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An early start this one...
...after some short warm up tours with Joe, Karl and Norma - it was time for some real mileage. With a warm day forecast and a reasonably long climb ahead we thought a six o'clock start was a little early, but justifiable.
Mont Buet has been on 'the list' for a while now - either as a summer hike or a ski tour. With only his Alpine ski boots to tour in, Joe sensibly sat this one out - so it was just Karl, Norma and myself for the 1780 metre climb. The book time I had for the route said between six and seven hours climb - we thought we'd get to the summit well inside this time - wonder how we did?! |
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All smiles at this point and cool enough for hat and gloves. Finally someone else brought a camera along - so beware, there'll be a few shots of me on this one! Thanks to Karl for extra photos.
We got away from the parking in Le Buet at around ten past six. This shot was somewhere near the top of the beginners' area at Le Poya. |
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Forty minutes in and we're in the early morning light. Karl and Norma opt for the low road over the stream.
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I opted for the high.
The snow cover looking way better than when I was in here with Jim and Joe during January. (See the first diary entry from this season.) |
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A little further on, and as the valley widens out a little we come to the first of the debris piles - Karl and I knew what to expect having skied over them on the way out from the Mort a couple of days' before, but they came as a bit of a shock to Norma.
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Into the sunshine and the main climb now.
Just about three hours in and still smiling - possibly wouldn't have been had I known how soon those dots off my right shoulder would reel us in!! |
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Almost two hours later and without a breath of wind its a pretty warm plod. Not far off five hours in and we've been overtaken by just about everyone - in our defence, we had the most and heaviest kit. Plus while Norma got stronger as the day went on the reverse was true for me - it would have been better for me to keep plodding lower down rather than wait for Norma. |
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Great view looking back - with the Col du Belvedere on the left of shot and Glacier du Mort just about half way between Norma and I.
The guy just coming into shot had fallen well behind his friends, suffering from cramp and not being a first timer he decided to turn back. |
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Karl and Norma start to pull away. Not far above them the skin track started to steepen again, on about the second kick turn I started to cramp up...
...I've had cramp on my bike before, but getting it on a ski tour was a first and not an experience I'd like to repeat - unfortunately, unlike the the other guy, I'd not been up before and quitting wasn't an option - not with the bulk of the climb done anyway. |
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No such problems on the turns for Norma! The guys steadily pulled away and had to wait a good while a couple of times for me to catch up. To keep the cramp to a minimum I dropped the pace right down, stopping frequently and alternated between skinning and boot-packing short sections - which all eats time. |
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Jump forward almost another couple of hours - Karl and Norma honourably wait to tackle the final climb with me - but still cane me to the summit! Making it by one o'clock - beating seven hours. |
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Here I come - just about making it in seven. :(
Plenty more training required!!! |
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Ah well, all forgotten for the summit shot - great views of Mont Blanc, Dent du Geant and the Drus to name just a few. |
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Book time for down is between one and two hours...
Around five minutes in and Norma heads into the second pitch. |
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Cramp well and truly forgotten. Some great spring conditions - too much earlier and it might not have been transformed from concrete - my excuse for being up there so late and I'm sticking to it! |
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Out of the main pitches after about thirty minutes good skiing and it was time to head towards the exit gullies. |
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Great shot of Norma heading into the main gully - we still have a way to go till the final ski out. |
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Getting closer - as ever the skiing got more funky and less fluid as we negotiate the last sections. Another five minutes or so and we were onto the home run to Le Buet village - debatably finding a better route out than we we did with Joe after the Mort. With the main ski taking around forty minutes and if you allow twenty odd for the bush whacking and stream avoidance down to the village - that's not much skiing for a seven hour hike. |
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I stupidly didn't get a shot of the route from across on the Glacier du Mort. This is the best I can do - if you can make it out, we went up via 72 and skied down 72a - I believe taking the skiers' left variant. |
