Afternoon Cosmiques provides

Mon 23rd: Midi - Gros Rognon: 20cm variable powder / Cosmiques: chalk / wind affected powder

I hadn't skied with Oskar in a few weeks and was looking forward to a big day. It had snowed at altitude. I met Luke and Oskar early at the midi planning to lap the Cosmiques / Rond. Up high it was clear there hadn't been nearly as much snow as we expected. We bumped into people at the entrance to Cosmiques. They weren't sure whether to ski it or not - the feeling was mutual. A French guide rocked up with a rather nonplussed client and dropped straight in. The others decided to call it. The conditions looked and sounded far better than when I'd done it on Thursday but not everyone was happy to drop in.

Eventually we gave up waiting to see what conditions the guide found and headed down the Rognon for some variable powder. As we left I saw one of the clients poles fly down the couloir. Ouch, I feel for you buddy. We blitzed it down intending to get up as fast as possible but had to wait for the train. Unfortunately Luke aggravated an old injury so couldn't join us on the next lap. Oskar and I headed back up discussing whether we could fit in two laps without having to walk out as it was already 12:30pm.

Two 10-15m rappels from the right anchor made for a much easier entrance than last Thursday. The snow had softened up nicely on the entrance where it had caught most sun. The rest was really good grippy snow, chalky in patches, powder in others, unaffected by the sun. We chose different lines in search of snow and were both happy. Great fun to just be able to open up the turns and not worry / stop. We jumped the bergschrund less than five minutes after starting. Unfortunately the high traverse back to mid station took slightly longer involving a long side step and two boot packs. The small amount of new snow hadn't bonded well to the hard base - glad that we didn't wait.

Oskar's POV shot from his blog.

Oskar opening up

Finding good snow everywhere - Oskar's blog 

There was plenty of time for another lap in but neither of us fancied traversing again so late in the afternoon. Instead we stood around chatting whilst taking in the stunning view. Great day! It's a shame we didn't go for it in the morning - it would have been great apart from the very top and 2-3 laps would've been easy. Oh well. Hindsight is a...