Better than the Last: End of season fun

My motivation for skiing and updating has been at an all time low for the last few weeks so here goes the end of season in one handy post.

Weds 15th: Tourist lap of the Vallée Blanche

Holly hadn't skied the VB before so I took her up for an afternoon lap to ensure the ice had softened to spring snow. She had been psyched out by a friend saying it was difficult which in turn made me worry she wasn't ready and it was going to be a shit show. Nothing of the sort. Nice easy cruise down the tourist route to skip the steeper pitches of the Rognon. Really cool views of the East face of Tacul. Slowly navigated the huge mogul field (it hadn't snowed in 2-3 weeks) and stopped the other side of the salle a manger for some lunch. A nice easy exit and we were down. Good afternoon.

Not much of note (I'm sure I must've skied just didn't get any photos) until;

Sun 26th: Morning freshies at GM

Charlie and I headed up late after a snowfall as we were feeling lazy. Some good conditions up high with not many tracks. Should've got up earlier but oh well. The snow quickly got VERY sticky so we called it a day after three laps of top bin (two front and one off the back).

Mon 27th: Skiing through glue at GM

Headed up in the afternoon with Lukas to get some spring snow. Unfortunately it was literally impossible to move at all. A few quick laps (including the last Herse of the season )and home. Shame.

Tues 28th: More GM pow (poor base lower down)

Was a little late again due to apathy. Lukas came and Malcolm joined later. Bumped into Gabe and Adam for a bit. The snow wasn't as deep or as good as expected. Yesterdays layer had refrozen and there was 10-15cm on top. Good fun but couldn't completely open up. We saw some people hiking the petite aiguille Verte so I persuaded the others to come. Great choice... It was high and untracked enough to be a perfect 40cm+ of powder. One amazing lap and Malcolm and I headed down, happy to finish on a high.

Didn't want both of his skis...

Weds 29th: Cosmiques in shitty conditions

Joined Oskar for a few Cosmiques laps. The entrance was the best I've seen it but the whole top section had a crust from the day before. However this was infinitely better than the bottom section that had completely slid back to ice. The choice was skiing on hard avvy debris or sheet ice. Did a mixture. Traverse was in surprisingly good nick bar the 1m wide open crevasse that needed jumping and the initial disgusting ice down on the Bossons glacier (full rocker skis without edges...) Oskar begged me to go up again but I flat out refused.

Sat 2nd May: GM rain-crust / soup

Mosied on up to GM for the second to last day of the season with Lukas. We were a little late as the gendarmes were (sensibly) stopping skiers from going up with the 1m+ of fresh unconsolidated snow combined with very high temperatures. Nothing was open really and the snow level was much higher than predicted. Massive avalanches from top bin hammered home how disgustingly dangerous the Midi would've been (and was for those that skied). Jumped on the Bochard to see everything tracked. Lavancher looked clear but I assumed for a reason (Tabe closed). Lukas said he was sure it was open so we headed down. The snow was very hard rain crust. Difficult to ski unless fast and hard turns. Spring snow lower to find the Tabe closed. I whined to Lukas for saying it was open. Walked up and lapped the Bochard a few more times. One lap we traversed all the way over to the Herse (closed) to find equally shitty conditions. Each lap lower down got hotter and stickier. We skied until the late knowing it would be the last real day of the season. Shame to end on such a mediocre day.