Doug Coombs Steep Camp is back


Miles and Liz Smart are running these steep camps, and have asked me to help this year.

We have ideal conditions, with lots of fresh snow and very few skiers in town. The avalanche situation is relatively low at level 2. This is allowing us to get on some steep terrain and talk about ski technique in exposed areas. We have looked at belay anchors, setting up fixed ropes to lower over steep terrain, and talked about the different aspects of avalanche conditions. Do you know what a high temperature gradient is and its effect on the creation of facets?

View the photos of the heli ski we did on day 2.

What a wild winter this had turned out to be! We have been skiing really nice winter snow for the past 3 weeks. And it's mid-April!!! It was -18 Celsius, with strong winds at altitude for our heli. My hands were cold, playing with the camera. The skiing in Verbier was some of the best powder skiing of the whole season.

The forecast is calling for warmer and variable weather for the next few days. The snow/rain level will hover around 1800 meters, just above the village. Happy tracks!

Posted: Wed - April 9, 2008 at 04:34 AM        

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