Variety is the spice of life

Quite the week just gone by, starting with rock climbing in Provence and ending on the summit of Mont Blanc!

With the bad weather lasting into it’s 3rd week, Peter and I headed down to Provence and had 3 superb days clipping bolts in the sun around Les Dentelles and Malaucene.

Well you can't go to Provence and not have a few drinks!

Peter latching the "thank God" hold on Mad Max, 6b.

Having got back we were both super keen for alpinism but there was a huge amount of snow, so having tried the Le Tour basin (woke up in the hut to find the wind howling across the glacier) and the Midi (just too much snow all round), we decided that the only way to salvage the week would be to ski Mont Blanc.

Acclimatisation was, to put it mildly, limited but we were both pretty confident that we could bash it out, so took the last bin up the midi and got settled in for the night.

Incredible sunset from the Midi.

The next day dawned clear as we made our way up the 3 Monts route, and after some fairly intense suffering (made worse by the glue on both Peter’s skins failing 300 metres from the top and him having to crampon it in deep snow) we somehow found ourselves on top. A quick change and we were off, skiing down the way we had come then down the Corridor, onto the Bossons Glacier and finally the Plan de l’Aiguille lift station.

Skiing away from the summit.

The track up and the ski down are currently really good, although the good snow ends at around 3300 metres and becomes slush, but it is nearly June so I musn’t grumble. There are still a few days of good weather left so I’d recommend getting on it.

Mont Blanc from near the top of the Bossons Glacier - not a place to linger!

As for alpinism there is a vast amount of snow everywhere making life pretty tough, but the classics such as the Cosmiques Arete and Pointes Lachenal have good tracks to them, so there’s still things to go at. Also, Tom has been out a lot recently and thinks the north faces should be really good. He’s also been skiing all the silly steep stuff, so plenty for the steep ski nutters to go at too.

Good weather is supposed to last until Tuesday afternoon so get out there!

Lots of Cragging and Rain

Since bailing off the Haute Route 2 weeks ago the weather has been consistently dire, with plenty of rain and no sun. That said, it has occasionally stayed dry enough to permit some cragging so Gaillands and Le Fayet (the only crag that is dry in the rain) have seen plenty of me as I try to get some mileage in on the rock.

It looks like the bad weather may FINALLY be coming to an end, but conditions up high will take a while to settle so it's going to be at least a few more days before there's any chance of doing big routes. Tom has been skiing steep routes off the Midi recently and reckons there is a lot of unstable snow up there, particularly on lower angled slopes, so it looks it will be a case of wait and see. If it does clear and we get a good period of stable weather and freeze/thaw to consolidate all the snow, it could be epic.

L'Arete (6a), Frendo Area, Les Gaillands

Haute Route - Aborted!!!

With high hopes we set off last wednesday for an haute route on steroids, the basic idea of which was to avoid the motorway on the normal route and ski as much steep terrain as possible.

Started off at the Argentiere Refuge, which was very nice indeed. Much nicer than the bivi these 2 guys (spot the light!) will have had on the Droites! Not sure if it was a planned bivi, but either way it will have been a chilly night.

After deciding against the Barbey Couloir on the Aiguille d'Argentiere we went up to the Col Superior du Tour Noir, the obvious low point in the middle of this photo.

Final slog up to the col.

Worth it for the view. The Matterhorn looked so close it was hard believe the route would take a week!

We dropped into the SE couloir off the col and found some good 45 degree spring snow, albeit in boling temperatures (I was in a t shirt and thin shell jacket and was dripping with sweat).

However, as we got lower (still above 3000 metres!) the snow got worse and worse and in the end it was knee deep slush, really tough skiing. At one point a wet avalanche came past us, which wasn't massive but big enough to be concerning, so if you do this couloir, get up early.

Despite the poor snow low down, the top half was superb, and it is a great ski and an amazing line, so highly recommended if in good nick. The guidebook gives it 5.2, 45 degrees, 600m.

SE couloir is the obvious curving couloir coming down from the col right of the peak.

After a night in La Fouly we had a good look at the forecast and reluctantly decided that the 2nd day would have to be our last. We got up early hoping to climb and ski the Pointe de Drone, but bad visibility stopped us, and we opted to cross the Col de Bastillion in order to reach our pick up point at Super St. Bernard. The col isn't really a touring col and required a bit of easy mixed scrambling to reach, but provided a nice gentle ski down to the road.

It's now 5 days later and the weather looks rubbish for a good while yet, so a good but disppointing call to abandon. There's always next year.

Col D'Argentiere

Keen to get back in the hills after a weekend of eating and drinking, I went up Grand Montets with Rory today to ski the Col D'Argentiere.

The forecast was for 80% sunshine, so we were hoping we might get some good views and a bit of fitness. However, the vis came and went all day, and the forecast 20cm of fresh snow hadn't arrived, so conditions weren't great, but it was good to catch up with Rory and get some exercise all the same.

Rory rocking the Swedish look

View from the col!

The ski down was pretty good fun despite the snow - massive, fast turns all the way. It might not to be perfect powder but summer will be here soon and we'll have to walk down everything!

Vivagel

With a good forecast for thursday, Tom, Sergei and I headed up for a bivi at Grand Montets and a plan to do Vivagel Direct (IV, 5, ED, 1000m) on the Aiguille Verte the next day. As it turned out we skipped the direct finish and did Vivagel itself (IV, 4, TD, 1000m). See line below.

Photo Courtesy John Cuthbert

After a very warm bivi in the cable car station toilets we set out early and after a short ski and skin up we started soloing up the low angled start to the Couturier. One party ahead of us had turned round due to lots of snow but we found it really easy, mainly because the track was already in place. Where the Couturier bent right we went left and began moving together up perfect, but seemingly never ending neve.

Sergei half way up the low angled bottom ice slope.

Having reached the steep headwall in good time we began pitching and found some pretty hard, black ice, which really slowed us down. The ice was steeper than it looked and brittle so we made steady but pretty unspectacular progress.

Photo courtesy http://www.skisickness.com/

By pure chance a friend our ours was skiing along the Argentiere Glacier and got this shot of us arriving at the start of the technical climbing at about 9.15. Look closely!

Me leading through the initial technical section

Sergei and Tom following the first proper pitch. Steeper than it looks and quite delicate in places, but really good climbing.

After doing 5 pitches we made the decision not to do the direct finish due to the time, but started moving together again up towards the normal finish up more good firm neve.

Having done one last pitch on hard ice we crested the ridge and got a superb view of the Jorasses (see above) and finally got the weight off our feet. Nice ledges are conspicuous by their absence on this face!

Me and Tom on top!

We had planned to ab the face and knowing there continuous ice we set off on a marathon of V thread digging. Huge thanks to Sergei on this one - the World's fastest and best V thread digger! We lost count of the abseils, but between 15 and 20 is our best guess, followed by a long down climb back to skis and a long (but quite enjoyable) ski back down to Argentiere in the dark.

The inevitable consequence of "having a look at the top bit" when time is running out!

All in all a great route in pretty good condition, just allow plenty of time. Cheers to Sergei and Tom for their good company and ability to keep smiling long after it was reasonable to do so!

All the routes on the buttress look good and the Couturier must have had 20 people climb it during the day, all of whom descended the Whymper, so it is clearly the mountain to be on.

As ever, April is proving to be immense!

Domes de Miage

Just got down from 2 great days skiing the Domes de Miage with Emma. The approach to the Conscrits hut is frankly brutal - 1.5 hours walking uphill in ski boots and then 3 hours skinning. Worth it for the view though (see above).

Sunday started with sun and cloud so we headed up optimistically towards the Dome de Miage. The skin up is pretty long, and is followed by a ridge walk in crampons of about half an hour. We took about 4.5 hour in total but were very leisurely.

The summit is apparently one of the best viewpoints in the massif, but we'll have to take other's peoples' word for that!

We skiied off the summit and down the north facing Amancettes Glacier, and got some superb snow, but had to ski pretty conservatively due to bad visibility. The snow became pretty patchy at 2000 metres, but we managed to half ski half walk to 1500m then gave up and walked in the rain.

The downside of spring touring!

Chippendale Gully

Headed up the Midi with John the other day and did the Chippendale Gully (IV,4, 300m) on the Petit Capucin. We had originally planned to do the Valeria but with the amount of ice flying down we made use of John's local knowledge and switched routes after the first pitch.

Me heading up the second pitch of the Chippendale Gully

The route is in pretty good nick right now, and the second pitch in particular has some superb steep neve, but the middle snow slope is pretty cruddy.

Finishing the last pitch

The top 2 pitches are probably the hardest right now due to a distinct lack of neve, but overall definitely worth doing.

Col de Cristaux (nearly)

Col des Cristaux

Pointe Domino, Petit Viking looking in great nick.

John earning his turns

After a week at sea level in NW Scotland I was keen for an easy first day back so John and I headed up to have a look at the Col des Cristaux at the back of the Argentiere bowl. Despite a poor forecast the sun was out and plenty of stuff looked in great condition. There was a team high on the Ginat on the Droites N face, 4 people skiing the NE slope on Les Courtes, and plenty of lines looking in good condition on the verte/grand rocheuse.

Anyway, after a very pleasant skin through some amazing country we got to the bergschrund on the col but despite trying side stepping on skis and just about everything else, we couldn't make much progress. The slope is currently covered in about 60 cm of soft snow and although it would be a good ski, it would be a desperate climb, and neither of us was too fussed so we took the option of a nice ski down and looking at the views. Weather looks to be stabilising soon so here's hoping for a good week.

Only the best day ever.

Yesterday was quite simply the best day of the season. Started off with a run down the Glacier Ronde (difficile, 45 - 50 degrees) off the Midi, and found quite icy conditions near the top - not the sort of place to fall - but then perfect powder from half way down and throughout the exit couloir.

Unfortunately Dave never made it that far because about 150 metres down the Glacier his binding detached from his ski - not ideal. The ski shot off down the glacier and although Tom managed to intercept it, there was no way of re - attaching it so Dave had to wait until someone came down and then borrow their crampons (we had none, oops) in order to climb out. It took him 4 hours to reach the Midi....

Dave getting ready to climb, his ski visible way below.

Having seen Dave off we skiied the exit couloir and then traversed towards the Plan de L'Aiguille, before cutting off directly above the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The powder was untracked, deep, and the lightest I have EVER skiied in Cham. Simply unbelievable, and up there as the best set of turns I've ever done.

We made it back to the tunnel after some bush whacking and a short walk, and then having hitched back down we got 60 metre ropes and headed back up to do the Cunningham couloir (AD, 45 - 50 degrees). This is the couloir running under the midi bridge, and requires a pretty airy 60 metre ab straight off the bridge. We then did 3 further abs off bolted belays. The initial anchor off the bridge is on a stantion on the right as you onto the bridge, and then the next belay is about 55 metres down, slightly to the left as you look in. The remaining belays are on the right looking down the couloir and easy to spot.

Looking down the Cunningham. Cham skiing in a nutshell - steep, deep and uncompromising.

Looking up the Cunningham from the top of the Ronde exit couloir.

The couloir was again perfect, deep powder, and then we traversed easily across the exit couloir off the Ronde, and skiied more champagne snow back to the tunnel. With more snow on the way, the Plan de l'Aiguille and the runs down the midi face are just going to get better....but I'm now in Scotland for 10 days. You couldn't make it up!

Living the Dream - Day 1

First day of living the dream for 2010 arrived on friday when Peter and I skiied in the morning and climbed at Servoz in T-shirts in the afternoon. Late March and April represent peak time for ski/climb/BBQ combo's, so make the most of it!

The weather looked truly awful for the weekend though so Tom and I headed to Orpiere, just south of Ceuse, and found perfect conditions for clipping bolts in nice, warm weather. Its a 3.5 hour drive from Cham so a long way, but we escaped rain and climbed some superb routes up to 5 pitches long on perfect, dry limestone, so it definitely felt worth the drive. Orpierre would make a great place to stop whenever heading south past Gap, so check it out.

Petite Verte

With a morning off from work and keen for some fitness and skiing, Peter and I headed up the Grand Montets and decided to climb the Chevalier Couloir on the Petite Aiguille Verte. The route is a classic ski descent and would be pretty good right now. The top section has been side slipped but you'd be best just climbing the bottom 3/4 of the route and skiing from there.

Despite the good skiing conditions we climbed all the way to the top and then skiied the NW face of the petite verte. This is a pretty steep pitch at around 50 - 55 degrees according to the book. The very steep section at the top is nice soft snow, but it turns to hard neve on the shallower bit, so it's a long slog for some nice steep turns, but there isn't much good snow right now so probably worth it for the real powder hounds.

Good half day if you need a quick hit - we were back at the car park for midday.

Modica Noury

East face of Mont Blanc du Tacul, Gabarrou Albinoni (III,4+) in green, Modica Noury (III,5+) in Red

Damien starting the proper climbing

Crux Pitch

Random Slovene guy finishing the last pitch, our skis just about visible at the foot of the route.

Despite the onset of manflu, the weather was perfect and Damien keen so we went up to do the classic Modica Noury (III, 5+) on Mont Blanc du Tacul having been told it was in good nick. Damien had done the Gabarrou last week and said it was thin - "Scottish 5 with no gear", so we weren't entirely sure what we'd find.

The bergschrund is ok, just about worth a rope, and then there is 5 "pitches" of 55 degree soft snow, which we kept the rope on for, but didn't bother with any gear. With a couple of parties behind us we had to keep a good pace up, and I was just about at death's door by the time we got to the proper climbing, so Damien headed up. We moved together up the first 150 or so metres (albeit with a ropeman clipped to each intermediate belay in case one of my retching fits made me fall off!) and then having run out of gear we belayed and did the last pitch on it's own.

The route is in good nick right now but the crux pitch and the final 10 metre step are pretty thin and require a delicate approach. Even then there's plenty to knock off, so best to be first on the route. 2 guys climbed below us, but I wouldn't do it as the route is a perfect funnel for debris. There is also a huge amount of spindrift, so it all feels a bit scottish.

The descent is easy, all on fixed belays, and you can save a bit of time by combining down climbing and abbing on the snow slope. We made good time and were back at the skis for 3.30 having left them at 9, but missed the last telecabine up to Montenvers but 10 minutes - gutted. The James Bond track is frankly desperate right now as we discovered.

Weather is now perfect all week so the lucky people without jobs or illness are in for a great time.

Aiguille D'Argentiere

Fantastic day out yesterday up on the Aiguille D'Argentuiere - blue skies, good company and an amazing location. We caught the first bin up and managed to traverse very easily across to the foot of Les Droites and then ski virtually to the Argentiere refuge, which saved ages compared to skiing straight down off Grand Montets. Once skins were on it is basically a long and incredibly hot slog up to the bergschrund, about 350 metres below the summit. We took 3 hours from skins on to bergshrund, which felt like good time.

Once there we climbed a pretty tedious 35 degree slope up to a narrowing below the final summit slope. With the summit slope being in really bad skiing condition we left skis at the narrowing and carried on up. However, about 50 metres below the summit, the snow became black ice with 6 inches of sugar on, followed by a thin, hard layer of crust. We all felt a bit unnerved by it and weren't too bothered by the summit unless we were going to ski it, so beat a hasty retreat from about 10 minutes from the top. The ski down was superb, not powder but nice, soft snow, almost like a piste but without the boarders to annoy you. We finished off with a nice little steep variant down onto the glacier and then skiied out to gallons of coke and water.

Argentiere Basin Conditions

North face of Les Droites

Droites and Verte

At the cost of getting left behind by Peter and Chris, I had a good look around the conditions on the Argentiere glacier when I was out yesterday, and things are looking pretty good. The coutruier looks good, as does the Lagarde on the Droites. The north face looks a bit thin just yet, but probably do able. The north face of the Courtes looks pretty similar, doable but probably a bit thin. Plenty to go at though.

Rectiligne Couloir

Looking for a good mission to squeeze in to a 4 hour lunch break, Damien and I went and skiied the classic Rectiligne Couloir variant on the Pas de Chevre off the top of Grand Montets. The couloir wasn't powder although it was nice, soft snow and good to get an edge in. You have to side slip around 10 metres at the top, where both ends of your skis touch the sides of the couloir, but after that it's nice and sustained at between 35 and 40 degrees depending on your line. The rest of the Pas de Chevre and the James Bond track was pretty grim snow, but a good little mission all the same.

As for conditions up top, we met some guys off to do Swiss route on Les Courtes, and apparently some people have gone up to do the Shroud on the Jorasses. I was initallt very jealous, but having woken up today to find the forecast down from 70% sun to 50%, and with a strong breeze, I'm not sure how they will be getting on. We'll see.

Another attempt at alpinism

Pure suffering. Taken shortly before my cheeks and nose turned white. Note frozen Bogie.

Hot aches on the VB!

Looking up at a very windy VB.

Why bother suffering when you can ski!?!?

With a forecast for sun on friday and Nick keen to climb, we got the Midi up hoping to do the uber classic Gabarrou Albinoni on the Tacul, but the weather had other ideas.

We headed across to the route along with a french guide who had the same plan as us and found it looking in perfect condition. However, it was clear even from a distance that getting to the main pitches would involve some major wading, and we didn't really fancy swimming to the route. Niether did the guide, who also decided not to bother, no doubt coming up with a decent excuse when his client asked for his reasons.

Undeterred we decided to try the Valeria gully on the Petit Capucin. However, having skinned up under some nasty looking seracs, we found ourselves at the foot of the route wearing 2 belay jackets each and shivering uncontrollably. The thought of standing still long enough to get the ropes out, let alone belay each other, made me wince, so we legged it. I've no idea how cold it was, suffice to say it felt a lot colder than the minus 40 I had in Nepal over Crimbo.

There are definitely routes in right now, so if the weather clears up it could be amazing. Also, my mate Damien reckons someone did the Shroud on the Jorasses recently and apparently they found 90% perfect neve (god knows what the other 10% is!). Generally looking up though, so hopefully the weather will pick up for the first time this winter.

Anyway, having skiied down to the Requin we chatted to a few British guides, general consensus being that with all the recent wind and unstable weather, it's pretty tough to tell what is safe and isn't as there is very little pattern to the weather. As a result, touring is possible right now but you need to be mega cautious.

Basically, routes are in and there's plenty of snow, so we just need this f**king weather to stabilise!!!