Tag Archives: freeride

Doug Coombs Steep Camp is back in Verbier!

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!

Spring Time Winter Powder

I took the camera again today.

The 50cm of fresh snow and sunshine was photo inspirational. We left Verbier right away this morning to find deep powder and no crowds. The snow was nice, though a bit upside-down. One had to keep the tips up! The first 2 photos are of our Chalet and Verbier. A dramatic change from the summer ambiance of 3 days ago!


The forecast is calling for variable weather for the next few days. The avalanche danger should settle down a tiny bit. Maybe a run off the Mt.Fort tomorrow? So many places to go and discover
with the new blanket of snow!