Plan Fournier, 1700m!
Proper wintery conditions...
Will fly-fishing in the clouds...
Sunday, 16 May 2010
May or February???
15 May 2010:
Plan Fournier, 1700m!
Proper wintery conditions...
Will fly-fishing in the clouds...
Plan Fournier, 1700m!
Proper wintery conditions...
Will fly-fishing in the clouds...
Monday, 10 May 2010
Pointe de la Sana ENE Face
Another solo mission today, hoping to get the best out of a break in the weather (according to MeteoFrance) and ski the ENE face of the Pointe de la Sana, which sits out behind Val D'Isere in the heart of the Vanoise.
Sometimes you need to be motivated... the view from the car wasn't particularly appealing, and with constant drizzle it was quite tempting to head for home:
A few glimpses of clear summits convinced me it was worth a try, though an hour walking in the rain quickly dampened the enthusiasm:
As I skinned higher clear patches did start to appear, so the 1000m to the bottom of the face were despatched as quickly as possible...:
The Pointe de la Sana sits within easy reach of Val D'Isere, and the East face is a classic easy ski tour to a great summit, with views of the Grande Casse, Grande Motte, Tsanteleina, and all the Maurienne high peaks. The East-North-East face is a different ballgame, rating 5.2 on the Toponeige scale, with exposed 50º top section leading to a less exposed but still steep lower couloir.
The face normally looks like this, with the skiing line following the left hand branch of the obvious Y, starting pretty much plumb below the summit:
(Photo: Luc Mongellaz/Skitour.fr)
Today it looked more like this:
Persistent cloud made spotting the bottom of the couloir tricky, but after a 30 minute wait the clouds lifted enough to allow a good guess... 400m of climbing to go:
A quick turn-around at the top and it was time to start down, with care needed up high as the nights fresh snow was only just covering some rocky sections. The skiing was quite pleasant though, with 5-10cms of heavy powder over a firmer base. Visibility continued to leave a lot to be desired:
Joining the main couloir:
Some sluff management in the lower couloir later, and it was time for some pleasant turns down the Barmes de L'Ours glacier, before the reasonable conditions gave way to bottomless mush for the rest of the ski back to Le Manchet.
Normally covered in snow - waterfall at the bottom of the Tour Charvet:
I didn't fancy trying the Dynafit binding test with a sideways skis on crossing here, and opted for the boulder hopping option instead...
Sometimes you need to be motivated... the view from the car wasn't particularly appealing, and with constant drizzle it was quite tempting to head for home:
A few glimpses of clear summits convinced me it was worth a try, though an hour walking in the rain quickly dampened the enthusiasm:
As I skinned higher clear patches did start to appear, so the 1000m to the bottom of the face were despatched as quickly as possible...:
The Pointe de la Sana sits within easy reach of Val D'Isere, and the East face is a classic easy ski tour to a great summit, with views of the Grande Casse, Grande Motte, Tsanteleina, and all the Maurienne high peaks. The East-North-East face is a different ballgame, rating 5.2 on the Toponeige scale, with exposed 50º top section leading to a less exposed but still steep lower couloir.
The face normally looks like this, with the skiing line following the left hand branch of the obvious Y, starting pretty much plumb below the summit:
(Photo: Luc Mongellaz/Skitour.fr)
Today it looked more like this:
Persistent cloud made spotting the bottom of the couloir tricky, but after a 30 minute wait the clouds lifted enough to allow a good guess... 400m of climbing to go:
A quick turn-around at the top and it was time to start down, with care needed up high as the nights fresh snow was only just covering some rocky sections. The skiing was quite pleasant though, with 5-10cms of heavy powder over a firmer base. Visibility continued to leave a lot to be desired:
Joining the main couloir:
Some sluff management in the lower couloir later, and it was time for some pleasant turns down the Barmes de L'Ours glacier, before the reasonable conditions gave way to bottomless mush for the rest of the ski back to Le Manchet.
Normally covered in snow - waterfall at the bottom of the Tour Charvet:
I didn't fancy trying the Dynafit binding test with a sideways skis on crossing here, and opted for the boulder hopping option instead...
Sunday, 9 May 2010
La Noire - North Face
A quick couple of days over in Chamonix with Guy this weekend, with mixed success (as always). Friday, and despite a reasonable forecast the clouds were hanging on hard to the peaks. Original plans were shelved and eventually we went for a quick look up at the Grands Montets. Wednesday's 50cm snowfall was well transformed, and after one run of heavy powder in poor visibility we went off in search of good coffee.
Saturday dawned clearer, and by 8a.m. we were at the Midi lift waiting for the first bin. Unfortunately the staff had decided to take their time, and the first bin eventually pulled out of the bottom station at 9.30!!
With this late start in mind we opted for a short day on the North Face of La Noire - a 5.2 rated descent with a good combination of easy access (<400m of up) and North-facing slopes (hopefully reasonable snow).
The pleasant surprise was that the previous evenings showers had left knee deep fluff everywhere, so we had fresh tracks down past the Gros Rognon before putting skins on to head for the approach couloir:
The North Face of La Noire is visible middle of shot:
Nice scenery for a walk:
Guy in the approach couloir:
I guess its down here then? Convex slopes with a nice view to the Salle a Manger 800m lower down:
Sadly the snow didn't quite live up to expectations, with a few inches of powder over a thin & variable crust above Wednesday's fresh snow... Not bad to ski and definitely possible to link turns in, but not champagne powder...:
Looking into the exit gully:
Good route-finding needed - turn left too soon and you get stuck above this:
Géant icefall:
Looking back at the face:
Saturday dawned clearer, and by 8a.m. we were at the Midi lift waiting for the first bin. Unfortunately the staff had decided to take their time, and the first bin eventually pulled out of the bottom station at 9.30!!
With this late start in mind we opted for a short day on the North Face of La Noire - a 5.2 rated descent with a good combination of easy access (<400m of up) and North-facing slopes (hopefully reasonable snow).
The pleasant surprise was that the previous evenings showers had left knee deep fluff everywhere, so we had fresh tracks down past the Gros Rognon before putting skins on to head for the approach couloir:
The North Face of La Noire is visible middle of shot:
Nice scenery for a walk:
Guy in the approach couloir:
I guess its down here then? Convex slopes with a nice view to the Salle a Manger 800m lower down:
Sadly the snow didn't quite live up to expectations, with a few inches of powder over a thin & variable crust above Wednesday's fresh snow... Not bad to ski and definitely possible to link turns in, but not champagne powder...:
Looking into the exit gully:
Good route-finding needed - turn left too soon and you get stuck above this:
Géant icefall:
Looking back at the face:
Col de la Grande Casse
With a lot of mixed weather this last week conditions have been quite tricky..
On Thursday I met up with Julien at Les Fontanettes to go for a bit of a recce up around the Grande Casse to see how much new snow had actually fallen. I was also keen to get a proper look at the NW face, and a line that Pierre Tardivel had skied on here some years back, to potentially continue my tour of the different faces of the mountain.
Despite a lot of valley cloud, as we climbed to the top of the lift system we broke out of the clouds, to be greeted with the usual spectacular views:
Even better was the lack of people...with the lifts shut, and the Col de la Vanoise hut now only manned at the weekend we were the only people in the whole area - not another track to be seen:
The Grande Casse was looking good as always:
Approaching the Col de la Grande Casse, with the NW face on the right looking very thin - this will need a BIG snow year to be skiable as far as I can tell...:
Looking back down the valley, the morning weather window about to snap shut again...:
The North Face of the Grande Casse from the Col - still big streaks of ice in the top of the Couloir des Italiens. With the weather closing in we decided to scratch our option of heading up the Moyenne Face Nord and beat a retreat before the visibility went completely:
Flat light anyone? Good snow underfoot all the way to Barmettes 4 inches of powder followed by good spring snow:
Julien demonstrating his 'dry-skiing' technique:
With unsettled weather forecast conditions are likely to stay good for a while, as long as you can pick the gaps in the weather...
On Thursday I met up with Julien at Les Fontanettes to go for a bit of a recce up around the Grande Casse to see how much new snow had actually fallen. I was also keen to get a proper look at the NW face, and a line that Pierre Tardivel had skied on here some years back, to potentially continue my tour of the different faces of the mountain.
Despite a lot of valley cloud, as we climbed to the top of the lift system we broke out of the clouds, to be greeted with the usual spectacular views:
Even better was the lack of people...with the lifts shut, and the Col de la Vanoise hut now only manned at the weekend we were the only people in the whole area - not another track to be seen:
The Grande Casse was looking good as always:
Approaching the Col de la Grande Casse, with the NW face on the right looking very thin - this will need a BIG snow year to be skiable as far as I can tell...:
Looking back down the valley, the morning weather window about to snap shut again...:
The North Face of the Grande Casse from the Col - still big streaks of ice in the top of the Couloir des Italiens. With the weather closing in we decided to scratch our option of heading up the Moyenne Face Nord and beat a retreat before the visibility went completely:
Flat light anyone? Good snow underfoot all the way to Barmettes 4 inches of powder followed by good spring snow:
Julien demonstrating his 'dry-skiing' technique:
With unsettled weather forecast conditions are likely to stay good for a while, as long as you can pick the gaps in the weather...
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Italia
Had a few days over in Italy last week with Ginny..
Forecast was good for the first couple of days so we headed for the Gran Paradiso, and Ginny's first 4000m summit. 1500m of good skiing plus a bit of bottomless porridge along with plenty of wildlife sightings made for a good couple of days in the mountains.
With the weather forecast looking glum we then set the controls for the South and went down to Finale for a few days sunshine rock-climbing - good food, good coffee, good wine, good limestone - perfect!!
Forecast was good for the first couple of days so we headed for the Gran Paradiso, and Ginny's first 4000m summit. 1500m of good skiing plus a bit of bottomless porridge along with plenty of wildlife sightings made for a good couple of days in the mountains.
With the weather forecast looking glum we then set the controls for the South and went down to Finale for a few days sunshine rock-climbing - good food, good coffee, good wine, good limestone - perfect!!
Classic Ski Tours #1: Gran Paradiso from Simon Christy on Vimeo.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Roche Nue video
Here is the short video from last weeks trips up the Roche Nue with Ginny & Will:
2 sides of the coin from Simon Christy on Vimeo.
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Aiguille de la Noire
A quick day hit with Oli...
A combination of a niggly knee & boot problems (me), and coming from 3 weeks at sea level stuck in meetings in the US (Oli) meant we went for a gentle day with not too much up and a mellow ski down.
La Maitresse des Lieux:
Chaos & mayhem on the arete (as usual):
You see it all up here...3 "snow-bikers" being roped down the arete by their guide, shortly before one of them tried to knock me over the edge by turning round to speak to his mate...:
No snow in the Poubelle couloir:
Access climb to the Noire shoulder (above Oli's head):
Oli on the ridge:
A short ski in good powder and then a short (but exposed) climb to get to the main pitch:
Nice chalky snow all the way:
Looking back up the face:
A few big holes on the Periades Glacier:
The bottom of the Mer de Glace was the usual circus (incidentally complete with skiing dwarf..).
Big word of thanks to Damien at Sanglard for finally nailing the boot problem (and at short notice too). Merci Damien!!
A combination of a niggly knee & boot problems (me), and coming from 3 weeks at sea level stuck in meetings in the US (Oli) meant we went for a gentle day with not too much up and a mellow ski down.
La Maitresse des Lieux:
Chaos & mayhem on the arete (as usual):
You see it all up here...3 "snow-bikers" being roped down the arete by their guide, shortly before one of them tried to knock me over the edge by turning round to speak to his mate...:
No snow in the Poubelle couloir:
Access climb to the Noire shoulder (above Oli's head):
Oli on the ridge:
A short ski in good powder and then a short (but exposed) climb to get to the main pitch:
Nice chalky snow all the way:
Looking back up the face:
A few big holes on the Periades Glacier:
The bottom of the Mer de Glace was the usual circus (incidentally complete with skiing dwarf..).
Big word of thanks to Damien at Sanglard for finally nailing the boot problem (and at short notice too). Merci Damien!!
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