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God, this turned out to be a very long day. Up at 5.45am to get the first bin off the Aiguille du Midi with good friends, Greeny and Nick and down off the mountain at 1am.

The three of us had attempted to climb la Tour Ronde only a couple of weeks previously with the intent of skiing the west couloir (le Gervasutti) but there was just too much snow on the lower section and we got nowhere fast and had to abandon the route. It was probably a bit of a cocky move anyway and conditions really needed more time to settle.

The North Face of la Tour Ronde

This time round, the weather forecast was a little on the dodgy side but then it had been for the last three days and each of those had been beautiful and blue bird, so we hoped the weather forecaster would get it wrong again. We got the first bin up at 8.10am  and were at the Bergschrund for 9.30 with lovely blue skies. So far so good!

Greeny down the arete from the Aiguille du Midi. Look at the weather!

Greeny and Nick on the way to the Tour Ronde

As we were rounding Le Mont Blanc du Tacul, we could see that a group was already on the face and making their way up the ice chimney in the middle of the face. Great for us. There would be a boot pack in all the way!

Start of the skin and la Tour Ronde

We made our way up the lower snow field slowly but deliberately. I was supposed to be down and meeting Seb in the Argentiere hut that night to ski something on the Argentiere basin the next day, so had a bit of a rocket up my arse. And the weather was closing in………

Nick just below the first ice pitch

Soon it was snowing but it didn’t seem like there would be much accumulation but then the spindrift started ripping down the face. Cool, dry powder snow which got heavier and heavier as the day wore on. The actual ice pitch up the centre of the face is only 2 pitches of 60m.

Nick on the first pitch

We simul. climbed up, with Nick climbing the first 60m till the rope went taught on me and I would start climbing and Greeny started climbing when my 60m went taught on him. I’m not sure what the ice grade is but it was probably not more than grade 4 (similar to the Chere couloir). The ice was good with only a few sections of plating.

By this time, the weather was really not looking too good and visibility was terrible. As Greeny topped out at the top of the ice chimney at around 14.45 with 100m left to climb, we decided the safest bet was to abseil back down and bin the route. The spindrift was coming down fast and furious now and one episode hit us with enough force to almost knock us of the face or so it felt (we were all safely on a belay point).

Greeny nearing the end of the second pitch

So, back down we went the way we had come up off a nice v-thread. Nick went down first to set up the next belay point, then Greeny and then me. Safely down to the next belay point and last abseil before the bottom snow field and the rope got stuck. We tried and tried and lost a lot of time trying to free the rope in vain, knowing deep down that the only way was to climb up again and free it which Nick ended up doing. Legend! A few moments of fearing for my frost bitten toes during the interlude and we were finally down to the bottom snow field by 19.00 and the board was on my feet. That was a nice feeling.

We skied the bottom snow field with poor visibility but the snow was deep, steep and cold and then started to worry about finding our way out in the white out. Fortunately, things improved the lower down we got. It was as if we had been sitting in a snow cloud all day on the Tour Ronde.

Down the Vallee Blanche we went, me skootching for about 1hr on flats having gone too far skier’s right, switching to ski mode and then losing one of the skis when I was about to put it back into board mode. It shot off and narrowly missed a crevasse, contouring round it. Greeny saved the day and went a retrieved it. What a day!

Thankfully, things went pretty smoothly thereafter and we skied/walked to the buvette with headtorches donned and then had to walk all the way back to Chamonix due to a lack of snow. Amazing bootbang and very tired.

Long day.

By the way, there was a great little trailer to the upcoming film “Deeper” by Jeremy Jones with himself and Xavier de la Rue skiing this face. The top section wasn’t quite in condition when we were there but there’s some great footage of them riding from top to bottom. I’m just looking for it to link it but it seems to have been pulled. A real shame. Two of my favorite riders.

I’m now stuck in Chamonix trying to find ways to get home to Oslo. If anyone is heading that way, give me a shout!

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Mont Blanc du Tacul and its couloirs: Le Diable, Le Gervasutti, Le Jager

The Jager Couloir and the Gervasutti

I couldn’t get the first bin and had consequently made arrangements with some friends to either meet them at the bottom of the Jager couloir or the Diable couloir. I could just make out one person climbing up the apron of the Jager couloir and thought it must be them, so put skins on and climbed up… only to find it was some one else. Oh well, I was there and another group had just arrived and turned out to be a really nice bunch, so I tagged along with them. Only 4 people to climb the Jager couloir to the top on a Saturday in Chamonix. Now there’s a surprise.

The bergschrund was in two sections but really obvious and easy to pass and the climb up was pretty easy, especially as one person was making the boot pack all the way. It’s about an 800 to 900m climb depending on snow cover at the top. The snow was firm for most of the way and we managed it in about 3 to 3.5hrs.

On the way up (people ahead in the red circle)

Halfway up looking down

Halfway up looking up (people in red circle)

Me climbing up courtesy of Jean Verdonnet

This really is a nice couloir that seems to go on and on. As you climb, it bends away to the right, so you can never really see the top until you are over half way up and affords some lovely views of the Mont Blanc massif.

Dent du Geant in the morning sun

South side of L'Aiguille Verte, Les Droites and Les Courtes

Views from the top

As the couloir faces East, it was getting sun only through till about 12.00 and we summited at around 13.30, so bar the very top section, it was completely in the shade again as we skied down. Not ideal. If I’m honest, the first bin really isn’t early enough (7.30) to give you an early enough start up the face and 13.30 is too late (that said, that is how most people roll here). As a result and despite the width of the couloir, we were confined to a small strip of decent snow for most of the way down which meant a lot of side-slipping and nowhere near enough skiing.

Jean dropping in

The very top section in the above photo was pretty ridiculous; slushy snow on nearly 60 degrees. I had trouble getting my edge in as the snow fell away with little edge traction on the lower layer (I was also the last one down, so not so much snow to play with). As you come out of this section and into the first wide part of the couloir, the snow was really good and you could do some really nice turns. Then it’s down to something that looks like an icefall and you are forced skier’s right on a steep pitch again (55 degrees) for around 70m (more side slipping).

Riis before it gets steep again

Then the last wide section which had been sun-baked and was consequently icy bar a section through rocky outcrops…… More careful skiing and then down to the exit which was icy on 45 degrees. Doesn’t sound very pleasant…..? I cannot say I had much fun skiing it! It felt like I only put turns down half the face if that.

So, there you have it. This is the realm of serious steep skiing and counts as my most serious, committing descent to date…. and with my splitboard. Not too sure if it was my ability or if the board was too soft on the steep, hard, icy sections. I just didn’t feel like I was getting as good an edge.

Have any other splitters experienced this?

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The weather has been playing havoc with touring plans since I arrived in Chamonix 10 days ago. I don’t think I have ever wanted it to not snow so much. The normal stable weather at this time of year has been non-existent, with the odd blue bird day peering through masses of grey and snow; nowhere near conducive to safe and stable conditions. The few attempts to get out there have been thwarted by chest high snow on the climbs, literally swimming in snow.

So, when I partnered up with my good old mate, Nick, for a foray in the Argentiere basin, we were pretty accepting of whatever the outcome would be. Good times in the mountains with good friends is what it’s all about in the end anyway and I couldn’t have been out with a better touring buddy. Nick initiated me into the finer points of ski mountaineering not so many moons ago. Great person to have in the mountains.

We managed to get first lifts Chamonix style and headed towards the end of the basin, one objective in mind: the Col des Courtes.

Heading towards the back of the Argentiere Basin: Mont Dolent centre, Aiguille de Triolet far right

It turned out to be such a warm day and the mountains were talking to anyone who would listen. Frequent point releases from rock warming but nothing big and not a single slab avalanche which would have sent us home with our tail between our legs. So we sat out the warmest part of the day and waited for things to calm down. The avalanche activity earlier in the day had sent everyone else packing, so there was not going to be any help with the boot pack but today was a good day to be on northerly aspects.

We decided on Col des Cristaux in the end, the face next to Col des Courtes as it seemed a more realistic proposition given the time we had waited and the fact that it had been more active earlier in the day and hence safer. A 600m shot at around 48 to 50 degrees (I checked it with my inclinometer).

We set off around 13.30 and were at the bergschrund for 14.00 which was easily passable. We managed to skin up 200m of the face before starting a long boot pack up on the avalanche runnel looker’s right of the face, nice at times but a few episodes of wallowing in snow which lost us time.

Nick on the way up

Nick leading some tricky mixed climbing mid-climb

We were on the summit at 18.00 or should I say 10m from it. It took another hour to finally get on the ridge with the rock-affected, faceted snow but the view was worth it!

Nick on the summit (les Grandes Jorasse off centre and Mont Blanc du Tacul far right)

We got ready to head down, the first section was pretty steep (around 60 degrees with hidden rock), so we took it pretty easy on this section.

The story so far from the summit

And then we could start to enjoy some turns.

Where to next....?

The snow had transformed with a bit of a sun crust on skier’s left so we headed down and across skier’s right and found some nice cold snow although the sun crust soon came back further down the face. It was a great line and everything came together nicely considering the last few attempts we’ve had in the mountains.

Done...quite literally. Col des Cristaux in the background

And just in time for some nice Alpenglow.

Beautiful views: Aiguille d'Argentiere and the Y couloir, high right Tour Noir

It ended up being a pretty long day…. Queuing at 7.30 for first lifts and getting to the Argentiere hut for 21.00. Vertical gain according to the guide book is 1050m.

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