Matt and I had plans for a quick half day tour from the Plan de L'Aiguille today but as we drove past the Midi, one look at the crowds convinced us to head elsewhere. We figured that the Grand Montets would also be rammed so that left us with an easy choice to head to Flegere, where we thought we'd go for a quick dart over the classic Col de Beaugent.
The skin up was brutally hot and we paid the price for wearing kit appropriate for being in the shade, which we would have been if we'd stuck to our original plan. The scramble up to the Col was easy enough and then we shot over to the other side by hand-over-handing down a 30m rope and then downclimbing another 10m or so to where we could put skis on.
Once on the shaded, north facing slopes the powder was amazing. Light snow, plenty of it and not many tracks about meant we had a fantastic descent.
Matt (on the left) dwarfed by the scenery.
Once back at the Hotel du Buet we got a couple of beers with some friends and then got the bus home. All in all, a stress free day of skiing powder in the mountains - life doesn't get much better.
Cheers!