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A week after our trip in the Aravis and the snow situation not changing too much around Chamonix, we decided to head back into the Aravis.
This time Karl, Breezy, Mark and myself headed to La Clusaz and into a valley with a series of more or less north facing Combes. I think the one up in the right hand corner of this shot is the Combe du Grand Cret - we decided to head up the Combe de Paccaly the next one over from this. Typing out this diary I've realised that I don't tend to put in times - giving you an idea how long this kind of thing takes, so... |
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After sorting out the gear, we set off between 10.30 and 10.45 along a summer track that we actually more or less followed well above the tree line. The peak in front is the Rochers de la Salla - the Paccaly is on the right side of the peak.
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Slim pickings snow-wise down here...
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Always something to look at!
Interesting that non of us have gloves on - its early February and we're in the shade... |
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Onwards and upwards. There was a fairly easy skin track to follow - except where a couple of snow shoers had mashed it up. As we got higher the wind picked up and the jackets and gloves were back on.
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Not long and it was back into the sun as the Combe opened up. Obviously a popular ski touring area - a good few groups ahead of us and plenty of tracks down since the last snow fall. |
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First glimpse of one of our possible goals - Trou de la Mouch. Not sure what that means - if there was an 'e' on the end of Mouch it would be hole of the fly I guess.
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Around 1.30 and it was time for lunch at the top of the Combe. We were able to watch some others heading to the Trou. It looked like most had ditched skis some way below and boot packed up the last ridge. |
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Again, it was nice to be out of the Cham valley and on some different terrain - as we neared the final section we had some great views and were surrounded by some great rock formations. |
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After some debate we opted to leave the skis and packs at the base of the boot pack - this was after chatting to an old guy who said that he'd been told the ski off the other side wasn't in great condition... |
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One of the views I mentioned - shame this isn't on at full resolution. The backside of Les Houches is in the centre of shot, with St.Gervais below it and Mont Blanc above. |
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Breezy and Karl through the Trou - the last few metres were quite icy and the guys were glad they'd brought crampons along. |
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Especially Mark who was in alpine boots. I'd decided to save weight and left my crampons at home - but I was ok with my rando boots and an ice axe as back up. |
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In the Trou and a view behind back towards La Clusaz. The Combe du Grand Cret below us looked in great condition and still had plenty of sun - another group who'd skinned up that way were really looking forward to the ski down.
The time of the photo was 2.41 - if you allow twenty minutes or so for lunch and a couple of minutes at the Trou before I took the photo it still took forty odd minutes to sort out crampons etc. and make the relatively short final climb to the Trou. |
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As we'd opted to dump the gear it was back down the same way for us - feeling a little more exposed on the way back down. We did consider grabbing the gear and coming back up to ski the other Combe, but time and dodgy crampon issues for Mark decided against it. |
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It seemed easy enough going up... I was actually happier without crampons going down - that certainly wouldn't have been the case if the snow had been much harder. This shot was at 2.55 - so probably allow another ten minutes till we were actually skiing down. |
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Not taking the skis up to the Trou meant the ski down was pretty hit and miss in and out of the sun - real mix of hard pack, breakable crust and sun/wind affected, half skied out crud. But as with the week before we weren't really expecting any great skiing. The time here is 3.40 more or less - so we've had a half hourish of skiing and I'd guess looking down we had another 10 minutes before the bush whacking and rock hopping started. |
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Back to the car and the time is 4.20. The Combe du Grand Cret still has plenty of sun in places - always next time!
To give you an idea of an average day tour (for us!!) - just over five and a half hour round trip - four hours up time more or less - including lots of photo stops, breathers and lunch. Not much more than forty minutes of real skiing and forty odd minutes of faffing at the end to get back to the car. |
