Between work and a relatively poor early season my ski touring got off to a slow start this year. But I managed to get two nice tours in the space of a few days in mid February. I took this first picture on an early season trip into the Vallee Blanche a couple of weeks' before Al, Mark and myself headed out on a Sunday jolly across to the Italian side of the Vallee. I've marked the last part of our access in red and our approximate descent route in black - although the crevasses were thankfully more snow covered by the time we skied, careful route finding was critical - especially early in the descent.
Especially as it was our first real outing, there tends to be a fair bit of faffing at the beginning of the climb - making sure we get the skins on nicely and debating how many layers to shed.
Above Mark's head you can just make out some of the telecabines that link the Aiguille du Midi with the Pointe Helbronner during the summer.
On the Col des Flambeau with the Pointe Helbronner off Al's right shoulder and Italy beyond. From this point we needed to make sure we found the right line through to what we hoped would be some nice skiing.
All set. Looking back towards the French side of the Vallee - lots of great options on that side - but clearly, good route planning is all important...
Mark sets off on the first of three lovely pitches - snow in fantastic condition given the length of time since the last snow, on nicely angled slopes and relatively crevasse free.
Al coming to the end of the second pitch. As you can see, we certainly weren't the first guys to ski this - but there were plenty of fresh tracks to be had. It was great to get away from the masses for the day and as we hadn't expected much else than a good work out - it was fantastic to get such nice skiing.
A couple of days' later and it was time to head out of the other side of the Chamonix Valley. This time with Tom and Stephen, once again getting skins and layers sorted. this sortie was into the Aiguilles Rouges and a tour I've wanted to do for a few years now - known as the Beugeant-Encrenaz after the two main Cols you cross during the tour.
The first part of the tour is a short easy skin to the Chalet du Lac Blanc - the lake is a real honey pot in the summer with hundreds of visitors every day. I think the Col de Beugeant is somewhere near the lowest point in the peaks behind and left of the Chalet. Hasten to add I wasn't route finding!! Although it would be relatively easy as the down side to living in a valley where you are never short of touring buddies is that half the town has usually been in before you!
Tom approaching the Chalet with Montblanc in the background. Even after living in the valley for over five years I get blown away by the area I live in - and people still ask if I'd ever move back to the UK...
A well earned breather and lunch stop before the last skin to the Col. A lot steeper than it appears - as proved by the speedy decent of the helmet dropped by one of the group ahead of us. You can just about make them out close to the rocks straight above Tom's gloved poles - preparing for the last rocky scramble to the Col.
Stephen on the scramble - well worth the extra weight of crampons in the pack.
Looking back from the Beugeant to the Aiguilles de Chamonix on the right, the top of Les Drus hidden in the cloud to the left and the Mer de Glace in between. The cloud had come in fairly rapidly and was the precursor to a front we knew was moving in and hopefully bringing some much needed snow.
Apparently you can normally ski in from the Col - but poor cover meant getting the ropes out and rappelling twenty odd meters. Fair play to Stephen - not the greatest introduction to rope work with all your ski clobber on and the weather on the turn.
Finally it was skis on without the skins and a short ski down to the Col de L'Encrenaz - straight ahead of Stephen.
After a quick, easy scramble over the Col it was onto the Combe de L'Encrenaz - a slope I've looked at many times when skiing at Le Tour - almost out of shot on the top left of this picture. Hence the big smile despite the poor light and variable snow conditions we expected on the way down.
