I don’t have much time to write much about my first proper ski touring adventure, except to say that I had a great time, and really enjoyed the mix of working hard to skin up mountains, the peace and beauty of the mountains around me, and the excitement of the ski down. There were 7 of us moving from hut to hut in Italy’s Ortler mountains.Sometimes our day involved moving from one hut to another over a col, on other occasions we stayed in 1 hut for a few days and did day tours. I enjoyed skiing up 3,692metre San Matteo and 3770m Monte Cevedale – on both occasions we climbed over 1,000 metres. I was panting very hard the first time ( partly due to the altitude and probably partly getting fit for this new type of exercise!), but by the last day I was more used to it and a bit more efficient so it didn’t seem quite such hard work. The best skiing was on other days as we climbed less high but sought out the slopes that the others thought would have the best snow. It’s great after working hard for 3 or more hours to have 1,000 metres of descent beneath you! 

The huts we stayed in were big and busy – there were more people than I’d expected, all ‘getting away from the crowds’, so sometimes it didn’t feel like you were really getting away from people at all! It’s all relative and compared to a ski resort there were far fewer people but as you set off in the mornings there could be a few dozen people heading in a similar direction – small chains of ants in a vast environment. The huts were pretty busy which was sociable at times, we got fed and didn’t  need to take sleeping bags so it made the tour very comfortable. It’s not known as the ‘cappuchino tour’ for nothing! I preferred hot chocolate and it wasn’t unusual to stop at a hut for a drink during the day and then have another drink before dinner at whichever hut we were staying in. 

I was only delayed 24 hours in getting home so I’ve been home about 5 days, catching up with work and a few friends and going seakayaking last weekend. in a couple of hours I’m off ski touring again, to France this time. It’s like busses, I’ve wanted to do this for ages and not done but now I’m going twice in a month. I’m enjoying the break from work after intense months working on “This is Canoeing” – when I get back I’ll have to decide what my next DVD will be! Not ‘this is ski touring’ just yet, but maybe at some time in the future!? 

Thanks very much to Lyon Equipment in the UK for providing me with some fantastic Julbo glasses & goggles which kept me seeing where I was going! They also import Petzl, ortlieb & Exped equipment and will be sponsoring me with some of that gear for future seakayaking trips which i’m looking forward to!

Thanks also to Mike Austin for making sure I didn’t fall into a crevasse or ski out into a high risk avalanche zone!

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