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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    361

    TR: Getting rad in massive Swiss Couloirs (posted a bit late, from Jan 26th 2013)

    Living in Switzerland for the past 3 years, I've been up the Dents du Midi 3 times in the summer, and had thought it would be awesome to head up it in the winter to shred some of its massive couloirs. The mountain is actually a series of peaks along a massive ridge. The north face of the mountain is littered with 5 impressive couloirs.





    Although I had a few friends who really wanted to come ski it, only one was able to join me. We decided to go for the one on the right. The climb starts at 1200m through the trees. At about 1400m you poke out of the trees.





    We stopped at 1700m for a quick snack.





    At 2200m we reached a plateau where the couloirs start. Notice the size of the three people in the apron. They skied the less steep shorter left branch, while we headed for the right branch.





    Halfway up the couloir and I’m stoked!





    The climb continues. Funny too, because at this point it dawned on me that my two weeks back in Salt Lake City over the holidays, had made me forget how massive the alps really are.





    We top out at 3200m, 2000m = 6500 ft above the car, soak in the much needed sun on this cold January day, get our gear ready, and then sit down for a nice picnic before the descent.





    Dropping into awesome steep pow.





    Good thing is was so cold. The rock on the Dents du Midi is so flaky that on warmer spring days this couloir can be filled with a lot of debris.





    This so beats the valley fog!





    And I love making jump turns the whole way down.





    Approaching the steepest part at the midsection just above the ski wide choke.





    Which was luckily bumpy and uneven.





    Gregoire posing. 1000m down and a 1000m more to go!





    I’m pretty happy with that line.





    Looks pretty aesthetic especially before sunset. Thanks Gregoire for an awesome day and for the shots!

    Last edited by Orash111; 02-19-2013 at 03:12 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    closer
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    5,669
    nice. I've always wondered where the lines were while i was driving past them.
    It's a war of the mind and we're armed to the teeth.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
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    Switzerland
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    7,578
    very cool to finally see an orash111 TR!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    2 hours from anything
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    10,732
    Amazing TR. Way to get after it.

    Sent from my ADR6425LVW using TGR Forums

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    361
    Quote Originally Posted by Ripzalot View Post
    very cool to finally see an orash111 TR!
    It always takes so much longer to put these things together than I expect, so I tend not to make them.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Le Lavancher pour le weekend
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    3,337
    Always looked at that line from the plane, sweet score!
    'waxman is correct, and so far with 40+ days of tasting them there is no way my tongue can tell the difference between wood, and plastic made to taste like wood...but i'm a weirdo and lick my gear...' -kidwoo

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Switzerland
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    7,578
    Quote Originally Posted by Orash111 View Post
    It always takes so much longer to put these things together than I expect, so I tend not to make them.
    yep same here. but proper TRs is what makes this forum for me. GoPro and POVs have killed the traditional TR.

    looking forward to a belated Chamonix TR too.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
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    Not Brooklyn
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    8,319
    Excellent. Thanks.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    3,449
    is that japanese!!?? ww!!!!!!!!!!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
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    Park City
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    493
    Awesome.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Eurozone
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    There's hardly anyone who did not look up to these lines in the past while just going by. Way to get it done, strong work.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
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    truckee
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    23,111
    Quote Originally Posted by Orash111 View Post

    I like this one--people should take more shots from the side to show the steepness.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    denver
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    1,863
    that's the good stuff
    I can't believe you are a rando racer because I look so much better in Lycra than you.

    People who don't think the Earth is flat haven't skied Vail.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Eese Cose
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    203
    Thanks for posting! Love when people pick some lines, research, commit and post it.
    Best Regards,

    UMKP

    "Peter, You've been missing a lot of work lately".
    "I wouldn't exactly say I've been missing it, Bob".

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    verbier, milan, isla de pascua
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    4,806

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    CH
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    1,871
    Ditto!!! Noice work!
    Quote Originally Posted by verbier61 View Post
    Chapeau!
    #1 goal this year......stay alive +
    DOWN SKIS

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    361
    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    I like this one--people should take more shots from the side to show the steepness.
    Thanks. The biggest factor in this line is how narrow it is on the top 500m and how it funnels narrower and narrower till it reaches the ski wide choke in the middle, thereby giving it a slightly concave shape near the choke and making linking turns and holding an edge ever so much more challenging, especially on a snowboard. My fault for not skiing though.

    I went there a year before with two other buddies and with much less good conditions. Also a lot of rocks had flaked in the couloir, it being the beginning of april rather than january. We made it till about 250m from the top before we ran short of time and the weather started coming in. I had to switch from crampons to snowboard on the 50 degree pitch. Took forever and almost crapped myself. Much better conditions this time, ie. almost as good as it can get for the level of narrowness and steepness and not be an avalanche death trap at the same time.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    Vanity Fair
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    2,720
    rad, thanks for posting. cool that you got it in conditions like that. i've also looked up from the road and wondered....
    Ich bitte dich nur, weck mich nicht.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Zürich, CH
    Posts
    20
    Yeah buddy! Nice TR. Look forward to some future projects!

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Uber Alles California
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    3,933
    6000+ ft lines, wowy wow. Great job!

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Ventura Highway in the Sunshine
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    22,431
    That looks like a lot of work

    Great line and nice TR.

    I agree it is a constitutional right for Americans to be assholes...its just too bad that so many take the opportunity...
    iscariot

  22. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    N side, Terrace, BC
    Posts
    5,144
    Well played sir! Nice euro stoke there indeed.
    “I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.”
    ― Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without a Country

    www.mymountaincoop.ca

    This is OUR mountain - come join us!

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Durango, CO
    Posts
    28
    gettin after it! super jongy question.. how do you insert full size into your posts? mine come up as thumbnails and it makes my TR's not so appealing.

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    369


    wow, looking at that picture without your drawings half of those wouldn't even register as ski descents to me.
    great tr

  25. #25
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    361
    camlax: Not my drawing, but taken from camptocamp.org, where you can find more about descents from this peak and a whole lot more ski tour and climbing routes in the alps. Here is the page for the descent I did: http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/452...s-couloir-nord It is filled in way more in winter than when this photo was taken.

    Most of the stuff on the site is non english though, so either use google translate, or learn french, german, italian...


    TREESS: You have to open a flickr account, or google account, upload the photos there and then use the url with [IMG]url[/IMG] to insert them. Took me a while to figure it out myself, hence why I had not TR's till now.

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