January 2010 in Chamonix. What have the teenies had in store for us so far this year?

It was a strangely slow start to the season for me this year. You know, the type where you don’t quite wake up from the intersession hibernation, and you find yourself having lunch in Chambre 9 on a sunny powder day, slightly confused as to why you are not up the mountain skiing. The week drinking cocktails in Boston did not help, nor did the stint eating Turkey at my mums house, then there was the swine flu (honestly, I had crackling in my ears!), a lost skiing buddy, and a strange skill at acquiring jobs!

 It has to be said, the snow was shy at the beginning of this season. Our annual skin up Le Tour, normally tackled at the beginning of November, was put back to the 4^th of December. But we headed out in force, Steph, myself, Susie from the office next door, Jim and Guy. Obviously broken by the hibernation period, we gallantly pretended that our lungs were not exploding, and plodded our way up from the car park in Le Tour to the Tete de Balme at 2321m. I have a soft spot for this early season ritual marking the beginning of the winter. The awkward bambi style kick turns, the freezing lungs, the painful feet….. and then the small but satisfying summit, and the 6 month ‘high’ that follows.

first ski tour of the season - Dec 09

Then January bought its usual dumps, and we were soon taken over once again by powder madness:

7^th of Jan: The season has begun! Today brought an absolutely incredible time in Courmayeur and truly got the blood pumping round the pitiful thighs. Lap after lap of creamy powder to be found in the trees heading down to the Dolone lift. Courmayeur is a haven from our gnarly crevace ridden terrain found in the Chamonix valley. If the snow has fallen low, you can guarantee a mind blowing time swinging between the trees, with plenty of mushroom style humps that even the daintiest of skiers feels comfortable taking air off. It does however take a bit of detective work to figure out how much snow has fallen over there. Only 20mins drive through the tunnel from Cham, but in a microclimate of its own, the guys in Courmayeur are not that hot at predicting the snow! If I paid as much attention to the stock market as I do the weather forecast- I would be a millionaire by now. This little stint was followed by an evening in Pre St Didiers natural spa….. there is quite honesty no better way to end a ski day!

relaxing at Pre St Didier after a hard day's skiing in Courmayeur. Bliss!!

It cant be all deep lift accessed powder and spas, as full time resident of the Mecca of the steeps, we have a reputation to uphold!! So back to Chamonix it was to indulge in our sadomasochist ways.

12^th Jan: We headed up to the Col des Autannes from the top of the Charamillion chair lift in Le Tour. It’s a short (approximately 300m) boot pack up to the second gazach which allows you to enter into the Trient valley via a quiet snow enchanted entrance. The snow coverage on the boot pack up was not great, and even less fun given the choice of footwear I had opted for ( downhill racing boots- well we go up to come down!). But as always, the ski down was silky, smooth, sexy and safe! A final competitive sprint along the cross country ski course in Trient finished off the day, and if your lucky you will be in time for one of the two buses of the day- 12.45 and 3.45. If not its thumbs out- and a chance to practice your LATVIAN!

14^th Jan: Another fresh snow dump- this is what we are talking about! We decided to check out the ENSA couloir at the Brevent. I peeked my head in what I thought was the ENSA, it had been a while since I prodded around in that neck of the woods. I remember the entrance being pretty steep with a large rock in the middle. Well- this was pretty steep, and narrow, and there was a LARGE rock crossing the entirety of the couloir about 10m in. I kicked off the cornice and stomped down the snow in order to get a better look at the gully. Ummmm, I don’t remember it being this steep, but maybe, maybe not- ummmm, there was a narrow gully, ummm ahhh, why did I not pay more attention last time, I vow to never blindly follow again….! After a little more of those invigorating mind games my co pilot peered his head and proclaimed in no uncertain terms that I was mad, and he was not dropping into that skinny looking excuse of a ski line! Decision made, retreat, retreat. Further round the corner a few ski tracks disappeared off into a tame looking gully, it took approximately a mile second to realise that this was in fact the ENSA, that no contortionist act was necessary to enter it, that the steep line that once fed my dreams was in fact no more than 40° and wide, and the death defying rock that once took all my concentration to conquer was really not such a big deal! We enjoyed a beautiful safe descent, a wonderfully classic and aesthetic line that weaves through the rocks of the Brevent.

19^Th of Jan: Girl power! Gen, Steph and I headed up the Crochu – Berard ski tour in the Aiguille Rouge. I don’t think I am alone in holding this route as my first ever ski tour. Lead up it four years ago by an old friend, it seemed at the time to be a step into the wilderness of the Alps. A short 400M skin takes you to the Crochu pass and from there you drop down into the uninhabited valleys behind Chamonix. Another short skin takes you to the Berard pass, where you drop down into the Buet valley- once a secret paradise whose existence even the wind and sun were ignorant of! Now days it is looks more like a scene from the Lemmings video game! Our plan was to head over to the keyhole, or the Brech de Berard, a slightly longer route that allows you a slightly better descent. There was, however, no track in, and due to lack of testosterone in the group we decided to give it a miss. Luckily enough, 90% of our Lemming friends had headed up towards the Glacier de mort, so we were pretty much alone on the Berard. The snow was lovely, the tracks were minimal, and we had such a great descent that we put our skins back on after 600 odd m and did it all again!

Rhiannon enjoying a girlie day out in the Berard Valley! Fresh tracks all the way down. So good we did it twice.

22th of Jan: I skied the Cosmique with Tom Grenhall, and it was in top condition! I have to say, I love this line! Easily accessed from the midi lift, yet technical enough of an entry to redirect most of the Chamonix enthusiasts towards its sister route on the ‘Rond’, it seems to accumulate snow to such mind-blowing depth. It’s steep enough for you to feel the pull of gravity at every turn, and allows you to fully benefit the depth of the snow, yet not ‘silly might well die’ steep! We put up a 60m rappel from the right hand side belay that you ski 10m or so to get to. We shared the rappel with my GP, Doc Cadot who just happens to be a guide to! When Tom is not gallantly putting ropes up for me in the mountains he is busy making environmentally friendly skis. Using hemp as a substitute for the plastic top sheet, and recycled woods, his Idris skis are proving to be a true hit amongst the ski bums of Chamonix. For more info check out http://www.idriskis.com/Skis.com. We took the Bosson Glacier exit, and I was able to ski 20 odd meters from my front door! I was in the office by 11AM! I love Chamonix!

skiing waist deep powder in the cosmiques - on the way to work!

23^rd of Jan: Col de Passon with Susie, John and Scares, it’s a classic, but its great! And what fun to head out on an adventure with a new group! The Col de Passon links up the Argentier Glacier and the Trient Glacier. It’s a 700m skin up to the couloir, which then involves a small boot pack up to the col. You are then faced with an open expanse of a glacier that gently rolls down for about 1000m into the village of Le Tour. When there is 30cm of fresh snow on that open expanse you are in for a pretty fun decent! You can either exit the Glacier skiers right by following one of the gullies down or alternatively you can go skiers high left and take the summer path back down to the river. What you can’t do, is ski straight down, even if the snow is knee deep and untracked:

untracked knee deep powder at the bottom of the col de passon ... Too good to be true?

yep! A reminder why not to fall for the untouched powder field. Hiking out of the col de passon ...