I’ve just completed our 2007 review of backcountry and off piste ski conditions. It’s taken about 2 weeks to piece all the information together, there is a wealth of data, anecdotes and graphs. Leaving the science aside the picture I got was of a dissapointing ski season. We had little real snow in the local mountains of the Chartreuse and Vercors and the Belledonne was patchy until March. Our usual spot of Prabert, about 20 minutes from the house and normally reliable from December to May, was practically bare and deserted. We had to seriously plan each trip rather than just seeing where our skis took us.

Of course we may just have been spoilt by two extremely good winters in the mid-mountains. We’ve been here before, 1992-93 was extemely limited for ski touring before February.

High points of the year? Skiing the north couloirs of la Pinea and Charmont Som, the Pic des Trois Eveches - 1000 meters of powder in July!, an unprecented descent of the Dent des Crolles at the end of May.

Some targets ticked off: the Pic de l’Entendard, Mont Pourri, les Illettes, Grand Replomb and north face of the Rocher Blanc. All in all around 35 days touring, 45,000 vertical meters and even a couple of days doing some lift served off piste. Not a vintage year but acceptable given the snow.