A change of scenery…
The first full week of March means only one thing – the boys’ off-piste week! Organised by our friend David, five of us (me, David, Martin, Chris and Nick) set off for a week’s off-piste skiing in Andermatt ably guided by Dave, a long-established Chamonix mountain guide who has skied with us, and become our friend, over nearly twenty years. We had skied in Andermatt before – fifteen years ago, and it was great to return. A lack of fresh snow (it hadn’t snowed for over two weeks) meant we switched to plan B for the week – a week of touring, with skins of up to 3 hours, long descents, and opportunities to practise ascents on crampons. The scenery was stunning – sunny every day, and we still found good snow for the descents.
The video shows only half the story – discretion has forced me not to include the footage of the skier who dropped a ski, letting it slide 200m down the mountain and forcing our guide to retrieve it and ski a long descent with the ski on his back (you know who you are!). Also excluded are the falls, expletives, and lamentably poor acting skills when attempting some staged filming!