Spring in Chamonix

The Food

2010-04-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'll have to say I really love the food in France, and there's no doubt it's a part of the fun for my yearly visit. It's good food, but additionally, my food intake goes through the roof when I come here because it's proportional to my energy output. So I splurge at the epicerie and then I don't leave my apartment without an assortment of meats, cheeses and other snacks in my backpack.

The fromage isle can be kind of overwhelming at the carrefour. I usually think to myself, wow, look at that one! Only a Euro?May as well try it. And then I end up with loads of delicious little cheeses, and some not so good ones too.

In addition to the cheese, the cured meat items are far superior to those available in the USA. Butter, milk, eggs, and yogurt are supreme as well.

Pictured here is a solid kilo of cured meat. I'll smash that sausage in no time, but I could have my work cut out for me to finish that chunk of pigs leg before I leave...

I'm Back!

2010-04-22T03:05:00.000-07:00

I am so excited it's spring in Chamonix once again, and I'm back in town to take advantage of it. I showed up on Wednesday morning and made a few laps on the Aiguille du Midi just to check things out. A quick lap down the Cosmiques couloir, and then back up the Aiguille to head down the Vallee blanche for some sightseeing. Beautiful. The steeps are not nearly as filled in as they were last year, but there's still time.

Thursday we did a climb and ski on Les Courtes in Argentiere. There's some confusion as to the name of it, but in my fairly recent copy of Baud's guide it's 82. b, Northeast spur of Les Courtes. Super cool line on a hanging snowfield and then snaking through some chutes.

Dusene, Jim, John

Dave

Pain du Sucre

2009-05-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Aiguille du Midi seen from South face of Aiguille du Plan

The Pain du Sucre is the scariest looking run in Anselme Baud's Mont Blanc and the Aiguille Rouge: A Guide for Skiers. In the title photo of this blog the pain du sucre is visible in the snowiest part of the rocky face below the sk of skiing. I was pretty much all ears when Andreas mentioned we should ski it. He showed me some better pictures of the route and was all for the direct ridgeline traverse, a seldom talked about approach to the Pain du Sucre, not that people are heading for the run all too often as it's only been skied a handful of times.

Pain du Sucre from the South Face of Aiguille du Plan. We dropped into the other side from the top of the visible chute, to the left of the little spire.

Andreas is dialed in on anchors and gear and is a ski mountaineering animal and a fantastic skier. Tobias is a professional hockey player, equally good skier, and was in from the start. I was fired up and feeling confident and couldn't say no.

Looking up the South face of the Pain du Sucre

The approach was sick. It was a fallaway icy exposure to a several thousand foot ciff for much of the traverse up toward the Aiguille du Plan. No reason to overthink it, just one foot in front of the other, go. Pretty neat place to be. Then there was another sweet little pitch to ski before we started booting it up the little couloir to the top of the Pain du Sucre.

It was similar to dropping into Corbet's, but steeper and narrower with a several thousand foot longer tomahawk pattern. The rope was necessary, this time.

We skied and navigated, solidy, slightly cautiously, and the ground kept falling away below us for a glorius 6000 ft of amazing views and warming conditions. Looks like we skied right into summer.

The sun beat down on the glacier scattered with boulders, cracks, streams and rivers. H2O, rock, sunshine. Then we scaled up several hundred vertical ft of rock on ladders of giant rebar staples punched into the walls.

Then, pastry time.

The Couturier

2009-05-19T20:41:00.000-07:00

The Couturier is probably the biggest run I had all year and also one of the most idyllic runs I've ever skied. Smooth and steep and long, a solid 45-55 degrees for 3000ft. It's the king of the numerous super sick runs in the Argentiere basin.

We checked it a bunch while the Grand Montet was still spinning, but there was a long stretch of blue ice over the steepest section, so we had to keep waiting. Plenty of stuff to ski in the mean time...

Several weeks later, it was a perfect warm and sunny spring day when we started hiking at the parking lot of the Grand Montet. Fueled by the tastiest french carbohydrates, with over sixty pounds of crap on my back (minimal stuff), we started up the Pierre a Ric in our high tops. At the end of a big ski day the Pierre a Ric is one of the craziest drunkest most crowded pistes ever, so I thought we'd find a bunch of goods and money on the hike up since we were within a week of snow turning to grass, but we found hardly enough euros to buy a pitcher.

Things started looking pretty grey as we were nearing the top of the Pierre a Ric, and sure enough it began raining as we finished buckling our ski boots.

2500 ft in, 6500 left to go and it's raining, it's easy to forget that 3000 ft up it's dumping a perfectly moist snow to stick to 55 degree blue ice. The precipitation that soaked me to my bones and left me shivering and hungry for the rationed food in my pack is the same precipitation that will make tomorrow worth every step. Gotta think of the big picture...

Moral wasn't soaring as we attempted to drain a puddle from the top of a relatively flat rock that happened to be floating down the glacier, but other than wet, cold, tired and hungry we were doing excellent. We put our puffies on, pitched the tent and then stood around in our ski boots shivering and waiting a few minutes for our shells to dry in the cold wind. During this time we were able to distract ourselves from self pity by admiring some weather moving swiftly up the valley, filtering sparse rays of sun among rolling clouds and grey smears of falling rain.

Not wanting to go to bed too early, but anxious for our sleeping bags, we finally removed our boots and crawled into that little bibler tent with all our wet crap. We smashed some bread and cheese, salami and chocolate, then sunk into our bags listening to rain and wind.

It wasn't ideal sleeping conditions, but we were happy to be resting in our down bags and dreaming of that gigantic funnel of a run that was pointed basically right at our tired heads.

We took an alpine start to begin the roughly 4500 feet we aimed to hike that morning. My pack felt super light at not even a quarter of the weight I started with, and things were looking prime as we cruised along the glacier in the dark and began the climb toward the shimmering peak of the Aiguille Vert.

We made great time with our skins on and then switched to crampons a few hundred yards before the bergschrund. Our pace slowed as it's pretty tough breaking trail in a foot of dense fresh snow on a 50 degree slope. Five hours later...

It's a totally sweet view of Mont Blanc and the Chamonix valley from the top of the Aiguille Verte, but it was cold in the thin air and we were anxious to get going, so we didn't stick around any longer than necessary.

Dave dropped in first and then we leapfrogged down the huge run, skiing as fast as we dared on such a steep slope. I was lauching at how in every single turn of one or two seconds I was surpassing 20 minutes of sweat and pain. The harder it is on the way up, the easier it is on the way down? Not really, but there's definitely some sort of inverse relation ship between work/pain and joy or the like. It was totally epic.

The Mallory

2009-05-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

The Aiguille du Midi is one of my favorite things. It make me happy for mankind that we would build such a contraption, though it would be appropriate to site the French and give them sole credit. The second cable car in the Aigullle du Midi series completes the upper half of the 9000 vertical ft rise on a single span 1.5 mile long cable that ends in a vertical rock face. People frequently cry. It's awesome.

The terrain under the lift is hair raising, but like always from a chairlift, you are given a unique perspective to scope out the conditions and then step up to the plate should you so desire. In this case, the pitch of snow that meanders and magically connects through the cliffs directly under the Aiguille du Midi is called the Mallory, and may be the gnarliest run under the chairlift, in the world.

Years ago I spent a winter in Chamonix, studying this run every lift ride, but never imagining people were crazy enough to ski it. When I eventually heard that it did get skied on occasion, my hairs rose and heart rate increased. I wanted to ski it too.

On the ride up that morning things looked good, but man what a scary looking run. I'd pretty much extended my trip in hopes of the conditions that morning though, so Dave and I didn't have to do much more than nod at each other before racing through the slippery cavern hallways to make sure we got there first.

How to Stay Alive in Chamonix

2009-05-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

You have to eat. And I could just about blow a fuse in the cheese isle here. In the united states of north america, it's the strict pasteurization rules that ruin our access to all these little hockey puck gems. I still appreciate old Louie and everything, but snow snakes to the government bureau that misinterpreted that information. Also the poor american cows eat crusty old corn instead of fresh green grass like they deserve.

In Chamonix the cheese will go straight to your thighs. ;)

Here I demonstrate a proper layering technique. Butter, salami, cheese.

God is great God is good, let us thank him for this food (rhymes with good)

2009-05-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Now, it's not technically Raclette without the cornichons and cute little onions, insists Mr. Plake. But it's safe to say we were thoroughly satisfied with the meal nonetheless.

It's a dream of a spread for a multi-tasking mini food lover, and with raclette you get to eat for hours! But you can't just drop in hot and think you'll stay on your feet. You have to pace yourself if you want to maximize your consumption of nummy little meats and veggies with potatoes blanketed in melted cheese.

We thank the lord for happy hearts, for snow and snowy weather, we thank the lord for this our food and that we are together.

North Face of the Col du Plan

2009-05-11T18:15:00.000-07:00

Looking in from the Col du Plan direct

The North Face of the Col du Plan may be the most skiable looking run on the North Face of the Aiguille du Midi. I sure thought so at least and I used to argue with my friends that it could be skied free via the direct route, over the ice fall at the bottom. It looked a little different back then, more skiable than now, but hey, it could still happen. Maybe. I'll stand by my argument in hopes of getting lucky one day. There must be times when snow sticks to that ice...
This time we rappelled into the top of the pinner chute on the left and made hop turns down to another small rap. Tight and steep in there. Turns at the top were epic. Avy exposure feels higher on the top face of this run.

First pitch from the upper/diagonal entrance

Second Pitch from the diagonal entrance

Dave Rosenbarger, hop turn master

Dave heading out the bottom

Ski something sweet.

2009-05-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

Next time you're in France, just do yourself a favor and eat a pastry. Years back I was turned on to the Chasson Aux Pommes by my good friend Colin who has an excellent palette. I've yet to find one better than that from L'autre Boulangerie, right in the center of town. If you want to impress someone, say shasson pum, but fyi, the French are not easily impressed. Take your first bite asap. Now walk around and look triumphant.

Duncan tests out an apricot variety, chasson aux pommes for moi.

The Midnight Express, direct route

2009-05-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

There are a delicious many "fast food" stands around town, but with such lovely and exciting items in the super marche, it can be difficult to talk yourself out of something such as a homemade tartiflette. For instance. Or salami and cheese. But if you should for some reason become inebriated in the French village of Chamonix, it would be imprudent of you not to consume an item from Midnight Express, or Belouga. Though they are always good, I feel the provisions from these establishments are appreciated most when the food might be classified as sustenence rather than delicate or delectable. Like when you're drunk and your brain says, let's get us a burger that's the size of our head.

My name is Andrew, and I just finished eating a Hamburger. Technically.

Eugster

2009-05-09T13:02:00.000-07:00

Finally! I'd been waiting for this one. The turns were great under the Aiguille du Midi all the way down to the separation of Eugster and Mallory. Then there's a bit of a sidestep, and from there it opens up into the Eugster diagonal couloir, pretty steep but not too intimidating, though the pitch remains pretty constant right through the first rappel point.

It is a super fun rappel too, skiing backwards right down a little waterfall. A few hundred yards later, the second rappel is more difficult to hook into and not quite as fun. After that it's still steep into one more tricky section, and then steep until the bergschrund, which can also be tricky. It's a great run though, and worth waiting for.

West Couloir Direct Route

2009-05-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

I'd been looking forward to "taking a left" off the Aiguille du Midi, so it was nice to finally break the ice, so to speak, with an exploratory run down the West Couloir. We knew roughly where we were going, but still it was hard for me to believe we were going to ski off the north face of the Aiguille du Midi and keep cutting left toward the biggest exposure, go over some rocks and then drop magically into a little chute with only 30m ropes.

The north face of the aiguille is a pretty amazing place to be. You feel the exposure all around you, dropping off to nothing in any direction, and you are on stage to viewers from the top station and the cable car, a spectacle for the tourists. Dropping into the west couloir I really noticed a contrast to the feeling I just had on the north face. It was like we had rappelled into a private little world that was a small steep couloir surrounded by rock hundreds of feet above your head in all directions. Even below it looked like the run would end in rock. It was completely silent, secluded and visible to no one.

Cosmiques Arrete

2009-05-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

Took a day off to climb cosmiques arrete. It was a great way to get out and work on the mountaineering skills while enjoying the sunshine and expansive views.

Qui Remue

2009-05-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

We had another look at the Couturier, but still not good to go, we took the bonus turns and put the skins back on to head deeper into the Argentiere basin. Les Courtes looked nice, but way too many people were going for that one. We decided to take the Qui Remue, just to the left of Les Courtes, with a large ice bulge in the middle for some added excitement.

The snow felt good and with three of us rotating the boot pack we made good time. Crossing the ice was easy in crampons, and looked sketchy yet manageable for skiing on the way down. At the top we went for the middle chute, just to the left of the rock spire. Like always, the view was amazing, but we were excited to get going since standing on the knife ridge was scarier than dropping in and skiing. It was super steep, smooth chalky goodness, transitioning back

into deeper chalky pow.

Qui Remue = who wiggles, or something like that. There could have been a bit of wiggling going on, but it was mostly just awesome steep skiing.

The Pics show the Qui Remue straight on, Les Courtes to the right and Col de Cristaux to the left. Dave working his way down toward the bulge. My feet hanging in from the top. Andrew looking pleased after the first section.

Chevalier Couloir

2009-05-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

On the day of the Grand Montet closing party most people were downing beers before you could even ask them if they wanted to take a run. It was left up to Giulia Monego and I to go for an easy ski down the Chavalier Couloir, just a short hike off the top of the Grand Montet. The hike was pretty short, but after looking in I decided not to have the celebratory beer at the top. Pretty steep, narrow and rocky if you ask me. But no point hanging around too long though when there's pond skimming and partying just a short ski down the glacier.

It was nice of someone to fix a rope in the crux. I tested a reverse technique, while Giulia went forward style and made it look easy. Once in, the skiing was quite nice, but variable, changing rapidly with aspect, angle and altitude. We had to stay on our toes a little, but it was good. Sure enough, the light went flat just as we were trying to find a spot to jump the sizable bergschrund. The best spot looked like a ten footer to uphill landing in who knows how soft of snow. Since there wasn't much choice at that point without a bunch of slogging, we sent it and got out of there. Soft enough I guess.

We got back just in time have a beer and watch John send the pond in a Soviet speed skating suit. Totally epic.

North Face of the Tour Ronde

2009-05-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

Another morning freeride frenzy, this time at the Aiguille du Midi. At least we had some entertainment with the construction workers pouring a new slab for the remodeled base station. From the top we took off in a race for the Tour Ronde, with at least one group of two or three skiers ahead of us, and who knows how many climbers from huts were already into the crux on the north face.

We had a group of five with Dave, John, Andrew, Giulia and myself. Dave was unfazed by the locals hassling him for taking "girls and dudes from tahoe" to the Tour Ronde, and made an excellent route choice for our ascent. Dave and John powered right up with the rest of us in tow and we made it in no time, first to reach the top for the day. We had to wait at the top for quite

some time so as to not sluff any climbers off the face, but even then we weren't sure how many late starters were climbing that we couldn't even see.

It's a bit of a sketchy thing with all the traffic on popular and high profile routes that

don't frequently come into condition. When it's in, everybody wants to get it, but then there's the traffic jam and climbers on the ski descent and skiers on the climbing route. Seems like the best plan is to start early, get it done and get off it quick...

I was happy to find that the snow was very nice on the initial pitch, especially since the whole skiing toward certain death size cliffs armed with ropes thing was pretty much new to me as of this run. Since I was fired up to get right into it, I agreed to help Dave set up the rappel, but then watched him take off making hop turns down the 45 plus slope in a rock lined chute no more than a foot wider than the length of his skis. I was amazed!

At this point I must mention the handful of skiers in Chamonix who are some of the best in the world, spending their days in crazy places skiing the steepest raddest things that ever get skied. Dave skis with the touch and grace of a skier that must have been trained and bred to ski Chamonix. Light as a feather, solid as a rock, soft on the edges with perfect control. Impeccable technique for high exposure mountaineering type skiing. Thanks for the free lesson Dave!

After some groveling around on a precipice, we located a nice rock to sling and tossed the rope. Andrew fired right over with skis on, but recommended the rest of us de-ski for this decent. We dropped down a flat rock face, and then at the end of our rope sidestepped a few feet over thin snow

on ice down to some more skiable snow. The turns out the bottom were totally sick, steep and ripable all the way down to the glacier.

The pics are:

Face Shot.

The waiting gang.

Wondering if I can turn like Dave did.

Andrew about to rappel, Giulia on Deck.

Giulia feeling pleased with herself.

Checking the Couturier

2009-04-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Joined the freeride frenzy in the first tram up the Grand Montet for an attempt at the Couturier. It was an easy decision to pull the plug with the large section of exposed ice in the middle. For consolation, we had some pretty sweet bonus turns back down to the Argentier glacier.

This also gave me a chance to scope out some of the other lines in the Argentier basin. The Col d'aiguille Vert is definitely at the top of my list for next time...

John and the Couturier.

Col d'Aiguille Vert and Couturier Couloir from Argentier Glacier.

Andrew Eisenstark and Dave Rosenburger shredding the bonus pow.

Glacier Rond

2009-04-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

After a five year break from Chamonix, it was nice to get back onto the Glacier Rond. I think it's my favorite "easy" run to ski right off the Aiguille du Midi. Better views and more fun than the Cosmiques, but less sought after. Just a little exposure to your left to get onto the hanging glacier, and then it's steep and open with amazing views. It's high on wow factor for little to no work. The exit couloir is also steep and fun with a little bergschrund at the bottom.

One day I got stuck beind a monoboarder as he was inside edging his way across the hairy part of the traverse, so I then had the privledge of watching him send the entire top section at high speed while windmilling his arms rapidly during the whole episode. Like everyday in Cham, it was like nothing I'd ever seen before.

Here's the hanging glacier, just before taking a left.

Duncan taking a breather with the Aiguille and the Passerelle in the background.

Duncan getting after it in the exit couloir.

Doing some homework

2009-04-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

of course