GUIDED BY GOODLAD
Oh, what a perfect day…
British Mountain Guide Bruce Goodlad shares his favourite day tours, from Prada-swerving off-piste gems to gnarly sail in, ski up adventures
Sail, ski, sail…Norway’s Svalbard region will really test your sea legs
It’s always good to set some parameters before we start a favourites list; we are going to talk about favourite day tours, so let’s define what a day tour is, in my mind anyway. A day tour is a ski day where I sleep in a bed for the night that is not in a hut (so no sharing with lots of other people), and get warm showers and clean clothes at the end of the day. Within those parameters, when you see the tours below you may think I am stretching the definition, but it’s my article and these are my favourites!
PETIT AND GRAND CROISSE BAULET, ARAVIS, FRANCE
Early-season ski touring is all about great snow. In the later part of the season we can enjoy skiing through the high mountains linking glaciers, but for me the early season is about powder. Moderns skis make off-piste skiing easier than ever before, so short tours in and around a ski area often give you the best skiing when the obvious lines are tracked out.
Megève is a small resort not that far from Chamonix. It is where the beautiful French go to ski, but they don’t like getting their Prada ski gear dirty (yes, the local ski school wear Prada ski suits) and they certainly wouldn’t risk sweating, which makes it a great place for off-piste and one of my favorite short ski tours.
The Petit (2,009m) and Grand Croisse Baulet (2,236m) sit on the edge of Megève’s Jaillet ski area – you use the lift system to gain some height then cut off through the woods past the Col de Jaillet.
As the trees thin you can find your way onto the northwest ridge, and a zigzag left and right leads to the summit of the Petit in about an hour.
From here you can continue to the Grand as an out and back (which takes about an hour and a quarter), or descend southeast towards Giettaz. The descent is exposed to the sun, so you want to ski when it is cold or before the sun transforms the snow to crust. Get it right and you get pitch after pitch of great skiing all the way to the road where you can rejoin the ski area.
COL DES CHASSEURS, LES CONTAMINES, FRANCE
One of the great things about ski touring is the blend of skills that come together to allow us to travel through the mountains and ski some amazing lines. The Col des Chasseurs is the furthest and steepest of the three classic cols that are reached from the Les Contamines ski area. To reach the col you can link all three to make for a classic day out. With just enough mountaineering to keep those not comfortable with an axe and crampons away, the Col des Chasseurs gives one of the best descents around.
One of the many great things about this ski tour is its climbing to skiing ratio. Using the lifts to gain height, find the top of the Bûche Croisée lift then traverse below the Aiguille de Roselette (2,384m); you often find great powder in this north-facing bowl, so if you have time it's worth getting a few extra turns in before you put your skins on and climb to the Col de La Fenêtre for your second descent of the day.
Head south then it’s skins on again to climb to the Col de La Cicle, where you change from skis to crampons and an ice axe to climb the steep ground to the south of the col. Then it’s skis back on for some exposed skinning that leads up to the col. The descent from the col is fantastic: north-facing and 40 degrees for the first 200m, then consistently above 30 for the next few hundred metres. As the couloir opens out you can often find untracked snow days after the last snowfall.
MIDDAGSTINDEN, ØKSFJORD, NORWAY
Skiing in Norway is all about skiing above the sea and with the ocean on three sides Middagstinden definitely ticks that box. The tour starts just outside the small fishing village of Øksfjord in Finnmark, a less travelled part of Northern Norway. I have made this tour five or six times and it’s always put a smile on everyone’s faces.
The tour starts by skinning across a frozen lake – this is a psychological crux for most people, but with a metre of ice on the lake most seasons there is nothing to worry about. From the head of the lake we climb eastwards to a col where the view to the beautiful island of Stjernøya opens before you. Skin northwest then curve with increasing exposure to the west and exposed summit cairn. The descent is not very obvious, with steep ground on all sides. The first time I skied from the summit we had a herd of reindeer to show us the way.
You make a few careful turns heading north, then slip under a cliff band before a shallow gully opens the way back to the valley floor. The descent is consistently over 30 degrees for over 500m and there is plenty of space for fast sweeping turns with amazing views that lead all too quickly back to the car. I have made this descent in everything from powder to perfect spring snow and can’t wait to get back there again this spring.
OLIVERBREEN, SVALBARD, NORWAY
Now, we are probably stretching the limits of what some people may consider ‘day touring’, but we started and finished on a boat and the boat had a comfortable bed and a shower, so it’s in as far as I am concerned.
The essence of any great ski tour is the combination of great views and skiing, and Oliverbreen (Oliver’s glacier) has both in spades. Situated a day’s sail north of the capital Longyearbyen, this glacial ski tour sits north of the ice front of the massive glacier Dahlbreen. This incredible glacier stretches for miles into the heart of the Svalbard, and I can’t think of many places that have such a spectacular backdrop for skiing.
A drop-off on the beach then a short climb over a moraine allows access to the foot of the glacier, which leads with an increasing steepness to a col where we can see into the heart of Svalbard. The views are breathtaking spanning in every direction as you make the final climb to the summit. Most tours in Svalbard are an out and back, so you can ensure there isn’t any ice blocking your pick-up point or there is a family of polar bears camped out on your beach. So, having scoped your line on the ascent you can get the most out of this amazing tour, arcing turns all the way to the beach.
Breathtaking views from the summit of Oliverbreen