Angus

On Day 5, after skinning up the serpentine wall, we crossed a glacier, did another technical climb, and then skinned up the Pigne d'Arolla which had views of the Italian and Swiss Alps (you can see the French Alps from there too). This photo (bottom photo) looks east towards the Matterhorn. Frankly, one of the most spectacular spots imaginable (even when shared with 20-30 others!) The other photo (middle) is day #6, looking at the 'west' side of the Matterhorn. It took us 2+ hours to descend from the Col de Valpeline (3,500m) past the Matterhorn to reach the outskirts of the Zermatt ski area where we stopped had one of the best beers of my life. The Matterhorn looks very different from the different sides - not surprisingly but we are so use to seeing the photo below from the village of Zermatt.

Both pictures taken from the Dix Hut. Mount Blanc De Cheilon (bottom photo) was directly across the from the hut. We would start day #5, by skiing down and then skinning up the Serpentine Wall (top photo) on the left side of photo. The serpentine wall is just left of Mount Blanc De Cheilon, i.e. put the two photos side by side and you have a perfect landscape.

Day Two started by skiing down the Argentiere Glacier then a combination of technical climbs (crampons/ropes) and touring across two glaciers. The bottom picture is the last glacier we crossed at the end of day #2 as seen from the Trient Hut. At the end of day #2, we (5 of the 6) were all questioning our ability to finish. It was a brutal day. The top picture is looking down at the Prafleuri Hut (look carefully in middle of picture) where we spent night #3, we had just skied down a glacier and had some 'interesting' skiing left to get to our bed.

Sorry about multiple posts and the inconsistent chronology...I didn't reduce the pictures enough and don't post pictures often so the order is a bit messed up. The Mount Blanc massif from downtown Chamonix. The evening sunsets on the ice fields were spectacular from the town. At the end of Day from the hut/'refuge' just above the Argentiere Glacier.

So, a quick recap of the ski season while I ride the train from Zermatt to Geneva. On my fourth day of skiing at Snowbird in early February, I had freak accident which hobbled me. Instead of a glorious ski tour thru UT, CO and CA, I ended up only skiing about half of the days in the month and most of those were half days as I tried to rehab myself. Arriving back in Boston in early March, I had 2 ½ weeks to get myself back in working order before heading to Europe. Arriving in Courmayeur Italy on March 22, I skied one day each in Courmayeur, Pila and Le Thuile. The Aosta Valley of Italy - just on the other side of the Mount Blanc tunnel - was a revelation. If you don't mind driving a bit, it has some wonderful ski areas and is a spectacular area. I plan to come back. It was amazing to find Spring in the valleys and full winter 1,000m higher. In the city of Aosta, there is a gondola right in the city. You get on in a green valley and 20 minutes later you are in the ski area with feet of snow. From Courmayeur, we went back through the tunnel to Chamonix where again Spring was in the town but a gondola ride up found winter in Grand Montets, Le Tour and Brevent/Flegere ski areas. Grand Montets is the the real deal - holy smokes talk about thousands of meters of sustained pitch. Unfortunately, like most of the skiing throughout the trip, conditions required staying on-piste due to lack of recent snows. After five days in Chamonix, my friends and I started the 6 day/5 night Le Haute tour. Essentially, a ski tour/mountaineering trip from Chamonix to Zermatt where you travel across glaciers, up and down couloirs and stay at high elevation huts. The scenery is crazy beautiful and breathtaking. This was also the most physically difficult thing I've done in my life. I had somehow deluded myself into thinking that my lack of training in the preceding 7 weeks wouldn't matter. Hats off to an amazing Swiss guide for getting me to Zermatt. It was so bad that on the sixth day I got sunburn on my upper gums because my head was down and I was gritting my teeth the whole day! We had started this final 11 hour day at 430am ski traversing in a no-fall zone to a glacier where we skinned up a mountain pass for two hours. If anyone has any questions or is considering this tour, send me a message. I'm happy to answer any questions. It was a fantastic experience but requires a ton of fitness and alpine skills, the least of which is downhill skiing. After a day in Zermatt resting, I've spent the last 4 ½ days skiing in Zermatt and Cervinia/Valtournenche (Italian side linked together with Zermatt). Again due to conditions, the skiing was all on piste but the Matterhorn and glaciers covering the Monte Rosa massif are an amazing backdrop that has you stopping to take pictures all the time.

'78 was awesome. Freshman in HS. Living in Norwell. Took a few days for my street to be cleared by a front end loader. No school for two weeks. People have previously mentioned that we had a big big storm in January but it had all melted /washed away but February stayed cold and we played in the snow all month. I remember we still had pack in the 2nd week of March. Over the years, I had older colleagues who would regale us at work about their car getting stuck on 128 or southeast expressway and walking into a neighborhood and just knocking on the door and living with strangers for a few days. Stories of fans trappped in the old Boston Garden after the Beanpot are epic.

Cousin just sent me this...arrived at snowbird this afternoon -45 degrees at the base!

yup here in concord ma too. strongest one I've ever felt in the boston area.

Taos rocks but snow can be an issue. I'm actually surprised to see that much snow up on Highline Ridge. The tree skiing there (and Ski Santa Fe is otherworldly IMO). Headed out west for the month of February - Utah, Colorado and California - plan to ski almost everyday. Had considered stopping at Taos but won't given snow situation. Then headed to Chamonix and Zermatt for 3 weeks in March/April including 6 day Le Haute route tour. I've been skinning WaWa in the mornings some and doing circles at the Weston ski track with a few days of lift-served skiing in VT last week. Thank goodness for snowmaking and cold temperatures! This past Saturday I was at the Green Woodlands in NH - place rocks and there was probably 12-15" of natural snow on the ground which surprised me.

rain and thunder have arrived in Concord MA.

Two great days at the camp on Winnisquam. I can't remember the water temps ever being this warm on Memorial Day weekend.

I may be done for the season but still holding out hope. Just looking wistfully at the SLoaf webcam and looks beautiful. They are still skiing with close to 100 trails. On a SLoaf chatboard I read occasionally, there was a discussion of this season's snowfall - 171" with almost no snow falling from January 18 to March 9 - a person posted the following...

Easter Sunday was the 18th and remember being at my grandmother's house in Boston and the heat was intolerable inside. I remember talking about how the heat would affect the marathoners the next day.

@LaGrangewxare you working out there? how did you find a rental (I assume). Thinking about a winter long trip in western US and Canada next year.

@HIPPYVALLEYre: Iceland. I looked at the map of totality - the pictures below are from the area (westfjords) in northwestern corner of iceland in July 2017. Barren and beautiful. We took a ferry from Stykkishólmur, arrived in Brjánslækur and drove a big clockwise loop back to Stykkishólmur - literally 20 hour day if I recall. Most of the roads (or all) were gravel/dirt. I remember us laughing that the scenery was so beautiful that it got to be ho-hum. This was the most spectacular area we visited IMO.