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The twin apocalypse of global warming and credit crunch have spared the Southern Alps, at least for this Christmas but it could all have been so different. Before Christmas villages in the Queyras region were cut off as avalanches rained down. Road passes such as the important Col du Montgenevre were cut. There was no power or phone lines, residents had to be moved out to temporary accommodation, it seemed like a repeat of 1999.

A review of Climbing, training for peak performance by Clyde Soles ISBN-13: 978-1594850981. 2nd edition, published October 2008 by Mountaineers Books

It is the same every year. Despite cycling to work, an occasional run and hill walking every ski season starts with those agonizing first few trips in which I’m left in the tracks of younger and fitter ski buddies. “Getting the rough off” is what we used to call it when I cycle raced. The only problem, every year there seems to be more rough to get off.

A 26 year old High Mountain Guide has been killed by an avalanche close to the ski resort of Eyne in the Western Pyrenees. He had set out for a ski tour with a friend who suffered leg injuries in the slide.