Tricky conditions in the Cosmiques Couloir

Thurs 19th: Cosmiques Couloir - Very hard pack / chalk lower down

Alex had rounded up a group and invited me to join. I hadn't done the Cosmiques this year so was game even though I wasn't convinced it'd be in good condition. I joined Alex, Angus, Gabe and Adam at the Midi for a 10:30 lift hoping that the couloir would have softened in the strong morning sun. Angus, Alex and I set off quickly to scope the route and set up the rappel as we knew it'd take a while with a large group. We agreed that Alex and I would rappel last, sort the ropes and then catch up with the others.

Group discussion at the entrance

I set up the rappel and Angus lowed himself in. Adam followed but asked to be lowered another five metres below another rock step so I belayed him down further on the 70m rope. Gabe followed and just rappelled off the 70m running through the anchor and secured to me. Alex followed and I let myself down last. I can see why the others asked to be lowered, it was very hard and I was a little nervy getting safe. The other three had already set up a further 15m rappel on a very hard packed section and continued down.

Gabe rappelling in

As I was pulling the ropes through I suddenly had a jolt of panic - I hadn't undone the knot. I was not up for leaving two ropes, neither of which were mine, stuck in the couloir. Alex calmed me down and talked me out of climbing up in crampons to retrieve them. When calm I thought it through logically and realised I had undone the knot that mattered, I'd just confused myself. What a bloody fool. Alex and I sorted the ropes. When coiling my rope I managed to hook it round the powder basket of a pole sheltered by my ski and sent it flying down the couloir. I have never regretted cutting off the straps in the last two months until that moment. Clipping them on to a harness is damn handy and I will be putting them back on... It is amazing how reliant we are on poles for balance / turn initiation on steeps. 

With the ropes stowed I got my ice axe out as a counterweight. Alex started down and I followed. Turning on the steeper, very hard packed, top section with only one pole really scared me. The only other time I've been that nervous to put a turn it was at the top of the Rond in very poor conditions. After the first turn I had my confidence. Each turn I swapped my pole and axe. As we descended the snow got more grippy leading to nice linked turns without swapping hands. Half way down the couloir I spotted my pole. Wicked! With a second pole in my hands the rest was a joke. We even found a tiny dusting of chalk making for fun even turns. I also found Angus' glove which he had misplaced when setting up the second rappel. Dropping something down the couloir... how embarrassing...

Alex, Gabe and Adam skiing down

The exit wasn't good. After boot-packing up too far and u-turning we made it onto the Para face and continued down in wind affected snow. The coverage to mid station was great but below immediately became dire. Alex and I walked down in trainers (big mistake - the path was horrendous) and we all met at the tunnel.

Combat skiing

Getting pretty thin

A few minutes wait and Adam and Angus hitched down. Adam drove back and picked us up. A quick drink at Gaillands to end a good day! I learnt a valuable lesson in checking and double checking ropes and not to drop stuff. Obvious but easily done. 

Family visit - GM day and Midi lap

Mon 16th: Grand Montets - Windscoured with small soft stashes, good pistes

Went for a nice easy day at GM with my parents and brother. Unfortunately the visibility wasn't with us so I didn't get a chance to show them the Argy glacier. One lap of top bin; striathon with the occasional bit of powder. OK but hard work with no visibility. A few laps of Lavencher then some pistes. Nice lunch at the bottom in between. Good day, shame about the awful visibility.

Weds 18th: Midi - Gros Rognon - bit of everything

My main aim for the week was to show my family the Vallee Blanche as none of them had been up the Midi yet. Neither had Emily so I invited her to join us and we met for a midday start (it was Paddy's day the day before so an early start was out the window). After a bit of a queue, some photos etc. we were at the arête by 13:15.

Everyone made it down the arête happily and under their own steam with a little encouragement. I explained the route and that I'd sit at the back giving clear instructions where to ski/stop etc. It went perfectly. The Rognon route had a dusting of fresh snow so we got some nice turns and some soft moguls below. We weren't in any rush so stopped often for photos and to enjoy the view. By the seracs du geant the snow had transitioned to spring snow (refrozen in the shade).



























































They chose the Requin exit so we traversed across and had lunch at the hut. Turns out my predictions for a chalky Requin were woefully wrong. What awaited us was 20cm+ high striathon. Pretty nasty skiing but oh well. More stops, photos, a monstrous queue to for the gondola and we took the train down. Everyone had a really good day so I was happy, especially as it was a hangover day and I'd felt awful whilst getting everything ready.

Not in the mood - Goulotte Chéré ice route

Weds 11th: Stepped out hard ice / average ski

Ryan had been psyching me up for an ice route off the triangle du Tacul the next day - I was game. However by the next day I wasn't in the mood. At all. Getting up for first lifts was utterly awful as I got back from work very late and was still ill. I also had work at 4pm. We met at the Midi by 7:40 where I made it clear he'd have to lead it as, simply put, I couldn't be bothered. We made the first bin comfortably.

Knowing the route gets busy, we ran down the arête and transitioned. We dropped in at the same time as two others - the first people of the day. We skipped skins (probably not the greatest timesaving move), pushing as far as we could then transitioning to a boot-pack using a single rope as protection over the bergschrund. Another group had joined the trail from the next bin and was catching fast. At the base we (mostly me) wasted time faffing. I still don't have axe leashes so had to tie them on with cord as well as sorting the second rope. I was just about ready when they caught up and Ryan offered to let them past. He was annoyed at my faffing and I was annoyed at his politeness. Oh well, it turned out they were quite a bit faster anyway so no harm done.

Looking at the first two pitches of the route

Ryan lead off out of sight after struggling with the first screw placement. Eventually I get the call and prepped for climbing. I switched to some spring gloves instead of my mitts and followed up. Big mistake. It was seriously cold and my hands were numb within seconds... too numb to switch back to mitts. I moved up quickly enough, struggling only to take out the gear with my two stumps. The ice was hard and stepped out. I reached Ryan and, doubled up in agony, proceeded to have the most vicious attack of hot aches I've ever experienced. Whilst transitioning to mitts I managed to drop one of my spring gloves due to numb hands never to be seen again. I can't say I care, mitts all the way from now on until I get some beefier gloves.

Makeshift gear leashes

Ryan bringing me up

After five awful minutes of promising myself never to bother with this again (exactly the same feeling I had the first time I ice climbed) they subsided and I switched back to belay. It's actually pretty irritating not alternating pitches as you have to swap all the gear back over and be extra careful that the rope feeds properly. Ryan lead off again. Another long pitch and I followed up, this time with mitts on. I flew up with no problems, the only annoyance being the mitts vs axe triggers. I was feeling pretty confident and at the belay I contemplated leading the final pitch but decided not as I didn't have much spare time before work in case anything happened.

Agony as my hands warm up having switched to mitts

Ryan leading the second pitch

We swapped gear again and Ryan lead up the final ice pitch which was much easier than it looked.  The ice was so solid it only took a single light swing, with nice foot holds all the way. I wish I'd lead it - but... well... hindsight. We decided to get down quickly before having a break as it was cold in the shade. Four 60m rappels took us back over the Bergschrund where we packed up and had some food. My work warning alarm went off so we headed off. Ryan had fun chasing after his helmet after he dropped it en route to the skis.

The ski down was nice and easy and we made the train with plenty of time. After a mandatory gear swap I headed off to work.

In the end I'm glad we went for it, but for most of the day I was totally ambivalent. As a result I wasn't as on it as I would usually be and spent too much time faffing. It also felt really weird for me to turn down the chance to lead. I knew I had it in me but just didn't fancy it. Oh well. I guess we all have off days. Nice one Ryan for putting up with less than happy bunny for the day (although to be fair the thought of letting him down was the only reason I got up - dickhead).

Alititude and illness on the Breche Puiseux

Mon 9th: Aiguille du Midi - Chalk / Wind affect / Corn

Adventure buddy Ryan is back. We had big plans for the good weather window. However I was still very ill from a gastro bug and he wasn't acclimatised. We figured a tour up the Midi would be a good test of where we were... We chose a route we'd turned back on last year - Breche Puiseux - which drops you down below the north face of the Grand Jorasses.

The ski down Gros Rognon was pretty uneventful, nice chalk all the way down to the refrozen cruddy moguled choke point. Over the seracs du geant, a quick changeover, and the effort began.

The skin track was very slippy meaning a lot of lost energy fighting for grip. I put in my headphones and set off at my own pace, jumping two guided parties and only stopping for a rest when I broke into the sun. Whilst waiting for Ryan (who was having a lot of trouble with grip) I had a long chat with one of the guides who'd caught up and was waiting for his party. Finding out Ryan didn't have ski crampons I donated mine which I hadn't been using anyway. We carried on up, playing leapfrog with the guided group. After 850m vert of skinning we reached the couloir and transitioned for the bootpack. It didn't look too long...

Losing

Fighting for grip

It was. The couloir has a dog leg and then continues on for far longer than expected. My energy had been deteriorating exponentially through the day and by the top of the couloir I was spent; only averaging 30 steps between rests. In the last three days I'd only been able to stomach two small meals and anyone that has seen how much I usually eat will understand how bad that is. Ryan was clearly struggling with the altitude and had lagged well behind the guided party. I topped out and sat around making the most of the amazing view of the Dent du Geant whilst chatting to the group in front of us. The guided group joined us, eventually followed by Ryan making for a very busy col. Ryan was in clear pain and dizzy from the altitude but we were last in a queue of seven for the rappel.

Ryan now fighting the altitude

Dent du Geant looking spectacular

After a long wait we rappelled down. A quick transition and we headed down fast in the hope of alleviating Ryan's altitude problems. We stopped only occasionally to take in the view... which was incredible. The Grand Jorasses is just monstrously big. We chose to ski the nice steep chalky couloir to skier's left. A long flat exit down the Leschaux glacier and we made Montenvers with plenty of time to spare.

Getting down fast

 

The dot in the middle is Ryan

On the train down we made a unanimous decision to forgo our big plans for Tues / Weds. I was still far too ill and Ryan had suffered more than expected from altitude. For now they're on the back burner...




























With the low crossing over the seracs du geant this year it turned out to be 1160m vertical to the col which tops out at 3432m. I have some serious respect for Ryan for making it up with absolutely no acclimatisation. A massive first day to say the least... I was also pretty happy with my own performance, managing it in the lethargic state I was in. My fitness is clearly well up this year and I cant wait to be back to normal. Roll on spring touring!

Lazy days and nice lines up Brevent

Fri 6th: Brevent - Corn / wind-affected powder / chalk

Headed up Brevent to meet Oskar. It was the first day since the snow fall that top bin was looking likely to open. Oskar was late and I bumped into Luke and Kevin so joined them. After a few quick Cornu laps of heavily wind affected snow it was pretty clear that the day wasn't up to much. Luke headed home and Kevin and I dropped off the ridge line into the couloirs off the back of Cornu. OK but nothing special. I scouted a line for next run and we traversed further along. Too far. Oh well. We exited via the steep, narrow couloir at the end. The snow had just transitioned to corn so it was good fun. I wouldn't have wanted to be on it any later though.

We figured top bin would be open by now and headed up. A few quick laps of Hotel face in good chalky snow, all to skier's left and we headed down. Nice easy morning.

Charging the filler days

Right so nothing much happened this last week but I kind of resolved to document every day.

Tues 3rd: Grand Montets - 20cm wind affected powder

Met Oskar after an early morning run and headed straight up to Lavencher. Our expectations weren't that high due to heavy winds and it being incredibly busy. We had two great laps of non-stop charging in shallow but uniform soft snow skier's left, then one slightly more tracked down the middle. We were able to jump / drop everything in sight with nice soft landings. It got skied out quickly so we moved over to try the bowls off the Herse. Far more patchy but we found some really good snow mixed into some complete crap. I had work in the afternoon so headed down. Nice easy day.

Weds 4th: Le Tour ---> GM - Variable powder conditions  ----> tracked out trees

Met Oskar again and headed up to see if Le Tour would be any good, we figured the trees would've collected enough. We did a lot of variations off the Tête de Balme with really good and pretty deep snow in places interspersed between wind affected striathon. We headed over to GM to check out the magic forest and Oskars "Japow" tree run. The forest was already pretty heavily tracked but was OK apart from the shinbang. We skipped "Japow as the freezing level had been way too low last snowfall. Fun day but Flegere was the better call that day. Shame. 

No photos as the light was so crap

Thurs 5th: Everywhere - all closed so a few piste laps at Les Houches.

Went to Brevent to meet the others. Waited until 9:30. Closed for the day - seriously high winds. Went to Montenvers as it was showing as open. Waited until 11 until they said information at 1pm. Left. Went up Les Houches for a few laps of chalk in the shade and soft in the sun. Not the way I wanted to test out my lovely new powder skis...

Not faking a powder shot at all

Afternoon lap of Rognon

Weds 25th: Midi - Gros Rognon - 30cm very slightly wind affected

I was back from work in time to squeeze in a quick hot lap so I joined Charlie on his first time this season. We got up to a not too strong but biting wind, much colder than expected. In just a shell with no baselayers I was frozen by the time I'd clipped in but as soon as we got moving all was good.

Layer of frost on my face

We dropped in high off the arête to soft powder with far less tracks than expected. We kept the pace high, stopping only to decide which part of Rognon to ski. We didn't stop again (bar the occasional 5s to point out to Charlie where it was particularly bad this year). Lovely keeping a decent pace and doing long pitches in great snow without a break. 

We arrived at the Requin hut quickly and exited via the right couloir. It had been skied but there was still plenty of good snow at the edges. A slow push - my skis were sticking - and we exited to the James Bond. Jumped 20-30 people on the boot-pack and back down in slushy conditions to Chamonix. The track is getting much rockier but was still very skiable. Good way to spend an afternoon after work, but very annoyed that I couldn't ski the morning which would've been excellent.

Winter wonderland much