Afternoon tour to the Beaugeant - where's that col?

You pay a hefty price when you begin an early February tour at the Brevent at 1:00pm. Mike Bromberg, Ben Mitchell, and I suffered from a morning session of extreme Admin (or was it just malaise?) and finally hit the lift after lunch. Our goal was the Col de Beaugeant - or perhaps the North face of the Encrenaz? We traversed from plan-praz to the Index via the Cornu and Liasion Brevent-Flegere. We passed the Refuge de Lac Blanc at about 2:45 pm with another 600 meters to ascend, a rappel or two to figure out, and 2000 meters to ski into Buet. We followed a fresh skin track up the Beaugeant, but then the french skiers who came back down told us they had chosen the wrong col, and were going home. It turns out they had actually chosen the right col, but the wrong length of rope. We followed their advice and went to the wrong col ourselves. It was late, and headlamps would not be a fun way to arrive in La Buet. We turned tail and skied back from whence we had come. At least the snow was pretty good.

Fellow crack-of-noon club members, Ben Mitchell and Mike Bromberg. A nice skin track on the south flanks of the Beaugeant.Oops. We missed the col. But the skiing back down was pretty good. Here's Ben Mitchell, making the first turns.

Col du Belvédère: flat light, steep snow.

Fresh snow overnight meant we couldn't rest while powder sat undisturbed. Given that it was a weekday, we had no lift lines to fear either. The thick fog and light rain outside my window was almost enough to dissuade us from going outdoors. At the early hour of noon, Ben and I (almost reluctantly) headed up Le Flegere lift. We hopped on the Index and téléski de la Floria to a high point in the fog before traversing around crusty, south facing slopes towards Lac Blanc Refuge.

I had wanted to ski some of the steeper lines in the Aiguille Rouges, but haven't yet had the time off and the right snow pack. Now that we have decent stability and good powder, it seemed like a decent lousy-weather ski option. The rocky buttresses on the descent would provide enough contrast so that we wouldn't get vertigo on our ski down.

It only took us an hour and a half to get to the Col du Belvédère. From there, Ben skied the 50° entrance and I rappelled it. The conditions were nice - not too firm.

We skied several thousand feet of north-facing powder down to La Buet, where we walked over to the train station and met two Swiss girls holding beers in one hand and skis in the other. They were nursing their frustrations - they had skied south facing crust in the fog all day, and were sure the conditions sucked everywhere.

And now for a few photos...

Ben following the crest of the Crochues on our way over to the Col du Belvédère.We didn't see a soul all day. Ben at the Col du Belvédère. The ski descent goes down and left, at 45°-50°. If you look closely you can see a rappel anchor in the rocks ten feet left of Ben.

And thus it begins... another powder run...

Ben three turns into the steep entrance.

Chamonix powder! Grand Envers and Cosmiques Couloir

"You first?"..."No YOU go!"

I don't have the best record of skiing powder in Chamonix. In the past few seasons, a prevailing dry climate has robbed the alps of good powder skiing during month-long spells - usually the times I am actually here. In late 2011, storm after storm slammed into the alps, mantling the range in a snow pack ranging from 150-180% of normal. While that was happening I was sipping Mai Thai's on the beach in Thailand. An early 2012 storm came in hard, and went out with a sudden heat pulse - driving the rain line up to 2200 meters. Slush anyone?

What the hell was going on?

Finally cold temps and sunshine followed a decent dump. Ben Mitchell, David Rosenbarger and I somehow made it onto first bin of the Aiguille du Midi - despite Ben's jet lag and my procrastination. A million tiny ants exited the top bin, walked out of the ice tunnel, and clogged their way down the fixed lines in their earnest efforts to claim glory and first tracks in the Vallee Blanche. Ben, David and I stayed high, skied out the Midi-Plan ridge, and looked down the first 40°+ rollover to the Grand Envers. No tracks, and full of powder...

Ben and David looking into the start of the Grand Envers run in the Vallee BlancheBen, first tracks, Grand EnversDavid on roll over #2 of the Grand Envers.In case you haven't noticed, bright colored pants are in this season. Somewhere inside this powder cloud, David Rosenbarger is looking for the exit sign.

Ben, with 2000 feet to go to the Mer de Glace.

We skied untracked powder to the traverse above the the Requin hut, then shared the exit couloirs with three others. We double-polled down the Mer de Glace to the Buvet, booted up, and skied James Bond-style to the bottom. I was ready to throw my BD Zealots in the garbage - they can't handle variable weird snow at all.

Les Drus, the Aiguille Vert, and more rocky terrain from the Mer de Glace.

We rushed over to the Midi, thinking we could get another decent shot (albeit tracked up heavily). Fellow guide Miles Smart sent me a text: "Cosmiques - 1st tracks... Unreal..." followed immediately by "...no tracks behind us".  Our minds were changed. In my previous experiences, skiing the Couloir de Cosmiques was fun, but always in a bittersweet way when one must ski laboriously down firm, tracked-out chalky "cooler" snow.

We arrived at the top of the Midi, wove delicately through crowds down the ridge, dove down to the plateau, and side-stepped quickly up to the heavily rimed Cosmiques entrance. It was a beautiful landscape this morning.

"Hey - couldn't this guy to my right have picked a different color jacket to wear today?"David rapping into the Cosmiques.

Ben Mitchell, mid-rap. Normally there is a lot of rock fall hazard in this entrance.The rime helps. Ben Mitchell - smiling before turn #1. First turns of the Cosmiques.One of my favorite shots of the day: Ben went out to skiers right where the freshest snow was. Les Bossons Glaicer and Les Houches down below.

David and Ben arced wide, gracefull, GS turns down a swath of untracked snow on skiers' right. I did my best to follow with my weak Thailand sport-climbing legs. The snow was powder all the way. We skied the Glacier des Bossons to the Mont Blanc tunnel, then I went home, ate lunch, and stretched the lactic acid out of my legs from just two ski runs (but 18,000 vertical feet).

Climb and Fly: The Frendo Spur and some paragliding fun...

Ben Mitchell is another American Mountain Guide transplanted into the Chamonix scene for the summer. He's also a Base Jumper, and paraglider pilot.

Ben and I decided to climb the Frendo Spur to see how fast we could do it,  and thento fly off with our paragliders, if possible. After September 1st, the airspace over the north side of the Mont Blanc massif becomes available for paragliding again.

Ben and i took the first bin up from Chamonix (pretty late this time of year - it was at 8:00am I think). We stashed our wings at the mid station - thinking we would come down and get them if the conditions on the midi were good enough to launch - which they weren't. So we flew from the mid station on our way down.

Ben and I walked up to the route, soloed the first 500m, and pulled out the rope for the rest. We laughed, we told stories, and we tried to hurry a bit, but we were really just out having fun on some easy alpine granite. The ice pitches at the top were, well... quite icy. But what do you expect for dry September conditions? The ice took us about an hour longer than expected. So our time from the mid station to the Aiguille du Midi station was 5:20. We had a beer and a sandwich on top, took the lift down to the Plan, and flew back to Chamonix. I like this kind of day...

We saw some ass when we left the Plan des Aiguille station. Upon leaving what some may call a glacier, and gaining the lower ridge of the Frendo Spur, the first 100m of climbing is nothing more than pure, loose, drudgery. François Damilanos' "Neige, Glace, et Mixed" describes this section of the route very well. This is where you gain the ridge proper. The middle section of the route provides alpinists with a fun and easy section of granite climbing. Great for soloing and/or simuclimbing. Ben on top of the majority of granite climbing. Only another 50m of alpine looseness to gain the famous snow arete. The famous snow (ice) arete of the Frendo SpurBen following the penultimate pitch of the technical climbing. The ice here is about 65° (steeper on the last pitch). Its the perfect angle to feel easy but at the same time destroy your calves. Ben below me, but above Chamonix. There is almost no nicer way off the side of a mountain. Sometimes the crux of flying down in a regular paragliding harness is trying to figure out where to put your climbing gear...

Ben's Magland BASE jump

No, I don't BASE jump. I probably never will.  But I was more than happy to photograph Ben Mitchell doing it in Magland, France a few days back. Ben is a fellow mountain guide, climber, skier, and paraglider pilot. But he also dabbles in hurling himself off of tall cliffs, bridges, antennas, and buildings. To make sure Ben is still alive, check his blog here.

Ben with a serious face prior to launch

Magland is just down the valley from Chamonix - about a 20 minute drive to the base, and another 30 minutes to the top. The 500 meter limestone wall is dead vertical if not a bit overhanging. Just down valley at Balme, there are heaps of good limestone routes capped by a large roof at the top, thus enabling multi-pitch climbing from 5.11- to 5.12+ during rainy days. But I digress. This is about Ben.

I drove Ben up to a sheep farm near the launch site in the early evening. The approach hike is 30-40 minutes through dense forest, muddy trails, and seductive sheep herds.  The steep and slippery mud threatened the integrity of my MCL (torn during sport climbing in Monthey a few weeks back). At the exit (the place where one throws themself from a cliff) Ben quietly put on his blue and white wing suite, checked his gear, and before I could convince him otherwise, he jumped from the top of the cliff via a tiny little opening in the trees where they crowded themselves up next to the edge.

I snapped about 10 shots off with my D300 before Ben's chute finally opened over a farmhouse along the road from Passy to Cluses. He landed safely in a field, I walked back to the car, wincing every time I stressed my MCL. I drove down, picked him up, drove home, where we enjoyed pizza and beer. The day ended much like any other day in the mountains: risks were taken, but everyone came home safe. I like it when that happens.

one second into flight

Flying over the A40 autoroute between Chamonix and Geneva.

After several seconds of free fall, Ben's wing suit developed enough lift to propel him well away from the wall - but that talus looks awfully close.

Open Sesame...