Enjoying what little we could see of the powder in Courmayeur

Sun 17th: Courmayeur - 20cm fresh, more higher

Oscar's friends had reported decent powder in Courmayeur on Saturday and a snowfall on the way. Chamonix had absolutely nothing so Oscar, Rasmus, Jack and I headed over.

We arrived to 20cm of fresh from the night, so yesterdays tracks were showing. There was still enough fresh to charge through without effort. A quick lap of Zerotta and we headed up Bertolini for a few laps, somehow managing to lose Oscar. The snow was pretty good in the trees, but we figured it'd be much better higher and Youla was open. 

Youla had a biiiiiiig queue by Courmayeur standard (then again it is half term...) We reached the top to low visibility. Everyone was smashing the back bowl but we figured we'd check out the couloir as we'd actually like to be able to see. There had already been 3-4 people in front of us. The snow was great and we barely crossed a track. As the couloir opened into the bowl we found sections of the previous snowfall that had sluffed leaving only a thin layer of fresh on top. In the flat light it was hard to tell what was what but you soon learnt where to go.

One of many traverses out in the better visibility

We went back up for a second lap and the visibility poked out so we dropped off the back. Great snow. Occasionally you could feel the base but it didn't make much difference. Still face shots. We continued on for the rest of the day lapping various orientations of the Youla (8+ laps by the end). Some had visibility, some didn't. Some were better than others, but all were good. Later on we eventually managed to find Oscar, although we lost Jack to fatigue by the end. We avoided certain aspects after I cut a couloir and it sluffed back to the crappy previous layer. Clearly the new snowfall hadn't bonded at all in places.

Rasmus in the white room

We skied until the very final lifts and intended to ski down but Oscar skied straight past the turnoff (or what I assume was, it's hardly made clear). As I wasn't sure we played it safe and took the very last chair up and took the bubble down. We'd got on the lift a full 8.5 hours before and hadn't had a break. By far the longest ski day I've done but a really good one.

Half of the Col de l'Amône

Thurs 12th: Brèche de l'Amône - Spring touring snow

Been in a bit of a funk recently with wind ruining plans and lazy days. As a result I'd only skied once this week so when Oscar asked me about this route I was well up for it, despite having to be at work for 15:15. Trying to fit it in before work was very ambitious as it usually takes 6-7 hours. With an early start Oscar, Luke and I arrived at top station just after 9 with no queue. Luckily they're now opening earlier.

Due to the gaping crevasses in the skier's right routes down to the basin and reports of the high traverse being especially bad we stuck well left and dropped onto the basin via the couloir off the rognon. This resulted in elongating an already very long skin right up to the very end of the Argy basin. We moved quickly in the with no breaks, aided by the cool breeze funneling down the basin.

Luke looking up the glacier

Military takes on the Col d'Argentiere

Oscar stowing his gear in front of the the Col du Tour Noir

Unfortunately we lost quite a lot of time further up the glacier. We chose to backtrack and skin roped up on the right hand shoulder to avoid some questionable snow bridges. After carefully crossing two larger snowbridges we arrived at the bottom of the couloir around 12pm, after ~7km of skinning.

On

And on

And on

We switched to crampons and began the bootpack, staying roped as we still had to cross the bergschrund (filled but obvious). All was fine for the first 150m, bar stripping to thermals, until my warning alarm for work went off. I was pretty annoyed. I carried on up for another 15 mins to a rocky section where I ditched the rope and transitioned to ski mode. The others continued up. In my jealousy I gave them a few choice swear words, told them to be quick before the snow baked, wished them luck.

Oscar's POV of me setting the bootpack

Sad to have to bail

Still a nice steep descent

Oscar's POV skiing the top (I was at work by then)

I put my headphones in and dropped in. The snow was very warm for the first section as the sun had been on it a while. Below was very hard but good fun and not icy. I followed the route out we'd planned carefully on the skin up and took in the amazing views the Argentiere basin has to offer. I was down in a quick 45 minutes and off to work with plenty of time to spare. Annoying as I could've reached the top without the various delays and me leaving a lot of time for work... Oh well. Next time.

Entrance to the glacier looking a little sparse

I just love it

When I first skied up the Midi I thought nothing easily lift-accessed would top it, but the Argy basin does. The mountains tower above on all sides. Skier's left is a constant 45-60 degree wall of classic steep skiing lines and there are plenty on the right... There are multiple, easily accessed, cols that offer stunning views of Switzerland and Italy. It's probably my favourite place and I hope to spend a lot more time up there this year.

NB. Link to Oscar's Blog of the same day where the POV photos were from.

More Aiguilles Rogues and more bloody wind...

Sun 8th: Col de Belvedere - heavily wind effected up high, slightly down low

Got up with the aim of doing Col du Passon with Bob and Alan. We arrived at GM to hear reports of much stronger wind than expected with top bin info at 9:30. Once again we called it off and headed up Flegere to have a look at Col du Belvedere. The wind was still very strong at Flegere with Floria closed so we took the low traverse. We dropped quite low to start skinning from the very bottom. The wind was in a frenzy and the changeover was a bit unpleasant.

It quickly became clear I was going to struggle on the skin. The snow had been scoured back to hard pack and I was getting virtually no grip: My skis are 119mm underfoot and my skins are cut to much smaller skis so I get very little grip. Hardly ideal. I battled up, slipping a considerable amount, forgoing the skin track in favour of the slight grip advantage on the fresh snow. It was still a lot of effort. After 300m vert we finally found less wind ravaged snow which was far easier to get traction. I still continued cutting my own track the whole way.

After 750m vert (more than usual due to us starting very low) we reached the Col. There were 5-10 people who arrived just before us and another five or so who had motored up and skied down the same side. Not wanting to be held up by the large group, a quick changeover saw us as the first party to drop over to the other side for the day. We set up a twin 30m rappel, just in case, but it wasn't necessary so I unroped and carefully side slipped in, dodging a few larger rocks. I skied down until well clear and waited for the others to follow and pack the ropes.

The snow was heavily wind effected up high, but after dropping 2-300m vert it became much better. Lower down the face saw some big turns and smiles in relatively soft powder. As we dropped lower the clouds shifted giving some great views. For the first time this season we took the right exit and it was very easy, the only major barrier being a large stream. Easiest exit I've had in the last two years. Bob and Alan stopped at the bottom for a beer and I jumped straight on the train so I could take a nap.

I have to say that I prefer the route to the Berard / Glacier Mort as the view from the climb is just breathtaking. It also get's a lot less traffic.

Friday is unexpected couloir day - ENSA and Poubelle

Fri 6th: 1-2cm fresh. ENSA - tracked but OK, Poubelle - Excellent 

Woke up deciding I was going to have a lazy day. Do a few quick laps up Brevent then home for a chilled out afternoon. Met Oscar, Arvid and Greg only to realise they were fully geared... Oscar had forgotten to mention it was couloir day.

Greg looking into ENSA

Sling harness; not so comfortable

After conjuring a quick sling harness for the ENSA rappel (uncomfortable to say the least...) I quickly set off ahead of the others so I would have time to grab glacier gear for Rectiligne / Poubelle and meet them on the bus. ENSA was heavily tracked but the snow was grippy and not too moguled. Controlled turns for the entire non-stop descent. Quickly ran home, grabbed some water and my glacier gear and jumped on the bus. Due to a miscommunication Arvid and I made the bus behind Oscar and Greg.

We got up to the top of Bochard expecting to see the others setting up but couldn't find them anywhere / get hold of them. Had they gone top bin for Rectiligne? Arvid was well up for going anyway but I wanted to know exactly why they hadn't gone in before I dropped in. 10 minutes later they rocked up saying they'd done a quick lap. Explained it.

Side slipping into Poubelle

Arvid side slipping in

We entered in without a rope. It was a pretty simple sideslip with a bit of downclimbing. All very easy. In the couloir the snow was fantastic. Soft and sluffy. It was all over too quickly sadly with some nice bigger turns and sluff dodging. We exited onto Pas de Chevre and after a lovely middle section made our way down to the exit. It was an extended shit show of traversing, route finding, bush whacking, rock dodging and to top it off Arvid, at the back, fell 10+m into a gulley. Twice. We eventually established contact and he climbed back up and rapelled down to the couloir we were in. He sacrificed a rope and was pretty shaken, but fine to carry on. We, very cold by this point from waiting, carried on quickly. After jumping some incredibly slow people on the bootpack to the James Bond track we had a quick ski down with no rocks whatsoever.

Combat skiing

Vis moved in slightly

We'd originally planned to do Rectiligne after as well but we'd lost a lot of time so called it off. Better everyone got down slowly and safely.

A great day, made even better by my complete antipathy at the start. It also emphasises the difference the last two years has made. When I first arrived in Chamonix I'd never really skied off piste. The Poubelle looked utterly nuts, even with a rappel and the people I skied with would never have considered it. Now, with a few friends, we'd done it for a fun mid day ski, having climbed in. It's not even that steep (great fun though). Crazy.

More freshies in the back garden

Weds 4th: Brevent - 20cm fresh (already sluffed)

Headed up early to meet Charlie in the knowledge that top bin was opening today for the first time since the snow fall. We made the queue for the first lift (10am) and bumped into Steve who had already set his eyes on the 'H' prize. Originally the plan was to hit ENSA immediately but Oscar was late so we only had a single 30m rope, not long enough. 

The bin was full of freeriders and we agreed to put the track in right away and just take our lines. 

Steve was first to the track and started cutting. We had already agreed that things were primed and to leave large gaps, not to have multiple people on any part of the traverse. I drew the short straw and jumped past Steve to cut the track through the large bowl. The guys behind us played ball and even told the people behind them to back off when they tried to jump everyone. Cheers to them. Because I had to cut the whole track the process took a while but we made it to the top first.

Sticking to safe zones on the traverse

Steve had already picked his line and headed off to the right so Charlie and I headed straight to the middle of the face. After quickly cutting the slope, releasing a small sluff (it had already sluffed from bombing), I flew down in good snow, waiting for Charlie on the brow before continuing down. Great run but not as good as the week before. In the queue we met up with Oscar and headed down to the entrance of ENSA. By this point at least 30 people were ahead of us. Real shame as it would've been epic first (we had been...)

Skipping the rappel we dropped into the couloir to the right. There had still been 5-10 people in front so the snow was tracked but fun. The exit was chopped and heavy with some bushwhacking. Charlie's knee was giving him jip so he headed home and Oscar and I headed back up.

We went up for a quick lap of skier's left of hotel face which had been heavily tracked but was still good, traversing out right for the exit. Oscar landed on a rock and blew a rail off his skis. They're done even by his standards... He headed home to switch skis and I went up for a quick final run. I'd seen Steve's original line and he'd chosen well so went and took a similar line. It was a great choice as none of it had sluffed. Lots of drops down a rocky shoulder. Deep... Amazing.

Rocky shoulder left of centre

Think it's dead...

On the lift back up I noticed the short section above the mid station was still untouched so quickly trekked up for a quick 40m powder hit. Nice big drop in the middle. Quick repeat and home for work. Great morning.

New ski partners and routes in Courmayeur

Sun 1st: Courmayeur - tiny bit of fresh (+ a lot from the day before)

Friday and Saturday saw some absolutely vile work, having only 3 hours sleep between a shift and a 18 hour shift. Sunday came around and I was determined to do something so took Graham's invitation to Courmayeur gratefully knowing I'd learn some new routes.

Woke up feeling a bit crappy but whatever, met Graham, Ali and Alex at 9. Upon arrival it was clear there wasn't that much fresh so it was down to knowledge of Graham and Ali. We dropped into the trees straight off the Val Veny, the first to do so since the last big snow fall. Parts were insanely deep and damn good whilst other parts involved clipping stuff under the surface and considerable amounts of bushwhacking.

Routefinding the Val Veny trees

Another uplift and we headed off to the Zerotta to check out a few of the other areas. After another semi tracked tree run we went and checked out Graham's "secret area" just off the... It was pretty similar. Insanely deep with liberal amounts of bushwhacking.

I was feeling ropey already so we had a quick stop. Had a coke to get some sugar in me but felt pretty awful. Got psyched out and joined them for another run down the Val Veny trees. More tracked but a much better exit than the first. I was skiing pretty badly due to feeling ill and managed to twist a knee so decided to call it. The others went up for another lap, apparently the best of the day but I didn't care by this point.

I got home to crawl up in a ball and not uncurl for 48 hours as I fought what turned out was a pretty vicious fever + cold.

Almost too deep in Courmayeur... almost

Fri 30th: Went to Courmayeur with Bob, Lukas, Arvid and Rasmus. Made the lift early to find it closed. The main lift opened up at 9:15-30 but we decided to wait. Val Veny eventually opened at 10am so there wasn't much in it.

We got up to pristine snow. A great first run, although the terrain at the top was getting tracked from the Courmayeur side. In most places the terrain wasn't quite steep enough for so much snow; impossible to build up any kind of speed. We decided to hit directly under the Zerotta chair as it was steeper and untracked. Great snow although I still managed to clip a few rocks. After a few decent laps around Zerotta (with a little too much faffing) we headed over to the main face and down.

Happy Lukas

After more faffing and good snow we were back up and dropped into the trees above Bertolini. Some really good un-skied sections with insanely deep snow. The lift was closed but they were clearing it... here's hoping. Went for a poke about the slow Peindeint chair above Val Veny and found some good tracks, a few pillows and a bit of poling in between. We spied the Bertolini moving with people on the slopes so headed straight over.

Face shots collecting in the beard

Bob's going white...

We lapped over and over through the high trees and it was amazing. Bouncing down the steeper terrain rewarded with face shots galore. More runs of tree skiing and further traverses netted some untouched lines and great turns. After a run entering from above Arvid and Rasmus split off for more of the same, Bob headed off down the piste and Lukas and I carried on the high traverse which still netted the same powder but without the sketchy entrance. Two of the lines we did were undoubtedly the best of the season. The only tiny downer was that the lift was baltic. At one point Arvid noticed early signs of frostbite on my nose so I quickly hid it away.

Lukas, Bob and I took a quick break to warm up then headed back out for a few more. Bob was knackered so Lukas and I messed around taking a few photos in the still untracked snow on the Bertolini. We all met up at 4 and headed back. On the final run we hit a nice pillow line and after a slight miscommunication four of us got the gondola down whilst Bob skied down.

Lukas in the white-room

Rasmus hot-dogging

Arvid dropping pillows