So after a pretty lengthy wait before we could abseil into the couloir we were clipping into our skis.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
The Rond
Sat clinging precariously to the North face of the aiguille du Midi is the glacier Rond. A steep descent with quite a serious exposure level.
To access the route you must first traverse the west edge of the cosmique arête and directly behind the Abri Simond hut drop round onto the front face.
After a "tip off" that the route was "epic" the day before we decided to give it a shot.
In conclusion, I feel the snow conditions had deteriorated greatly as 3 cm off fluffy snow on hardpack was not that pleasant.
At the ridge you drop left into a west facing couloir which in the right conditions can be amazing. Today was not one of those days, and as we crossed the large bergshrund that's appeared at the foot we were both a little disappointed.
The Bosson glacier has recently been experiencing a revamp and the large blocks of broken ice do make skiing quite a challenge.
Though after the trauma of the morning we were finally rewarded when the final part of route turned out to be nice deep, soft, spring snow.
Friday, February 10, 2012
La Rectaligne & Grand Envers
My only unskied descent on the Pas de Chevres side at Grands Montets. So with our most recent dump it looked like a worthy opponent.
As we dropped into the 40 deg gully we weren't going to be disappointed. A nice deep powder that felt pretty stable too filled the couloir all the way to the glacier and foot of the drus! The base of the pas de chevres is also still easily skied right onto the mer de glacé giving you that extra bit of skiing before having to deal with the hike out.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
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