AscentDescent

Lyngen season coming up!

jimmy — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:07:12 +0000

Still guiding in Chamonix at the moment, warming up for the Lyngen 2012 ski touring season. In Chamonix we’ve had a great season so far and lately it’s been very cold and clear. Our spring in Lyngen are almost fully booked but there is still some space in mid May. May is a great time to be in Lyngen so if you’re still thinking about that late skitrip, just send an e-mail and start planning.

Posting some pictures from the guiding recently and if you whant to check out even more pictures you find Ascent Descent on Facebook aswell.

Skiers at the beginning of the ENSA couloir in Chamonix. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Just about to finish the fantastic Marbrees couloir run in Italy. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Skiing powder in Aiguilles rouges, Chamonix. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

The best conditions in over 40 years!

jimmy — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:38:15 +0000

… they say on the chamonix.com webpage, and it feels pretty good to be here when it’s happening. The last couple of days we’ve been spoiled with very good skiing and Aiguille du midi has been fantastic. Not many people after the last snow made it possible to ski fresh trax for two days.. The day before, flegere held endless of powder and were was all the crowds? The answer is probably that january can be a really good month to visit the alps before all the european winter holidays. We are looking forward to the rest of the season here before we head north to the Lyngen alps!

Skiing the Petit Envers from the aiguille du midi. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

After a run on the valle blanche, checking out the glacier from below. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Skiing the Aiguille du midi in good powder is something you will remember for some time. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Ski touring in Chamonix

jimmy — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:17:51 +0000

The last 5 days i’ve been skiing and touring with a bunch of happy Tromsö skiers. Breche de berard, Aiguille du midi, Glacier Toula, col du passon and Glacier Mort gave us great days and good variation. The sun has been shining non stop and the temperatures have been cold wich helpes when sporting around in the mountains all day long.

Thanks guys for a great week !

Asbjörn and Ulf on their way to Glacier Mort. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

SnowSnowSnow…

jimmy — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:30:18 +0000

Many parts of the alps are getting loads of snow at the moment and Chamonix are no exception. It looks like we are gonna have a great winter here and the base down low will probably last fo a while. We feel very fortunate to be part of such a magic season opening and there is still some dates to be filled up… See you out there!

The sun came out for a day and I took the chance to take some pictures from Aiguille du midi. Truly amazing atmosphere when the mountains get plastered like this.

The BIG Storm!

jimmy — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:07:18 +0000

After some good days skiing in Chamonix I went to Engelberg for the first guide mission of the season. It all ended with great ice hockey games, curling competition, very nice food, nice people, heavy rain, lot’s of wind, a few beers and no skiing… And it’s all because of the big storm that we’re in the middle of.

Even though this trip did’nt end with a lot of skiing the storm is still dumping a lot of snow, really low, on our hills. This means that when this clears it’s gonna be great to be able to ski almost everywhere. The avalanche risk is at 5 above 1800 metres so easy to start with and then we can enjoy our lovely snowy mountains!

Let’s just say that it looks good for the winter:) (To see the hockey pictures please visit and become a friend on ascentdescent/facebook)

Engelberg

Lunch in Hotel Bellevue, Engelberg.

Great season opening in Chamonix!

jimmy — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:18:32 +0000

With some major snowfalls the last week we have a solid base here in Chamonix and the skiing was fantastic today! It looks like there will be a lot of snow coming and it feels really good that we have a great start of the winter.

We will be based in Chamonix until mid march, guiding in the alps until the Lyngen ski touring season starts for real. There is free dates in the calendar so maybe this will be the year to go to Chamonix once and for all! Just send an e-mail and we’ll start planning…

Merry Christmas

Jimmy Halvardsson

Time to book for the Lyngen season

jimmy — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:20:38 +0000

The ski touring in Lyngen is truly something special and makes people coming back, over and over again. Fantastic Couloirs, great airy summits, big faces, small faces gentle slopes, Lyngen has something for everyone. Having a sea view when skiing every day is something natural for us and very exotic. The season in the lyngen alps starts in the beginning of March and lasts until the beginning of June!

So to be sure that you get the right dates, send a request for available dates. We plan the trip together to make sure you get the right experience. The booking has started and normaly it get’s filled up around new years.

In the beginning of the winter we are based in Chamonix so you’re more than welcome to come offpiste skiing and ski touring with us in the alps.

Henrik Sjöblom cruising down Fugeldalsfjellet in The Southern Lyngen Alps. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

The Chamonix Summer 2011

jimmy — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:17:49 +0000

The summer in Chamonix is coming to an end and autumn is just around the corner. Having spent some good weeks of work here this summer and also managed to get some climbing done myself (with a strained biceps as result)… Alpine courses, Mont Blanc weeks, trips to Fontainebleau, bouldering in the Chamonix valley has been in focus so far and Kalymnos, Stockholm, Fontainebleau and Crete is coming up!

Just whan’t to remind everyone that the winter is closing in and that it’s time to book the weeks for next year. Have heared that the Lyngen alps will get loads and loads of POWDER and that it will be dumping serious amounts of snow in Chamonix already in December… Posting some pictures from this summer, work and vacation!

From the couvercle hut in the middle of summer! Winter conditions on the Grandes Jorasses, getting flashbacks from last autumn when we climbed The Shroud in the left part. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Max Halvardsson makes his first moves in Fontainebleau, a perfect start! Photo: Petra Halvardsson

Had a wonderful ascent of Aiguille de Moine this summer. Stacked in the middle of Giants it's got a great surrounding. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

West couloir of Ellendaltinden

jimmy — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:40:19 +0000

After a rough evening at the Blårock bar in Tromsø, watching three live bands and hurting the ears quite badly, we decided to go to the classic west couloir of Ellendaltinden in the southern Lyngen. Together with Morgan Sahlen, Magnus Eriksson and Henrik Sjöblom we had a nice day out in a spectacular setting. Hoping to climb the peak we had to see ourselves beaten. Steep rock with wet soft snow on top didn’t match our plans today. Morgan just back from winning the Nordic freeskiing championships in Riksgränsen (telemark) showed us how to ski this couloir, making changing conditions look easy! 40 degrees at the most and 700 meters of sustained skiing. And a first class boot pack ofcourse… Cheers guys!

Magnus Eriksson makes a first turn in the couloir still listening to the Fleshtones. A consert we went to a couple of hours ago! Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Sliding back towards the car in the end of May! Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Morgan Sahlen is a "happy chap". At the col 1260m, below the summit of Ellendaltinden. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Magnus Eriksson in the front. Really warm in the couloir and in some parts we managed to stay in the shade... Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Henrik Sjöblom with the west couloir ahead... Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson

Rødbergtinden Couloir

jimmy — Mon, 23 May 2011 03:22:16 +0000

This striking line is easy to spot from the northern shore of Kjosen. In fact it’s really hard to miss since it’s a 800m straight couloir surrounded by rocky walls. Going with my friend Leif from Tromsø we found easy conditions for boot packing but not so nice conditions for the skiing. The snow didn’t soften enough to be a nice ski but still, we did ski most of it except taking off skis for 10m traversing an icy funnel. The couloir is most of the time around 40 degrees and just get’s a few degrees steeper towards the top. Great to be up there after years of looking at it! To see more pictures go to the AscentDescent facebook page.

Leif Holen boot packing the "Kjosen couloir" getting a proper workout. Photo: Jimmy Halvardsson