Skiing Helbronner & Courmayeur

From the top station we walked and sidestepped around to the metal steps accessing the Toule Glacier; around 200 steep downhill steps built onto the mountain to bypass what is now an un-skiable slope at most times of the year. The 60 degree ladders at the end of the steps have grown even longer in recent years, making things a little trickier but we got down fine while hand-holding our skis but many people would be more comfortable with skis-on-backpacks for the steps and ladders.

Access complete, it was time to ski. We decided to stick to the right as we descended, hoping that the shade from the rock walls would be keeping some nice cold, dry powder for us, and indeed it did. I hadn't expected 40-50cm powder at all so hadn't even brought my fattest skis but the skiing was still excellent with plenty of untouched stashes of snow to find and many a powder faceshot on the way down.

Lower down towards midstation the snow got heavier and stickier, so with things warming up fast up high also, we decided that one good run was enough and headed down the lift to try our luck on some shaded slopes around Courmayeur's resort lifts.

We had one area in mind: the Youla and Arp top lifts. After cruising over from the top of the Val Veny cable car on excellent soft pistes without too much holiday traffic we had a pretty short wait for the Youla lift (a tiny cablecar only holding about 25 people) and then walked straight onto the Arp to the top of the mountain (an even smaller lift). The terrain from the Arp isn't glaciated but is still completely off piste and un-patrolled so avalanche safety equipment, skills & knowledge and/or the services of a mountain guide are again mandatory here.

After traversing and sidestepping through Col de Youla we fancied exploring a little further than usual, so made another traverse and fairly long sidestep up and over Mont Favre's north ridge to find some nice mellow terrain holding excellent boot-top powder with some ski tracks but by no means tracked-out.

The skiing was pretty relaxed but we still found a few banks and rolls to play on, and the snow stayed excellent all the way down to the road at the valley floor. The exit road is a good 2km long back to the Zerotta chairlift, gently sloping for the first half and then dead flat, but with excellent cold snow and freshly waxed skis it was the easiest exit I've ever had here.

With two very big laps bagged we were ready to head home, but not before some fine Italian cappuccinos outside in the sun at the top of the Zerotta of course. We took the Val Veny trees home which were excellent at the top but very quickly the snow turned heavy and sticky, so the second half was real survival skiing. Still, it beat taking the piste or lift down!

Follow more from Lorne in his ski blog.

NB: Off piste skiing and mountaineering are dangerous. The opinions expressed in these articles are very much time and condition specific and the content is not intended in any way to be a substitute for hiring a mountain guide, undergoing professional mountaineering training and/or the individual's own back country decision making.