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With what little fresh snow we had late January well skied and suffering from a little valley fever - Karl, Joe and myself decided on a Saturday tour in the Aravis Range.
Leaving the Autoroute at Cluses we snaked up a fairly nasty road towards Romme - not expecting much we found a pretty little village in a beautiful setting. Living in one of the major resorts, its easy to forget that the Alps are covered in mini ski areas often with just one or two drag lifts. I think the white peak in the background is called La Mole (sp?!), and although the nights have stayed cool enough, high daytime temperatures meant within a week there was little snow left on it... |
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I've done very little ski touring out of the Chamonix valley and as Joe was on his first real tour, we spent a lot of time taking in the view and debating exactly what we were looking at!
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Quite often a ski tour in Chamonix is a means to an end - the goal being some decent lines down. It was quite nice to really enjoy some cruisey climbing - taking in the scenery and enjoying the exercise as opposed to worrying about what's above or below you!
The weather was a mixed bag all day - one minute clear and the next cloudy. The tour runs along or close by a ridge line and an irratic, chilly wind meant a lot off messing around with layers. |
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Cruisey?
We did experience one relatively steep ridge section and like everyone before us, opted for a boot pack. |
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Joe approaching the top of the ridge during one of the more cloudy times. Poor Joe was in his stiff alpine boots and suffered all day - we didn't have the heart to tell him that the ski payback for this trip could well be minimal as we 'skipped' along in our rando boots.
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Back in the sunshine and stiff heavy boots all forgotten as we take a breather before our final climb. |
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Karl approaches the final pitch - two goals for the day were the Pointe d'Areu, out of shot to the left - or the Col de la Forclaz, to Karl's left - under the Tete de la Forclaz. Skiing down the couloir on the other side of the Col was also an option - but would have meant calling in the support vehicle, well Norma & Ines anyway.
A direct approach to the Col from here looks even more dicey in the photo than it did on the day - a lot of wind action leaving some interesting formations and no doubt a snow pack to match. |
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Instead we head up to the left of the Col and up towards the Areu. The snow here was also heavily wind affected, if a little less obviously so. |
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Looking towards the Col from just below our turn around point. It would have been nice to have at least had a look at the couloir for future reference, or made it up to the Pointe - but we had agreed a turn around time and Joe was more or less done. |
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Anyway - a signpost is as good a point to turn round as any. The wind was howling over here, so it was quickly off with the skins and time for a little skiing. |
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I could lie and say we had acres of this. For a good few hours climbing we had this and another pitch or two of reasonable if mixed snow. |
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The boys won't thank me for this one! I did say mixed - think they may have hit a definite transition here. I'd been putting the camera away from the last shot as Karl and Joe disappeared over a brow - really wasn't expecting to find them both in a heap. If we had hit this an hour earlier it probably would have been in top condition. |
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Job done. With the weak snow base it was a tough choice whether to battle the rocks and stones on the 4x4 track out, or pack the skis and walk it. That's Romme way off in the centre of shot - the skis took a bit of a pounding... |
