We set off on Tuesday from the glacier at Les Diablerets. Hiked up the wind blown Arete de L’Arpile

To descend from the summit of the Arpelistock (3036m) at 4pm, in 50cm of untracked snow

The next day we got “stuck” in the valley, our exit was being blasted by the Foehn which was leaving slabs all over the place.

So we made do with repeating the run from the day before.

Finally leaving the hut behind yesterday

to make use of the very regular and efficient Swiss transport

To get back to the car.

More pictures here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/endlessride/sets/72157629280740156/with/6860660750/

Nice turns! Still a lot of snow about on the 20th. Some nice powder turns then a bit of confusion at the rollover I see.

The ridge is certainly scoured, is that just the foehn? I’m guessing right is south?

Some crazy windsculpting up on the ridgeline

This is what Munter would class as “local” observations in his 3x3 method

It doesn’t look big but we’ve had some problems with small slides like this in 2012

and more local obs, I think the wind is going left to right here? And the track is already a bit filled in so snow is still being moved around

Great stuff, you had harnesses so I assume you were on glaciated terrain or needed to secure some descents at some point? (Sorry I’m not familiar with the route). Here is a link to C2C for the hut:- http://www.camptocamp.org/huts/108791/fr/cabane-de-gelten-sac

Thanks for re-instating those pictures. The trip was all about the wind. 90% of the terrain was safe to traverse but the localised slabs were very unstable indeed and at times impossible to avoid. The slab pictured was triggered by a guided party 15 minutes ahead of us. They turned around (and so did we). In fact their skin track was completely covered in 15 minutes which gives you an idea of the quantity of snow being transported.

The terrain is lightly glaciated, the harnesses might have been overkill. Once you have them with you - you might as well wear them?