Well I guess there’s no such thing as an “off season” for touring. It depends on what you want to compromise; Snow, temperature, open crevasses etc etc.
Some years my first day tour in is November, and the last in June. Although they sometimes include some walking to get to the snow…. but it is quiet!
Last year I worked with Graham Frost (check out Frost guiding.com) on a winter room Haute route, where we journeyed across from Chamonix to(wards) Zermatt staying in the winter rooms of the huts that weren’t quite open yet.
This meant cooking, melting snow, lighting the wood stoves and trail breaking every day. The trade off was almost complete solitude on one of the most popular ski tours in the world.
This year I found myself suddenly taking on Graham’s group, whilst he was at home nursing a bad dose of flu.
We had some pretty mixed weather and avalanche hazard, but found some good snow and a good couple of nights in a hut in Italy. The haute route was impossible, but we still managed to get some great skiing done.
