TR: Chamonix Redux 2009

[jumpturn]

I arrived back in Chamonix on Tuesday in a snow storm which ended a three week drought and sun baking. My friends were psyched to hit the Grands Montets in knee deep after weeks of icy moguls.

On Wednesday March 25, I went out with them and we did the line thing with all the usual suspects to ski a couple nice powder runs off the top of the Grands Montets. La Face was well supplied in knee deep, but the swarm of pro skiers in front of us scraped the high angle start down to mixed hard pack and pow. Welcome back to jump turns! The snow was pretty heavy and moist, but ideal for sticking to the ice whether low or high. We went for another run but the wind and visibility were poor, so we ended up following Point de Vue piste down as the afternoon storm rolled in. We had got the best of it and lower areas had been tracked out the day before so we called it a day. No photos because we were skiing in low and poorer visibility.

With some luck, this thread may be a better sequel to 2008 Chamonix Redux.

[jumpturn]

I got talked into skiing Flegere, which I had never managed to get around to in several years of skiing here. Tons of snow boarders, mostly from England and Scandi land. There was a fresh 25 cm on top of the 30 cm from Tuesday, so conditions were pretty nice every run, except the already heavy snow set up as the temperatures rose. I was led around on a fine pow sequence that enabled us to get fresh, if somewhat low angle, tracks until noon, when the visibility dropped. This time we managed to get a few photos.


After a cloudy start, the weather cleared and we rode up the Index Chair about 9:40.


After several runs, we finally found time to line up a few photos. This sequence was near the Floria piste.


Concrete was already starting to set up....


There are some views over on this side... where's the Ripz-eye view?


Pow hounds at work.


We could have been over at Grand Montets firing 1000m freshy laps on the Combe de La Pendant as the weather began to close in.


Or we could have been coming down the Mer de Glace under the Chamonix Aiguilles after skiing some lighter snow off the Midi ....


But no, we were schralping pow shots here and there at Flegere...


Better keep the speed up or sink in the mashed potatoes ... Sure is good training for the Italian side on a sunny day!


Better keep the tips up or bite it...


Never stop to take a leak above a virgin mini couloir because 5 boarders will schralp it on you.... boarder number 3 snaking Dan....

[gpcharles]

and so it begins...

[jumpturn]

Rest day. We were thinking about a Vallée Blanche run in the clouds, but the wind was high (90 kph) and the lift didn't open until afternoon. Many lifts were not open, or opened only briefly. Another 10cm of snow at mid elevation freshened things up but there is more on the way tomorrow. Too much snow can be a problem....

The téléphérique takes the station personnel up to the Aiguille de Midi in stormy conditions.

[Tectonically_Neglected]

Rest day. We were thinking about a Vallée Blanche run in the clouds, but the wind was high (90 kph) and the lift didn't open until afternoon. Many lifts were not open, or open only briefly. Another 10cm of snow at mid elevation freshened things up but there is more on the way tomorrow. Too much snow can be a problem....

The télépherique takes the station personnel up to the Aiguille de Midi in stormy conditions.

Awesome pic, makes one humble

[The Schralper]

How is the new lift on brevent? open for business? some seriously nice stuff up there

heading there in a couple of weeks, lived there over summer, be interesting to see it in winter, and of course to ski the valle b

[Hugh Conway]

How is the new lift on brevent? open for business? some seriously nice stuff up there

It was sweet on Thursday... when it finally opened at 10:15 or whatever

Nice pics jumpturn - enjoy Chamonix!

[jumpturn]

A minor reconnaissance to La Tour which reminds me why I never manage to get over there.... For a manky day, it's something to do when the driver make plans that preclude a foray over to CH for some killer woods with pow hounds. It was raining in town and up to about 1800m until later in the day when the snow levels headed down. La Tour really makes one appreciate the Crévoux woods. Tested out the BD Verdicts mounted with Dynafit FTs. Not bad for resort skiing and woods.... Snow picked up as we left and is now dumping at 1000m .... Should be good up high on sheltered aspects....

Clearing on Friday evening got our hopes up for an early Saturday VB run ...


But no, wind and low visibility left us at La Tour skiing the piste in white out conditions down to the trees, where naturally we run into hucking Brits!


Dan on a typical little drop found in these woods.


Spraying the smooth mank around after a minor drop.

[jumpturn]

Resort day. We hit the Grands Montets first thing, but I made the first tram while Dan missed it by one. Instead of waiting for the second tram, I skied a Chamois, but Dan managed to get onto the first ride of the second tram, and skied La Face. We reconnected at the tram and did a diagonal that was pretty good, followed by a couple of Pendants and another Glacier du Rognon. Things were pretty well tracked and we skipped the Pas de Chevre on the theory it was worked by the high winds from the southwest. As it turned out, the Montvers train was broken, and so, it turned out to be a good call. Snow conditions were pretty good and we hit fresh lines every time, but GM only received about 10 cm last night so there was some bottoming on certain aspects and features.

We managed to get a few photos in some variable visibility.

Dan cranks tele turns down the lower diagonal.


Dan reaches the end of the Diagonal.


Visibility was pretty good on the Argentiere glacier.


Fresh tracks on the Combe de la Pendant.


Tele freshness on the Pendant.


Pretty good rippin' on the Pendant .... works better with the long skis.


The Glacier du Rognon was still holding up...


Nice views up there even in the clouds...


Dan monkeying around in the seracs with the Couturier in the background.


Aiguilles de Chardonnet and Argentière in pretty dramatic in stormy conditions with the Col de Chardonnet and the Glacier de Milieu in prominent view.


Argentiere glacier

[jumpturn]

Undercast today with the Aiguille de Midi in the clear and 50 cm of pow, but my ride to GVA was moved up to 11:30 and that ruled out the morning VB run. Finally a good enough day and the pro skiers will have fun up there today by themselves! Back in a couple days to explore the options ....

[jumpturn]

Arrived back from Spain and just had to get after it. Went up the Aiguille de Midi on the first tram and drank coffee until 10 waiting for some visibility. Got enough to see the Gros Rognon. Visibility was zero on west side of the ridge due to blowing snow and clouds, so the Rond and the Cosmiques were not looking too inviting. There was 30 cms of snowfall the night before and there was continuing snow down to 2600m most of the day.

So I headed off to ski the Grand Envers in 100 kph wind from the south east. The wind along the arrete was not as bad as one might expect, except in certain spots where the terrain has a funneling effect. Crevasses were more exposed than in January, or perhaps it was the flat light .....

Dropping into the Grand Envers was wind blown and fluted, but one quickly got out of the full force of the wind. The second drop was nice skiing with a sporty huck off the bergshrund. The snow conditions were wind affected or powder in sheltered areas. Lower down all possible conditions were experienced from iced moguls to crust and spring velvet on the exit couloir. Visibility was quite good for a storm day. The wind was largely at my back blowing snow all the way down. After each drop, the wind was blocked and the snow improved. The return via the Mer de Glace was slow on wet snow. Upon reaching Montvers, I found the Gondola closed and so I had to hike all the way up to the train, which is not only character building but good training....

I saw two other skiers behind me going as carefully as me in the variable snow conditions, but they disappeared towards the Refuge de Requin. On the glacier, I saw 7 skiers go by while I was hiking up to the train.

As I was going down the little 45º couloir on drop number 3, my camera bag unclipped and took the ride. It almost stopped at the bottom of the bowl, but continued. Fortunately, I picked up the camera above the exit couloir and the camera bag at the bottom. Anyway, here are a few photos that I managed to take.

The sporty bergshrund on the second drop.


The runout off the second drop. It's easier to follow rock features when skiing in a storm


Looking back at the second drop.


Looking across the Petit Envers toward the Gros Rognon.


Looking down the descent towards the Refuge de Requin.

[jumpturn]

Rest day despite bluebird conditions to knock out the cold from Spain....

[mogul5480]

Cool TR - I miss Cham - Maybe next year. I've actually never been up to Aguille du Midi b/c someone told me that Vallee Blanche is kind of a boring descent. Did he do me dirty or do you concur?

[brraaap802]

Haven't been back to Chamonix in quite a few years, but Vallee Blanche, despite beingthe tourist route, is still scenic and better than a day at a desk job. There are lines that are certainly not boring over there too...such as this Coulouir Poubelle, cosmiques,rond, bridge coulouir or the north face (not mine, but http://philingle.com/skiing/aiguille...gster-couloir/ ). A bit of mountaineering know how helps, but was ok for me and i can barely climb out of bed...

[jumpturn]

someone told me that Vallee Blanche is kind of a boring descent. Did he do me dirty or do you concur?

The Aiguille de Midi is Mecca! The normal Vallée Blanche descent has a section of 35º but is mostly pretty flat. It is worth doing so you know the line when exiting numerous other lines in the area. The views are spectacular!!

The Grand Envers (5 sections of 45º) is my favorite VB line off the AM, but there are other even better "groomers" within easy range but they are steeper and more serious.

[jumpturn]

Skied the Glacier de la Noire with Dan.

This line involves some exposed sections requiring some ski mountaineering ability.

No photos on the bottom due to camera problems. All photos by D. Kim.

Looking across the Combe de la Noire towards the ridge climbed to reach the descent under the north face of the Dent du Géant.


Product placement before jumping the rail at Pointe Helbronner with Mont Blanc behind.


Pro skiers breaking trail up 230m to the col at the start of the Glacier de la Noire.


Mont Blanc de Tacul from the col.


Mont Blanc and the Cirque Maudit from the col... nice views, hunh?


Brits dropping into the traverse across the hanging glacier to the rock step. Looks like the pro skiers cut this slope pretty well.


Clearing the avalanche debris on the traverse.


Prospecting for a little pow on the hanging glacier... hope it doesn't slide....


Brits using advanced knee technique on mixed 50m rock step to access the ski descent.


Nice skiing along an arrete led to an exposed rollover onto 45º hard pack and ice, where some side slipped (with two ice tools!) and others cramponed down (with one ice axe).


The north face of the Dent du Géant looms above the airy section....


Down climbing 50m rather than sketching around with sick side slipping over underlying ice above the void. Where's my second axe?


Finally getting into the goods after the traversing down climb.


And the goods were not bad at all....


Surprisingly sustained for a descent with only 50m of 45º ... maybe that's why it gets 4.3, 2, HP....


The ski line traverses the hanging glacier and drops down the snow line left of the triangular point.


The line descends the Periades Glacier, and we tracked right for fresher snow.


Detail of the bottom as it joins the Vallée Blanche where the Combde de La Noire exits.


Route of the ski tour.


Detail of the ski descent.


Vertical profile of the ski tour.

[PulverSchwein]

thanks for the stoke. looks like beautiful terrain around there

[cramp]

Wow. Thank you for your constant supply of Chamonix stoke.

[jumpturn]

Wasted a good day getting some work done and trolling around Cham on a mountain bike. Pretty fun threading the throngs of tourists .....

[jumpturn]

More training. Dan, Francoise and I headed up the Argentiere Glacier and selected the NE Couloir on the Col des Cristaux. I took the dicey short cut under the seracs hanging from the Aiguille Verte and they skinned up the long way, and so I remained 30 minutes ahead all day. The NNE Face f the Courtes looked good with a solo skier booting up, but it was baking in the sun and quite well tracked.

Some pro skiers, per usual, were putting in a track for us up the Col des Cristaux. I met up with seven of them on their way down. They were ripping jump turns with total exposure in what seemed quite nice conditions. Their timing was perfect.

We were an hour too slow because we missed the first tram by underestimating the Monday crowd. As I neared the half way point on the boot up, the clouds descended and it started snowing. Bummer!! I continued up to where the visibility deteriorated and proceeded to transition. Naturally, the clouds lifted back up another 100m, but then would move down and up. Tough. Going from here.

Dan caught up with me as I was ready to cast off my nice ledge. I crossed a couple deep runnels where the slough was running and got onto the best snow on skiers right. Skiers left baked more in the sun and had a nice zipper crust. Unfortunately, once the clouds came in everything seemed to be setting up. So, the skiing was not quite as hero as one might have wished. Skied down carefully and then watched Dan and Francoise ski down with similar caution.

Ran into an American UIIA certified guide named Jeff who started soloing up as I crossed the bergshrund. He reported even firmer conditions by the time he skied from high in the clouds.

Dan got a few photos and we might have some from Francoise tomorrow. The guy with no camera turns out to be the model.

Looking up the Argentiere Glacier with the access to the NNE Face of the Courtes on the right. These clouds kept building all day.


Francoise skinning up the Argentiere Glacier in fine weather.


The NNE Face of the Courtes was looking pretty good on the way up.


Nice view of the Tour Noire across the way.


Heading up the Col des Cristaux in nice weather with pro skiers nearing the top.


As the weather deteriorates and the crampons come off, suddenly the exposure increases....


The skiers right had better snow even if it was steeper...


Always fun to point the skis over the void....


Looking down the Argentiere Glacier on the return.


Route of the ski tour. (Forgot to turn on the GPS until halfway through the traverse off the Grands Montets)


Vertical profile of the ski tour.

[Ripzalot]

Down climbing 50m rather than sketching around with sick side slipping over underlying ice above the void. Where's my second axe?

that's some awesome stuff you're posting but i can now honestly say that i'm not disappointed in not skiing with you saturday for obvious reasons! ^^^^


let me know if you get bored with the daredevil antics and decide on a casual day on the VB variations.

[jumpturn]

that's some awesome stuff you're posting but i can now honestly say that i'm not disappointed in not skiing with you saturday for obvious reasons! ^^^^

It turns out that the pro skiers were making turns on that, but before each turn they poked the snow with a ski pole to make sure it wasn't ice!

let me know if you get bored with the daredevil antics and decide on a casual day on the VB variations.

Just intermediate skiing for Cham .... VB variants would be best after some snow fall.

[Sol Skier]

I assume that is the Gervasutti Couloir on the right under the humongous cornice (do you still call that just a cornice)?? There was an impressive picture of it in a Chamonix article in Powder a few years back.

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[verbier61]

supacool as usual........

[thd]

I assume that is the Gervasutti Couloir

Yes.

Looks quite far from being in good condition.




Nice pics from Noir, thanks jumpturn! No Chamo for me this year