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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    15

    TR - Col Du Tour Noir, Argentiere, Mont Blanc Massif



    This is one of my favourite one day hikes that i completed last year with my wife shelly.

    The Stats:

    Grandes Montets Lift Station at Argentiere 1230m which you ride all the way to the top at 3295, an ascent of 2065m !
    Then ski down the Glacier des Rognans to the Glacier d'Argentiere 3238 to 2535 a descent of 703m
    Then its up... alot of up to 3535m an ascent of 1000m covered over a distance of circa 5km
    Enjoy the view
    Down from the col du tour noir to Argentiere..... 3535m to 1230m a whopping descent of 2305m

    Total Skiable down = 3008m! in a day.


    it all began.... hoping to catch the first bin of the day up onto the Grandes Montets,... as you may know thats no easy feat! Suffice to say we made it to the top at 10:00am. not bad but not great either as years before i caught the Chairlift up and skinned up round lognan and was the Argentiere glacier by 09:00am, which is still by far the quickest way to be at the front of the guided groups but gives you another ascent of 600m + !

    then negotiate the steps from the top of the Grandes Montets down to the col, (i dont like to laugh at people but watching people walk down iced up steps is favourite of mine)



    Then a lovely ski down the glacier du rognan, plenty of routes to choose from, some serious some not so, but all on glaciated terrain so caution required.



    At the bottom its a quick stop to put the skins on..... where my missus reminded me of her first experience with skins.... where i had attached them to her ski the wrong way round! oops. she went miles like that, my excuse was that the tip and tail fixtures were on the wrong ends (which they were )

    The skin up the glacier des amethystes seems to take along time, especially the plateau around 3250m , credit to my missus tho as we were the only group to reach the col that day.




    Suffice to say i though i was going to die on the final 25m to the col, christ my lungs were burning! my head thumping, and my missus saying come on,



    (NB... Lesson learned i made a silly mistake on this tour, i had a 25m half rope with me. but she had no rope........ a crevasse rescue would have been interesting had i fallen in! )

    The descent proved even more interesting for me, a lovely thin wind blown crust had been forming all afternoon, nothing serious but enough, say 10 - 20mm. so i set my turn. and went. i wish i had set a tighter turn! as the speed progressed i realised i was locked in with the snow formation... looked down the route and realised i was in no serious risk of hitting something or falling in something and went with it! super fun!

    the missus smiling and enjoying herself on a pair of Salomon Thrusters.

    Some more down,... and then a bit more, and a bit more, by this time we were the last people coming down off the high mountain routes and slumped into argentiere at 17:00pm, an outing of about 7 hours

    This seemed like a long time and i checked the guide book back in the apartment ....
    2 1/2 hours + 4 hours = 6 1/2
    technical grade 2.3
    35'

    Light bulb moment, ahhh, you do it over two days! oh well, thats a day saved for another route!

    All in all we had a super day out, clear skies, and the route to ourself



    [URL="https://www.tetongravity.com/images/ci-images/37543/route_map_glacier_du_amethystes.jpg"][IMG]https://tgr_prod.s3.amazonaws.com/3754

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    The Wilds of Maine
    Posts
    2,851
    You got some action shots to go with this? Goddamn that looks like a long skin...
    "We're in the eye of a shiticane here Julian, and Ricky's a low shit system!" - Jim Lahey, RIP

    Former Managing Editor @ TGR, forever mag.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    33,546
    Beautiful.
    Quote Originally Posted by Downbound Train View Post
    And there will come a day when our ancestors look back...........

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Where the Butte is Crested
    Posts
    3,338
    Looks like a beautiful tour! Great route descriptions!
    -
    14erskiers.com

    "Don't be afraid of the spaces between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so." - Belva Davis

    "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle"--Albert Einstein

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    tourin BC
    Posts
    2,773
    yep, only thing missing was action shots ...

    everything else was perfect !!!
    We, the RATBAGGERS, formally axcept our duty is to trigger avalaches on all skiers ...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Posts
    49
    Nice write up and thanks for posting. I like the labels

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    On the field
    Posts
    807
    Great day and I also like how you mapped out the route. I did the same as you last January in trackless boot deep powder saw just two fellow skiers all day. I like to think I'm in good shape but is is a long skin combined with the altitude and the 6 hour time difference it definitely kicked my ass but the ski down more then made up for it. It is so good to be in that environment you feel so alive.Click image for larger version. 

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  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2012
    Posts
    15
    i must teach myself to stop on the way down! i tend to just ski, and keep skiing thus missing out on the action shots.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Oz
    Posts
    944
    Nice one - I've done the same tour but not quite made it to the Col due to it being my first high altitude skin of a trip.

    I've also stayed in the Bivouac des Plines that you circled on the Saleina Glacier picture.

    Great part of the world.

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