Tête de Balme, France

First day out and we chose to go back to a well known area- Tet de Balme ...  this gives us an opportunity to check out everyone's relative fitness, as well as shaking out the "ski legs". Critically as this was John's first time with us we needed to see how he worked, especially as he only had short "approach" skis.

We parked in the car park and walked to the end of the piste and set off up the track to the mid station, following the basic line of the normal descent, just not cutting off the corners.

From the mid station we continued across the ski area heading for the col de Balme, keeping to the off-piste sections where possible.

There was a bit of wind coming over, but the brilliantly hot day kept the chill off, and we had magic views down the Chamonix valley.

From the col (and the refuge) we headed up the frontier ridge (well really it as a slope) making for the summit.

Dave's shot on the summit

A long pause (mainly for Dave to set up a stand for his camera on his skis). and we took off down the direct route..  to snow was excellent, with the surface soft enough to get great purchase, and more importantly the crust had softened up so the could use the solid base.

Before too long we were back at the car and then sitting outside the tents having a brew, talking over old tales, and long forgotten exploits.