Wednesday 24 April 2013

Chamonix Part III


Friday

With the weather forecast not being great for the day I wasn't particularly optimistic, but I headed up to Grands Montets anyway to see what things looked like.  The lifts were quieter than I was expecting so I jumped on the bin up to the top station and walked right up to the top viewing station to have a look at the ski patrollers run.  There were footprints heading down the wire, so I jumped over the fence and scrambled down the ridge to get a few good turns in before joining the piste lower down which was choppy back to the mid station.  For those that have never done it, it's a worthwhile but short run which often still has good snow when most other places are tracked out, or if the snow is heavy lower down.  From the top viewing platform at the GM station jump over the fence and follow a wire down to a ladder, which leads over some rocks to a short slope which bears right down to join the black piste just before it branches.

Looking down from the Petit Aiguille Verte towards the top station at Grands Montets


I soon found myself back at the top, looking at the North Face of the Petit Aiguille Verte - there was a team skinning up towards the ridge, so I decided to have a skin up to see what the snow was like.  I'd neglected to bring crampons and an axe but was just planning on skinning up the easy angled lower slopes to get a few fresh turns in.  Predictably, I soon found myself climbing up the North ridge of the Petit Aiguille Verte, ski boots balanced on some small rock edges and my gloves failing to gain any purchase on the hard neve above.   Needless to say I managed to reach the easier ground just below the summit but it had reminded me how useful the proper equipment can be.  I had caught the team ahead of me, so was the first to drop onto the North Face - I was surprised to be putting fresh tracks down steep cold powder which was as good as anything I'd found all week.  Some fantastic fast turns got be back to the cable car station and I was happy to spend the rest of the day skiing the natural forest features off the Tabe chair, and charging some deserted pistes as the day wore on.  All in all a great days skiing.


Saturday - GM 50th Birthday

My last day.  The forecast was poor again but it was the 50th anniversary of the opening of Grands Montets.  This meant that a lift pass was half price and, more importantly, there was a party at Lognan.   George and I decided that a day of boozy piste skiing was in order - how wrong we were...

After a brief altercation with a policeman about the suitability of George's chosen parking spot in the car park, we made it up to Lognan to find the visibility was actually pretty good (George had to move the van, in case you were wondering).  A couple of quick laps of the Tabe chair got the legs working, then George dragged me through the park, refusing to let me go home until I'd thrown myself off one of the red jumps.  The park dispatched, we found ourselves at the top of the Bochard, looking down into the Poubelle Couloir which drops down onto the Pas de Chevre, and then the Mer de Glace.  I don't think either of us particularly wanted to ski it but we both refused to admit as much to the other, so we found ourselves making the short abseil into the top of it.  Admiring crowds gathered at the top to give it the true 'hero' feel.


George enjoying the Poubelle
Dropping in below the crowds!


I've skiied the Poubelle once before, in deep powder getting fresh tracks all the way down to Montenvers (as the top station had been shut for days) so this descent didn't quite compare although the snow at the top was pretty good considering.  It was quite nice to feel totally comfortable on steep terrain in mixed snow, but the quality worsened as we got lower however and the bottom of the Pas de Chevre was frozen crust and not much fun.  I managed to find the abseil on the descent, and the exit gullies onto the glacier were
just still ski-able - although there was constant rockfall down the chutes to keep us on our toes.

Looking up at the Drus from the Pas de Chevre exit - the poor weather forecast was wrong again!
Short abseil on the exit back onto the Mer de Glace - exit couloir just below


The James Bond track deposited us back in Chamonix (via a bit of walking low down) so we jumped on the bus back up to GM for a pint.  We made it back to Lognan, but somehow found ourselves at the top of the Chapeau Couloir which drops off the West edge of the Bochard ridge back down to Lavancher.  Once again, neither of us particularly wanted to ski it, but we'd never admit it so we found ourselves putting wide, fast turns down the couloir in forgiving soft snow.  As before, the snow quality deteriorated low down and we ended up working hard in very heavy snow and avalanche debris.  Now, I've also skiied the Chapeau before, and I managed to miss the leftwards exit above the ice cliffs at the bottom of it.  On that particular occasion myself and my partner Paddy ended up performing multiple abseils down the cliff on a single 30m glacier rope - it wasn't really long enough and it was a minor epic.  Determined not to make the same mistake twice (as that would be rather stupid) I kept a careful eye out for the exit on the left bank.  Predictably we rapidly found ourselves at the top of the cliff having missed the exit - only this time we only had a 20m rope with us... skis off and rope out then...
Abseil 1 was easy - about 8m to a sapling on the lip of the cliff proper
Abseil 2 was less easy - an 8m overhanging wall led to a tiny ledge, which we had to traverse for about 5m, pulling round a large detached icicle.  From here you had to abseil off the ends of the ropes and jump into a fir tree below.  I had sensibly sent George down first, so when I arrived at the jump he clipped me into the tree via a sling made from my belt
Abseil 3 was another 8m to the last tree before a big drop
Abseil 4 was another diagonal abseil on grassy ledges, before you had to pull the ropes and climb down a thorn bush before jumping into a snow drift at the bottom.

Back on (more) level ground and feeling quite pleased with ourselves for not dying we skiied/walked the cat track back to Lavancher and hitched back up to GM, just catching the last bin up to the party.  We celebrated our lazy piste day with a couple of pitchers before I had to head back to George's to pack my stuff.  A transfer to GVA and an uncomfortable night sleeping on the floor awaited me before my flight back the next day.
 

George at the top of the Chapeau Couloir

Chapeau hi-jinx - George, having abseiled off the end of the rope, about to leap to safety in the tree...













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