Marinda - East Face

A new route for us - the east face of the Marinda. Seen from Zinal the face appears to be nearly vertical, however, it proved to be a beautiful ski and with very little skinning.  Happy days :)

Seen from Zinal it seemed almost vertical

The first short skin and ski down to the river

The second skin and lunch on the Basset de Lona

Perfect snow on the first main pitch ... 

and the second

Tree-mendous!

Skiing the trees

The new year arrived with lots of snow - one memorable storm lasting practically the whole week. Things quickly filled in, and we skied the trees like we've never done before. That fabulous sensation of snaking down through the gaps, dropping onto pillows of deep, fluffy, forgiving snow.
As our ski buddy Ray said 'I could hand my pass in now, as it doesn't get better than that' - high praise indeed.

Tree-mendous!

2015's Weather

This has been one of the warmest and driest December's on record (here in Switzerland). Lots of blue sky days and no new snow. So what was the rest of the year like?

January 2015
















Started pretty mild, with rain to over 3000m, then strong winds and not much snow below 1500m. But the upper slopes had some good snow, and the month ended with a 2 day storm.

February 2015

A delicate start, with all the fresh snow on top of some unstable layers - the resort blasted practically every slope to make it safe. Temperatures rose for a mild half-term week. Overall some good skiing

March 2015 

Some great snow and skiing especially if you hiked

April 2015

Some great snow ended the season. However, the overall impression of the winter; not many big dumps of snow - just small storms.

May 2015

The winter snow melted away quite quickly, opening up the walking routes early.

June 2015

Beautiful warm weather, and the meadows were soon a mass of flowers 

July 2015

July was a heat-wave and a fire ban was enforced - this lasted well into August.

August 2015

No fireworks for the 1st August celebrations (despite heavy rain on the day). The heat-wave ended, but fine weather continued with an occasional summer storm bringing much needed rain.

September 2015

The hills were very dry and the grasses golden. Wonderful autumnal walking weather.

October 2015

The larch colours where stunning this year - getting more golden by the day. There was the usual early dusting of snow down to valley which soon melted away.

November 2015

Very little precipitation and the fire ban was brought back in. The autumn colours continued to look stunning. The resort delayed opening for skiers by two weeks - the snow finally arrived around the 20th.

December 2015

Sunny, warm and settled with no new snow. A huge high sat over this part of Europe forcing all the bad weather further north, across the UK and into Scandinavia. 

Skiing - going downhill?

Just come across some interesting statistics published by Laurent Vanet (www.vanat.ch) relating to the ski industry.

Ten years ago, Swiss ski resorts had a total of around 28 million skier days (ie the number of days tickets were bought for), last winter this figure had dropped by 20%. Fewer ticket sales means fewer francs - 10 years ago receipts totalled chf 806,000,000, last year that figure was down 12%, but in real terms that's a drop of 16% in revenue. Those declining numbers have lead to 12 resorts closing during this time.

World wide there are estimated to be 115 million skiers, and each year 80% of skier days took place in just 400 (20%) of possible resorts. So what's business like in a resorts such as here?

This years' annual report by the Grimentz-Zinal lift company (www.rma.ch) showed the following. In total the lift company took over chf 15,000,000 from the sale of lift tickets, food & drink in the restaurants it runs, and ski locker rental. It also sold 2% more lift tickets than the previous year. Great news, and we hope it's not just down to the novelty of the new lift, and the fact that Zinal-Grimentz was one of the few places last Christmas to have good snow - only time will tell.

Over chf 15, 000, 000 in revenue 

So over chf 15 million, doesn't sound too bad - but then there are costs, which ate up most of the money (especially with a big investment to service, and to which most of the profit could be written off to). They broke down as follows, with the largest slice going to wages.

and what most of it got spent on

However, one mustn't forget the core ingredient to running a ski business - the weather - and that you can't control. You need bad weather to bring snow, but at the weekend you need blue sky and sunshine to draw the locals who boost ticket sales! What a business...

Bisse des Sarrasins

Part of the board walk along the Bisse de Sarrasins

This is the perfect time of year to walk this low level path from Vercorin to Pinsec. The route was originally built in the early 15th century to duct water the 9km from the Torrent de Pinsec, around the cliffs, to the pastures and village of Briey above Chalais. After 400 years of use, it was finally abandoned in the early 1830's when a major landslide did irreparable damage.

Boardwalks follow the old route across the cliffs 

In 2004 a group of local enthusiasts started a 10 year project to reinstate the route. Board walks, cantilevering off the cliff now link the lovely forest paths and make this a wonderful walk, especially good in autumn with the golden colours.

Old bisse route, now a wide footpath between Vercorin and Pinsec

Trails and Tales of the Turtmann

Heading south on the eastern slopes of the Turtmanntal

This summer we've spent several days walking in the magical, wild and near deserted neighbouring valley - the Turtmanntal.  It was here that the last bear was killed, and is now the terrain of a wolf, as well as home to eagles and of course marmots, chamois and ibex.

Old paths and waterways

There's a road up from the valley, but arriving by cable car in Oberems gives a real sense of separation from what's below, as does walking down from one of the passes. Walkers on the long distance 'Tour du Cervin' or 'Summer Haute Route' from Chamoix to Zermatt cross this valley. Descending from the Meidpass, most stay at the Hotel Schwarzhorn in Gruben, an old victorian hotel, before continuing their route on up to the Augstbordpass and over to the Zermatt valley (at 2893m it's name gives travellers a clue as to when it's reliably passable).

Heading up to the Augstbordpass

The trails and paths that run south from Oberems are less travelled, some are overgrown and parts have fallen away. There are bisse to follow and old shepherd huts that tell of times when this was an important summer grazing area. Hanging in the chapel at Gruben is a wonderful painting depicting the 1822 rescue of a girl from the river. She was swept downstream for over 2km before a shepherd spotted and plucked her from the water.

Bear paw, 'man of the forest' and rescue story

Continuing further south from Gruben the valley ends at the snout of the Turtmann glacier, from here it's mountaineering and ski-touring country.

Looking across to the Turtmann glacier from Col des Arpettes

To find out more:
www.turtmanntal.ch

A rocky existence.

This summer we've done lots of walking up to 3000m - well above the tree line of around 1800m. At these higher altitudes the terrain is harsh and exposed, and snow patches can last all year. But somehow things still grow - a quick glance across a grey scree slope just below the Hohtürli pass and it appeared to be just thousands of stones and certainly no soil. Look a little longer and your eyes adjust to see splashes of green and pink - a 'field' of Glacier Crowfoot grow in splattered patches across the slope. The record for high alpine flowers goes to Saxifrage biflora, a pretty pink flowering plant, which has been found at above 4000m in the alps

Just below the Hohturli pass - Glacier Crowfoot - Ranunculus glacialis

A little lower down, a crack in the rock becomes the perfect 'flower-pot' for some Dwarf Rampion

Dwarf Rampion - Phyteuma humile

At the mouth of the Zinal glacier amongst large rocks Alpine Toadflax blooms and Pansies cover another scree slope

L: Alpine Toadflax - Linaria alpina. R:Alpine Pansy - Viola alpina

Dwarf Soapwort and Harebells flourish in hairline cracks in boulders near the Cabane Bec de Bosson and above the Moiry reservoir

Dwarf Soapwort - Saponaria pumilio 

Dwarf Harebell - Campanula collina

A small depression in a boulder is filled with Moss Campion near the Gemmi pass

Moss Campion - Silene acaulis

And along a much travelled path, Alpine Saxifrage manages to survive the altitude and passing walkers tramping through.

Alpine Saxifrage - Saxifraga nivalis