It's Christmas Eve...

...and we went touring! Touring (for those not in the know) is climbing up a mountain to ski or snowboard back down, or simply 'touring' to a destination on ski's/snowboard. For ski's you need specific bindings and boots, as well as 'skins' to go under the ski's to give you grip as you go uphill. On a snowboard, it is called 'splitboarding' because you have a snowboard that splits in half down the middle to make skis, then you also need some special bindings and skins.

So where's the fun in it? After all you spend hours going up a hill, for. just 10-45 minutes of descent. Honestly, from what I have done, it is mostly the experience of being with a group of friends and achieving something you've not done before. The climb up is, understandably, hard. The way back down can often be some of the best snow you've ever skied, but the run might be steeper or more technical than you find enjoyable, or the weather could change, you could even find that the snow isn't suitable for skiing on for safety reasons. Triggering an avalanche is much more of a day-spoiler than having to go back the way you came! And yes, it is definitely possible to have had a better run in resort than you did that day, but it doesn't compare to a day out with your friends, getting some great exercise and having an adventure. The odds are far higher that at some point, you'll have the run of your life while touring and not resort riding.

Zig-zagging ever up with Anne & Tom, Stephan &Tim are behind me.

An important thing to realise is that none of us are doing this without training. We have all done our AST1 (Avalanche Safety Training Level 1) at minimum, and so are looking out for signs of danger. Others might have done AST2, or be far more experienced and have been touring for years or are wilderness guides, etc. It's a dangerous sport, and not one to take lightly. The risk of avalanches are all too real and the chances of surviving one are pretty low. As many precautions as possible are taken to avoid the chance.

More up, this was a previous tour with Tilda, Gareth, Alex and Stephan

Today, for safeties sake, we toured in the tree's. No wide open bowls of fresh, light powder for us, well (and not so well) spaced tree's, steep terrain and finishing our descent down a gully with a barely covered stream and rocks were how we went. And it was FUN! The avalanche risk is lower in the tree's, and with the amount of snowfall we've had recently, it is definitely a concern. A wide open bowl of a decent pitch (steepness) is far less likely to have 'settled' snow, whereas lots of tree's help to 'anchor' the snow.

The views you get are absolutely stunning!

The well spaced tree's were a joy, space for some epic turns and high speed charging. This led us into a tight patch and we ended up with half the group doing a 10' drop into deep powder, and the other half sliding their way down to meet us. We were then funneled into gully full of fresh snow. As it is early in the season, it wasn't what you'd call 'completely filled in', but it meant that we had some awesome drops and mini pillow lines* as we dropped from giant snow covered rock to giant snow covered rock.

As we came out the bottom, far closer to the car park than expected/planned, we were very grateful to only have a 300m hike back to the vehicle after a 1200m climb up and approximately 5 hours on the move. As you can see, and as I said above, the descent, while being fun, is not the best line I've boarded this season. But as an adventure with friends, it is almost impossible to top!

A triumphant return to the bottom with Tilda, Gareth as photographer

*pillow line - a line of snow covered rocks down a descent that forms 'pillows' of snow on top, so you descend by carrying momentum to drop from one to the next. Hard to do, but very satisfying.