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Last big day out
My last day on skis this season in Chamonix was quite a large one.
I doesn't matter how many times I go up the Aiguille du Midi the
imposing view you get of the north face from the Mid station never
fails to impress me. Especially when you know you are going to be
riding back down what you are looking up at.
  
It had been raining down in the valley for 2 days,
making the place thoroughly miserable and it was raining most of
the way up the Grand Montets. The sun had come out and there was
a rumour of 80cm of fresh powder at the top. We were in the first
cable car of the day, always a must if you want real fresh tracks.
To our surprise there wasn't 80cm of fresh, more like 120cm! After
the exit ridge we skirted round behind the summit of the Midi, this
always sends a chill down my spine, not the steep traverse or the
mandatory crevasse jump but the fact the easiest route on this part
of the mountain is a very serious undertaking!
Steeper than your adverage traverse
A short side-step up brought us to the entrance to the Glacier Rond,
only a 20ft traverse but when your left ski is barely in the snow
and your right shoulder is almost in the snow, you know it is stupidly
steep. This brings you to what must be the airiest places in skiing
(very exposed) - you are stood on the north west shoulder of the
Midi, Chamonix is 2 miles straight down and the gentlest slope in
50 degrees downwards, anything else is steeper, or goes straight
up above to the summit! The first few turns are always a little
nerve wracking, as any slide here and you will fall for a long time
before hitting anything. The slope is slightly convex and was waist
deep and glorious. To exit you take a left turn over a knife-edge
and into a hidden couloir 2000 or so feet long at halfway vertical,
great for screaming powder turns.
  
The exit brings you onto the Bossons
Glacier as it tumbles down from Mont Blanc to the valley floor.
At this time of year the glacier is beginning to open up leading
to an interesting route between the seracs. From the edge of the
glacier there is a short vertical bootpack and a few traverses to
get back to the mid station, earlier in the year we would have just
skied down to the valley floor.
Fresh tracks
Ant had enough after one run claiming lack of sleep as an excuse
and headed off home to bed. Back up to the top for another run.
Round to the same entry point, but the Cosmiques this time. A short
sideslip and a 30m absail to get in due to lack of snow in the steepest
section. The Cosmiques never gives the same airy feeling as the
Rond, only a few tens of meters to our right. It is, however, just
as serious if not more so as It never gets shallower than 40 degrees
in what must be 4000 feet, and you just ski one continuous line.
The powder here was almost untouched - only 2 tracks in front despite
already being lunchtime. There were a few hidden ice ridges that
made skiing the powder interesting and a little intimidating.
  
Within sight of the Bossons glacier
Paul clipped one of the ice ridges too hard, stopping wasn't a problem
in deep powder which was getting quite heavy by now, getting down
to the glacier was. He had come out of one of his skis and it was
already down on the glacier waiting for him. Skiing on one ski is
hard enough, without trying to manage with deep snow on too short
skis and not forgetting two crevasses to cross on the way. The exit
through the seracs was easy to find but water beginning to drip
off everything showing us that all the snowbridges were unsafe.
By the time we had climbed and traversed our way back through porridge
to the mid station Paul had had enough - he couldn't stand up properly,
let alone go for another lap so went off home.
Serious melting
Phil, Lisa and I headed back up to the top again. Not many people
skiing of the summit in early afternoon so no queuing on the ridge,
we didn't bother with crampons or tying skis to rucksacks, just
slid down the track, jumped into skis and off down the Grand Envers.
First pitch is quite steep, but after the mornings run it didn't
deserve many turns! The second pitch is a bit steeper but not very
long, the snow here had been skidded off and falling into a very
large crevasse at the bottom wasn't too inviting so a bit of effort
was required to keep speed in check.
From here down it should have been plane sailing, well reasonably
so, no long steep pitches before the long flat runout to Montonvers
and the train home, but things were getting warm, far to warm after
a large snowfall. Anything over 20 degrees was very unstable. We
didn't get directly chased by any avalanches, but there was plenty
of evidence of recent activity. When the slope splits a meter or
so deep, 20 meters across and goes a couple of hundred covering
the mornings tracks it is safe to say it's reasonably serious. Needless
to say we didn't hang about.
It was one of my biggest lift served days on the hill and my last
in Chamonix for probably at least 6 months.
Words and Pictures
from Tom
Greenall - Natives Resort Reporter
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