On the 11th April I discovered one of the main rivets in my ski boots had been sheared off during the 30 minute walk across moraine at the end of a Vallée Blanche. Swiftly repaired the next day by Maria at The Boot Room in Chamonix.

On the 13th I was driving into Cham to meet clients for a warm up day off the Midi when the plastic plate on one of my bindings cracked and fell onto the car roof and from there onto the autoroute. Not that it affects the performance of the binding, and I did have exactly the same failure on the other binding a year ago…

When I took the skis into Sanglard Sports that afternoon to get them serviced after another base tearing at the end of the VB and to get the new plate put on, Stan the Man in the ski workshop pointed out that my skis were delaminating. No problem – he could fill the cracks with waterproof glue to prevent it from getting any worse in the short term before I set off on the Haute Route.

And yesterday at the end of the Haute Route the plastic basket on one of my carbon fibre poles tore off after many years of faithful service. Easy to replace with the basket off the spare pole.

I think my kit is trying to tell me something. I’ll try not to listen until the 15th May after a Bernese Oberland tour and a Mont Blanc ski descent…

There are many things that can spoil a ski tour: avalanches, bad weather, illness or kit failure but there’s nothing like blisters to turn every step uphill and/or every turn downhill from pleasure to irritation to agony. I’ve just done 6 days in the Stubai and two of the team put up heroic performances in the face of horrific blisters. The accompanying shot shows the taping by day 5, though sadly it seemed that it may have been too little too late. The bleeding and suppuration underneath is something I just can’t bring myself to publish on the net. A nasty business indeed.

So to avoid this kind of bloodfest, we can take the following precautions:

· Don’t try and tour in downhill boots for more than an hour. Get some touring boots – they’re made for the job.

· Don’t hire boots. Buy them from a specialist bootfitter with a good reputation and allow a week for them to bed in and get corrections to the inner and/or the shell as required.

· As soon as you feel a hot spot on tour, get your boot off and get some Compeed on. I sometimes think I should buy shares in Compeed. Amazing stuff.

· Then put Strappal tape over the Compeed, preferably starting under the heel so it’s held securely in place.

· Leave the Compeed on for the rest of the tour and if it still hurts then just out on more layers of tape.

· Do plenty of calf stretching so your heels don’t lift when you’re skinning.

Happy skinning with intact skin!

Two shiny new jackets arrived from WL Gore last week, following on from a test programme last winter involving a select team from the British Mountain Guides. Now we're on the next stage of the project, which is all very exciting.

So why do Gore choose to use Guides for their test programme? For a start, we're out there most days, rain, snow or shine. Secondly, we're all physically aware individuals with a good internal monitor of our temperature, comfort etc. Thirdly, it's great profile for Gore, having their product out there being used by professionals at the top of their game.

And additionally in my case, I was lucky enough in my previous life to spend 14 years in the textiles business, and while my business wasn't directly related to hard shell products, of course I have a broad knowledge of textiles work in the outdoors and the complex system by which ideas make it from the design studio to the shop to the mountain.

If you go down to the woods today
You're sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
In snow that’s up to your thighs
For ev'ry bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears get their powder.

Ev'ry teddy bear who's been good
Is sure of a treat today.
There's lots of marvelous things to ski
And wonderful games to play.
Beneath the trees where nobody sees
They'll ski around as fast as they please
Cause that's the way the teddy bears get their powder.

If you go down to the woods today
You'd better not go alone.
We’re all tooled up with shovel and probe,
Transceiver and mobile phone.
For ev'ry bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today's the day the teddy bears get their powder.

Powder day for teddy bears
The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today
Watch them, catch them unawares
And see them have a lunch in Italy.
See them gaily ski the trees
They work their thighs and knees
They never have any cares;
At six o'clock their mummies and daddies,
Will take them home to bed,
Because they're tired little teddy bears.

It's the last gasp of the quiet period in Chamonix. All the resorts are fully open this coming weekend, the 18th December, and the hordes will start to pour in. Not that we're complaining - visitors mean work, but it has been great to have the place to ourselves, even if (or perhaps because) that means a bit of extra effort to get some downhill.

Snow arrives tomorrow (Friday) as if on cue to launch the season off with a bang. so a big team of us took advantage of the last good weather today to skin up from the top of the Bochard and take a run down the Argentiere glacier. How cold was it up there? We had a debate as to whether it was merely Baltic or properly tit-cold. Olly lost feeling in one foot, Stu had a face mask on, batteries in my camera and iPhone died (so no photos other than the one shown here) and we all had to wear duvet jackets even on the skin up. So PT-C was the conclusion from everyone on the team, some of whom are quite gnarly.

But it was worth it - the glacier is very well filled in for the time of year, and although the snow at the top had a bit of a cheeky crust on it, lower down it was fantastic grippy carpet. Ideal for steep skiing but don't under any circumstances stack it, as you won't stop!

We have a dump arriving soon and the base is firm. Bring it on...

Here we go: Just over a week to go the Kendal Mountain Festival and it's starting to move towards fever pitch. It's like being on a roller coaster where, over the last few months, the car has been gradually clunking up the ramp. A couple of days ago, we toppled over the crest and now we're hurtling down the initial first slope, knowing that in a few days we're going to loop the loop, fire through the water pit and at some stage a camera will take a snap of us looking terrified, exhilarated, studiously bored pretending we're in control of the whole thing, or just gurning stupidly with the excessive G force.

We have all sorts of complexities to deal with: films being too short, too long, live events needing to be reprogrammed, and all this needs to go into the programme which goes to print tomorrow. I'm lucky - all I have to do is organise presenters and they can be recruited at the last minute from the willing volunteers on the subs bench, plus last minute appearances by some of the stars of the climbing world. Thanks to Leo Houlding for stepping in just half an hour ago!

So why does it all have to wait until the last minute? It's a reasonable question to ask. The truth is we're always trying to squeeze the last ounce of quality out and, to do that, it has to be finely balanced which can only be done at the last minute. Plus - it's more exciting that way. Imagine being on a roller coaster that was as steep as a cricket pitch. Wouldn't be worth the entrance fee would it?

After a prolonged holiday in California (replacement of CCD and general overall maintenance with those nice people at Netcam), the webcam from my balcony in Coupeau is back on line. What with transit to and from the Sunshine State and then complete reinstallation of the software, it's been a while.

However, now we're back with the regular hourly uploads which can be accessed for the moment by clicking here or on the image to the right. When we have a spare minute, the image will be back in its rightful place on the front page of the site. Thanks to the Twitter feed for standing in for the last few months. You can access the Twitter feed from various places but there's only one spot where this image appears.

The weather has been stellar just as the camera has gone back into action so here's a sample image to show just how good it can be. As the winter comes on, we should start to see the snow line creep down the slope opposite.

If anyone has any preference for the Twitter feed over the webcam, or any other aspects of the site, please do post a comment or drop me a line.

This excellent advert from Faction Skis shows you exactly how good powder skiing can be.

Be warned - it should only be viewed after the 9 o'clock watershed!

Mont Blanc 4th-10th Sept 2010 from ian grenfell on Vimeo.

Great little video shot by Ian Grenfell during the penultimate week of the alpine summer season. All done on a Flip camera - very impressive to have the energy and presence of mind to keep shooting, and a nice little edit to boot. It's a great record of a very enjoyable and satisfying week.

Thanks Ian!

Book of Forearms Chapter 2, verses 12 to 15

And lo the Reverend Bright did text Brother Perkins: "Evening Mass Wednesday?". And Brother Perkins did straightway reply indicating in the affirmative, being weak in arm and needing to get his shit together before a month long crusade in the land of dark satanic mills at the end of his summer alpine season.

And thus it came to pass that Reverend Bright and Brother Perkins did meet up in Vallorcine to take themselves to that area known as Falaise de Renard by those inhabiting that area, and as Church Crag by the Philistines. Having only a short while before Reverend Bright's dinner appointment at the Eden, they verily went to it fairly smartly, with Brother Perkins getting the clips in on Grosso Modo (7a if you know where the holds are). Brother Perkins did sin a tad, getting lost and straying onto the 6c to the left. And thus spake Reverend Bright: "Guides on holiday - they're either lost or in the café."

And then Reverend Bright and Brother Perkins did both top rope Grosso Modo twice each in the ensuing 40 minutes, though Brother Perkins was sorely pumped on his last lap and verily had to pull his finger out on the crux.

And the Lord looked down and saw that the boys were boxed and happy, and said to them "Go home and drink red wine lads, for you have obeyed my last commandment written by Saint Tony Yaniro - never, under any circumstances, pass up the opportunity to get pumped"

Amen.