Day 1 with Dave, Ben and James on the Vallée Blanche - this was their 5th attempt, having been foiled by weather and conditions in previous years. This time we finally got there, though not without queuing for Britain. A queue for tickets at 8.30, to get on a cable car at just before midday, then a pleasant ski down via the Gros Rognon with some great powder for a few hundred meters.

Just before arriving at Montenvers, I had noticed a helicopter hovering at the cable car, and my incident antennae started to twitch. Walking up the steps from the ice grotto, I could see a PGHM mountain rescue policeman administering CPR. A heart attack had happened just half an hour before. Unfortunately the victim did not recover...... We later learned that in another incident, a skier had died in a crevasse fall near the Gros Rognon. The glacier really is in a very delicate state just now..

The queues and the fatality definitely put a damper on what should have been a great day.

By contrast the next day was at the other end of the scale - no queues in Vallorcine in the morning, a lovely quiet skin halfway up to the Col des Autannes, some great skiing on grippy carpet back to charamillon, and spring snow down the Combe de la Vormaine, and an afternoon ski down to Trient in Switzerland with no one else around. I was sat on a chair lift listening to two British skiers commenting how small Le Tour is, and that tomorrow they would be off to the Grands Montets. As far as I'm concerned, the more folk are of that opinion, the better. It leaves the great little resorts quieter for the rest of us!

The (in)famous arete, equipped with a rope throughout the winter.

The local paper here in Chamonix, the Dauphiné, announced yesterday that the (in)famous arête at the start of the Vallée Blanche will be equipped with a rope throughout the winter. This crest of snow, with a 1500m drop to Chamonix on the left and a 200m drop to the glacier on the right, has traditionally been protected by a rope at the decision of a group consisting of the lift company, guides and rescue services. In early season when the VB was considered to be too crevassed, the sharp crest with its drops and no rope would act as a natural deterrent to inexperienced piste skiers, up there under the impression that the VB is a piste, despite all the warning notices to the contrary.

When the rope is in place, the VB is accessible to anyone with a head for heights, even if they have no mountain experience at all. The VB is a potentially dangerous glacial ski, and every year skiers fall into crevasses and die, many of their bodies never reappearing. At least two of my guiding colleagues have been down slots but got out due to having ropes, not only with them but also with their co-skiers, and the knowledge of how to use them.

To underline the danger, a young Lithuanian disappeared on Friday, having been warned repeatedly of the risks by lift staff. See the Piste Hors site for further details.

So… should the arête be equipped all year, thus making the VB more accessible to the public, or should there be some sort of control?

The crevassses, even on the "standard" variant should not be underestimated.

My feeling is that the arête acted as a natural filter, and even so in high season, I frequently see skiers on the VB who clearly have no idea of the risk they are undertaking. It can look benign, but you have only to look at the photos of the VB in sparse conditions to see the quantity and size of the slots.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!