St. Moritz Trip Starts with Class 3+ Avalanche

[EMSC]

Makes sense but not easy to execute.

In the literature about avalanche safety there are definitely warnings about avoiding groupthink or being overly deferential to the local expert.

Very difficult for most people most of the time. Usually also requires your own knowledge from avi training or similar to even know when to say something. "Hey isn't that pitch well over 30 degrees on a high risk/level 4 day?" Not many clients would even know to question something specific like that.

For me personally, In my mind level 1 and 2 is fairly easy, not big avi danger though pay attention usually to minor issues as highlighted by local forecasters; level 4 and 5 are easy - danger is kinda off the charts so stay mellow or not even skiing that stuff at all. Level 3 is the real hard one and of course most of Colorado spends most of the winter at level 3 (though currently level 2 here given very low new snow totals the past couple of weeks).

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Corvatsch is an excellent cruising mountain and we were able to get plenty of fresh snow in safer off piste areas.

You can post non-avalanche photos -- we'll have opinions on those too!

Did you do the valley run into town? I loved all of Corvatsch but that part of it (at the bottom of my report) felt especially unique.

 

[ChrisC]

I had skied Tour de Charvet in 2018 before doing it with James and was absolutely surprised that the ESF guide was going there so early in the morning with likely frozen conditions, but I did not question it when I surely should have.

I have developed some knowledge of certain Alps resorts where I am comfortable with the risk, navigation, and timing of certain freeride areas: Val d'Isere/Tignes, Verbier, Courmayeur, and Andermatt. Obviously, I am not 100%, but I have 'goto' areas.


By the way, this is how the Tour du Charvet skied yesterday in Val d'Isere - similar to how I first skied it with my brother in 2018. I was surprised when our guide just dropped off the backside of the Grand Pre lift....

4.7K views | 📍Tour du Charvet | 29.01.2025 End of January delivering the goods! ❄️ Perfect snow, epic turns and the best off-piste terrain - this is what skiing with TDC is all about. Ready to find the best lines with expert coaching? Book your o

📍Tour du Charvet | 29.01.2025 End of January delivering the goods! ❄️ Perfect snow, epic turns and the best off-piste terrain - this is what skiing with TDC is all about. Ready to find the best...

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[ChrisC]

Did you do the valley run into town? I loved all of Corvatsch but that part of it (at the bottom of my report) felt especially unique.

The open terrain has not changed much at Corvatsch and Diavolezza. Like at Christmas at Snowbird, they are waiting for snow to settle/control work.

 

[ChrisC]

I take a level of responsibility for the group being it was all of their first times and my spidey senses should have gone off a bit knowing it was a level 4 day. But ultimately as has been said, I am not the professional, I am not from here, there was no reasonable scenario where I was going to not follow him.

Sometimes, knowing where you are going with a guide is impossible.

I generally try to purchase Freeride guidebooks before going out with a guide and will request specific itineraries - whether in a public or private group. I am always interested in why they may not recommend something, too. What is safe, where there has been wind, what is skied out, what is sun affected, etc.....

I let the guide decide in the end, but he/she understands the type of terrain I want to ski. The only thing I give a HARD NO to in the Alps are Trees! No Larch Forests unless it's storm skiing/dumping. I tell them we have too many trees in North America; I'm here for the alpine.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I remember our Tour de Charvet being OK (considering the drought conditions) until the final section scratching across frozen avy debris. As mentioned previously, I was merely displeased but Tony was ready to sue the guide after that.

Not really. There were about 5 turns of softened corn and I had to deviate a bit into more direct sun to get that. James’ line was 100% hardpack IIRC.

I was more critical precisely because I knew enough about the area and current conditions that I should have spoken up.

Part of the problem was that I didn’t have a confident constructive alternative. The day before, the iSKI guide had to poke around linking short fall lines of smooth wind pack to avoid widespread sastrugi.

Over the next two days I became more critical. On my own I found sustained fall lines of smooth windbuff off both the Tignes Glacier tram and the surface lift up to Grands Vallons. These are not obscure locations and a local guide should have known about them.

ChrisC is way more prepared than I am to make constructive suggestions to guides in the Alps.