Arrived back in Chamonix after work at 11:30 to find fleeting sunny spells. A quick decision lead to picking Ryan up and heading to Flegere to check out the conditions in the Aiguilles Rouges. Ryan had already skinned up GM home run, I had work at 5pm and the weather was iffy so we ditched the crampons and axes, opting to do the easier Col de Berard again.
The first skin went quickly. Navigating the rock-step mid bootpack, with my skis over the shoulder, was delicate... next time they're going on my backpack. A quick transition and we headed off. The visibility was shifting between non-existant and pretty good. The snow was sublime and stable.
Another quick transition, a few photos and up to the Col. The visibility had moved in but when we reached the Col it was clear that there were only a handful of tracks in the whole slope. Within 100m vert we dropped out of the cloud band and could see where we were going. The snow was deep and soft. Long pitches without stopping and big grins. Continuing with the recent trend I managed to clip a shark fin, putting a 4" core-shot into my skis and flipping me over. No damage to myself fortunately... Further down I found an untouched spine with face-shots to boot. Awesome.
The exit wasn't perfect but was unrecognisable from last time I did it. We only walked for a 50m section compared to a 30min walk last time. Made it down to a 35 minute wait for the train so Ryan had a beer. Back at the van at 16:00, 3.5 hours after we started. If we were pushing it and timed the trains it's easy to do in 2 and 3/4 hours. Plenty of time to shower and eat before my next shift.
 |
| The one on the left ski is a 4" core shot gouge |
No comments:
Post a Comment