Lotchenpass Ski Tour

The ski tour I did to Riondaz happened two weeks before I went to Nepal. However, when I returned from Nepal, after a few days of recovery, I was able to do another ski tour in the area of Leukerbad....just a quick hour or so drive from Leysin. There wasn't really any powder to be found, but I'm not going to complain if I'm skiing on April 10th! The weather was great and definitely made some nice turns in the powder-less conditions. The ski tour started at the resort in Wilier. After a few runs, we skinned from the top of the lift across a ridge and down to the hut that we spent the night in. The following morning, the journey continued up a steep slope to a ridge at which point we made the descent toward Leukerbad.

First picture of the day....taking the telepherique


View of the valley from the ski resort. Love this picture.


Views of the lanscape from the ski resort in Wiliar






Enjoying the views




Picture of all the peaks


Panoramic view of the surroundings.




Putting the skins on for the hike up.




After a few runs at the resort, we made the ascent and descent to the hut.




Ethan traversing up on the path








Took a detour to a cool lookout point




Me peering out on the edge of the rock at the lookout point to the drop off below




And from the lookout point, there was a higher point to reach and why go to a mountain if you're not going to get to the top?






....Jesus was there, waiting, at the top...


...complete with the New Testament




On top of the world pointing around


From the high point just before the cross


There's the high peak in the background





The hut




Skis at the hut


Took a detour to a cool lookout point





Day 2 on the top of the ridge before skiing down the bowl to Leukerbad



Skiin' the bowl


Here's a video of me skiing down part of the bowl


Looking back at the bowl that we just skied...we dropped in at the low flat ridge in the middle and made tracks on skiers left


360 View of the descent and the bowl.


And finally, Leukerbad

Riondaz Ski Tour

On the morning of March 14th, I did a ski tour in Leysin up to Riondaz. Skinned up to the summit of Riondaz and then did a number of runs on the backside of Bernuse.

Snack at the Solycyre hut mid-morning






Taking in the views


Skis off


Trekking up




Erin, Pezz and me breaking trail




Erin and the mountains


Shane and Ethan coming across the last ridge to the summit




The summit


Taking the skins off at the summit before the descent


Preparing for the descent






View of Leysin


Tour D'Ai and the Mayen




The Dents du Midi and, if you look real hard, a part of Mont Blanc just on the left side of Dents du Midi


Pezz checking out what's below


Shane shooting over the rocks


Me checking out Riondaz before the descent


Rippin' down Riondaz


Descending backside Bernuse




Ethan


Erin






Video of Shane's descent during one of the runs down backside Bernuse


...and some Croute de Mayen to end the amazing day of skiing


Shane, me, Erin and Ethan with our croutes


One last view of Riondaz from lower part of backside Bernuse before we headed home for the day.