Haute Route 2013 - What could go wrong?

This is Jean Maurice Founier, from the small alpine ski town of Nandez Switzerland, on the left.  He is a 70 year old ski guide and as far as guiding in the Alps goes he has pretty much been there and done that.  For the past 30 years Maurice has done a week long long ski trip with a group of friends from his village. The group size varies but this year there were 17 (four of whom have been on all 30 trips with him) plus three other guides, Jean Vincent Lang, Baptiste Founier, and one lucky Kiwi, Whitney Thurlow.  For the 30 year anniversary they were doing the same route they had done on the original trip, a route that most groups avoid since it is harder than the other variants, particularly the day two climb over the Plateau du Couloir.  More to come on that.

I met the group at the trail head 20 hours after arriving from New Zealand....without my baggage which had gone on a London holiday.  In borrowed boots, on borrowed skis, wearing borrowed underwear, I quickly realized that these guys really knew what they were doing (surprise surprise) and that I needed to get my act together fast. Seriously, these guys were the All Blacks of ski touring, I was the new assistant coach from Romania and the World Cup Game One was just starting. As I stood in the parking lot trying to figure out how my unfamiliar ski bindings worked, I began to fear that the Swiss translation for  New Zealand Ski Guide was going to be "Dickhead".   To Be Continued