed clear.

After two pitches of crust, we reached what must have been the previous day’s cloud layer and we were back to powder – all the way to Montenvers.

Heading Home...

The ride down by train for the most part looked like winter, almost Christmasy with snow on all the trees – not late April!

View of the Mer de Glace from Montenvers

Taking the Montenvers train back down to Chamonix

A very good, if not great, run before the afternoon’s showers returned.

www.idriskis.com

With the avalanche danger high we played in the trees – the snow was so deep the Kamoshika was the perfect ski for the day.

Click here to see a little video from our day in Courmayeur Italy.

In September we got a fresh dump of snow, so a few of us braved the winds and went to play!

Suzie and Martin enjoying some fresh turns.

Of course at this time of year you have to skin back.

And then climb back up the ridge to get the lift down to home.

But all very enjoyable, very nice to get some powder turns this early, or is it late? in the season.