Mont Blanc North Face

Having just had 2 weeks in the UK I was keen for one last ski adventure for the winter, so on Wednesday Will, Ross & I set off up the Midi with a big day in mind. The days goal was the West Face of Mont Blanc - a Stefano de Benedetti descent from 1980 (?) with only a handful of known repetitions.

Mt Blanc West Face:



The face has had a couple of descents this spring, and with good fresh info from Andreas and Tobias we were confident the face was in good condition (there are very few good observation points for this side of Mont Blanc - maybe from Courchevel with very powerful binoculars..!).

An early start on the Midi cable car saw us at the bottom of the Mt Blanc du Tacul putting skins on at 9.20. A few big slots to avoid on the way up, not to mention a couple of menacing seracs...Not a place to hang about.

Big slot on the Tacul:



On the North face of the Tacul:



Heading across to the North Face/shoulder of the Mt Maudit, again you pass right under some rather worrying seracs:



Will & Ross at 4300m approx at the Col de la Brenva:



As we climbed higher the wind was picking up and we started to wonder whether the West face would be softening or not.. As it happened the Italian side of the mountain was cloudy, so with poor visibility and possibly no 'springing up' of the snow we adjusted our plans and dropped down the North Face.

Ross at 4500m:



Ross again, before the 'interesting' bit through the big (BIG) seracs on the face:



The bottom of the North Face from about 4000m:



And a slighter larger view:



The route continues down to join the (ex) standard ski route from the Grands Mulets, which for the last few winters has not been a viable option - very broken glacier + lots of big menacing seracs. (It had certainly deteriorated since the last time I was here (2005?), with a short rappel needed to cross a serac/crevasse on the way down:



Eventually we dropped out of the nice chalky snow we had been skiing down into slushy sticky snow, with a nice layer of Sahara sand thrown in to add some colour. Looking down at the Jonction - amazingly we only had to take skis off once to get through here:



Looking back up through sand-coloured penitents:



Finally a long traverse (half on foot half on skis) got us back to the Midi mid-station 5 minutes before the last bin down - perfect timing!
Judging by conditions I think it may be time to hang the skis up for the year and focus on sunny rock, but who knows??!!

Filming...

On Tuesday I put my cameraman hat back on and headed up the Aiguille du Midi with mountain guides Andy Perkins & Si Abrahams and snowboarder Tom Wilson-North. We were up to pick up the last shots for a joint project started earlier in the winter.

After a nice wander down the Midi ridge we went of in search of good-looking crevasses

Andy & Si scouting holes:



Si 'stunt-skier' Abrahams hanging about:



Psyching up for another drop:



Beautiful colours in the crevasse walls:



Andy & Tom:



The finished project should be wrapped up by October, and previews will be available here as and when they are finished. Keep an eye on the Ridestyle Productions website for more information.

Finishing the job...

On Friday Will & I headed up the Couloir des Italiens on the Grande Casse, probably the most classic steep ski in the Vanoise region, with 700m of face mostly in the 50 degree zone.
After several hours of literally swimming our way up through 50 degrees + of powder it got to the point where we had to decide either to push on to the top & be too tired to ski, or turn around where we were and at least get some fantastic skiing on the bottom 2/3 of the face. Powder turns won the day and we had some awesome skiing (see Fridays post) but I was left with the nagging feeling of unfinished business, and with conditions staying near-perfect I wasn't surprised when Will called from a trip up the normal route on the Grande Casse with Erika to suggest a rematch for the following day, and dropped everything for the 900m skin back up to the hut.
On arriving at the col in the morning there were already 12 people climbing the couloir, and rather than have all those pairs of crampons above our heads we opted for the Moyenne Face Nord, a classic AD+ climb and 5.2 ski which would give us a good view of the face, or a good back-up plan for skiing..

Climbing the Moyenne Face Nord:



On the ridge heading for the Grande Casse summit:



Having taken in the views on the summit we dropped down the 30m to the entry and it was decision time, with this view:



Gilles was definitely not keen, Will wasn't super-psyched, but I was definitely 'feeling it' and the top funnel looked OK, with some reasonable powder for the important first few turns... 3,2,1, dropping.. off we go...

Out of the funnel and on the big wall above the serac band:



As with all these things, with good conditions and the right mindset the skiing actually felt very easy... but with utmost concentration required all the time, falling is not an option until you get to the last 150m of slope, where you might possibly stop yourself, or maybe miss the seracs running across the bottom of the face..

And finally I could relax and slide over to the col for a well-earned drink & bite to eat..



As I sat looking back up I noticed someone else had dropped through the top funnel - and sure enough 20 minutes later Will appeared with a Cheshire Cat grin... good effort that man!!

The smiles say it all:

Couloir des Italiens - Grande Casse

More info to follow, but here are the pictures from todays epic swim up the Couloir des Italiens on the Grande Casse in the company of Will..


Sunrise on Glaciers de la Vanoise:



Col de la Grande Casse:



La face du jour:



2 skiers on Petite Face Nord



Will following my 'swimming trench':



And showing his own trenching style - 50+ degrees of powder:



The big seracs up close:



Choice: Head to top & finish up knackered, or make the best of the awesome snow we've just swum up...:



First turn anyone? - The 'flat' area in the sunlight is still 45 degrees...:



Will in action:



And again:



More Will:



Hmm, nice tracks...

They think its all over...

...it is now...

Last day of the lifts in Courchevel today, so Ginny & I met up with Julien & Anna for a last blast round the 3 Valleys. At the far side of Mottaret strengthening winds and dark skies along with not particularly pleasant snow caused a quick change of plan & we skied back over towards Courchevel.
At the top of the Saulire cable car we managed to get invited to the Pisteurs end-of-season BBQ - far more tempting than the skiing ...

Anna, Julien & Ginny at the Pisteurs hut:



More snow is forecast for the next few days, so the spring touring/climbing season is shaping up well - watch this space...

Les Courtes - Swiss Route & NNE Face

With good weather continuing to hold I made a more leisurely trip back over to Chamonix on Wednesday and met up with Greg for the last lift up to the top of the Grands Montets and another 5* bivvy, complete with fine panorama.

Les Drus:



Mont Blanc:



A 6 a.m. start saw us skiing under the Droites, and skinning up to below the days target - the north face of Les Courtes. The Swiss Route gives 800m of steep snow & ice climbing, and we planned to combine this with a traverse of the summit and ski descent of the ultra-classic NNE face.

View of Les Courtes with line of Swiss Route marked:



Skinning up below the face:



Greg gearing up below the rimaye:



In spite of our early start, we still found 3 teams on the route ahead of us, of which the first 2 seemed to be moving very slowly, so after some discussion we decided to move together as much as possible, and quickly blasted by the first 2 teams. The climbing was steady, steep snow mixed with sections of good sticky ice.
Yours truly on the lower half of the face:



Greg:



Looking down at the middle snowfield, from below the upper ice section:



The second half of the face seemed to go on forever, and (as it now turns out) the start of a cold/flu combined with a direct hit to the Adams apple by a block of ice low on the face combined to make progress more difficult, but with Greg on hand for moral support I dug deep for the last ridge to the summit:





Sadly clouds stole the views while we were on top, so a 5 minute snack break was called and we descended the summit ridge to the start of the skiing (at which point the clouds miraculously cleared again).
Swapping to ski mode on 50º snow at the top of the NNE face:



The ski down was great, with compacted powder most of the way giving grippy but soft skiing...only problem was knackered legs & a 60m rope in the bag - makes for interesting times with 700m of 45-50º skiing to do..

An uneventful descent saw us blast back down the Argentiere Glacier, sadly too late for the last lift down from Lognan, meaning a further test for already screaming legs down the Pierre a Ric run, covered in big re-frozen slush-bumps...
It was a weary pair who finally made it back to the cars after a great day out:

Pointe Eales NE Face

Still in the relaxed holiday spirit a call from Ross & Al on Saturday saw a 'speed-pack' followed by a frustrating drive over to Chamonix (Gorges d'Arly shut again...), a 2 minute change in the Grnads Montets car park, and finally I made the very last cable car to the top with seconds to spare!!

The plan was for the NE Face of Pointe Eales (Col des Courtes), at the very head of the Argentiere basin, with 400/500m of 50º powder in prospect..

5* bivvy location (complete with central heating):



Al getting comfy (with his own 'special' central heating):



5.30 alarm call and by 6.30 we were picking our way through the crevasses down towards the bottom of the Droites in an attempt to keep as much height as possible:



A long skin up the Argentiere glacier finally brought the face into view, with skies clearing, and a bit of sun hitting the top of the face:



Ross drags his Sanouks towards the rimaye:



Aiguille D'Argentiere looking stunning in the morning sun:



The bottom of the face is split by several rimayes, so ropes were kept on for a while until we were well clear. Ross and Al ploughing a trench with their DIY snowshoes:



By 11 o'clock we were well established in the middle of the face, when the cloud level started to drop, nothing too alarming (nice & cool actually). Al ploughs on ahead:



10 minutes later at about 3400m the weather swung completely, and in came the cloud, snow and wind; 2 minutes later the first spindrift avalanche came in from above, and it was time for a quick change to downhill mode to beat a hasty retreat. Interesting times getting into Dynafits on 50º+ with spindrift trying to knock you off balance...:



Despite the poor visibility the face gave awesome skiing (about as easy as a 5.4 slope could possibly feel !) with big fluffy powder on every turn, and in 5 minutes we were back over the lowest rimaye and onto the safer slopes below. Al in the cloud:



Time for tea and cakes:



Photo taken from the same spot as earlier looking up towards the face...bit of a change...



Shame the weather didn't hold 1 more hour as we would have hit the top and had a perfect descent of this classic slope... oh well, next time (might be 5th time lucky for Ross!).