Courmayeur and Vallée Blanche

I Just guided the Vallée Blanche today, and some Courmayeur off piste yesterday. It was part of a little bit of work for Smart Mountain Guides, run by my friends and colleagues, Miles and Liz Smart.

Conditions in Courmayeur were OK, and we noodled around and found some decent powder in the Val d'Arp, and skied from the summit of the Arp down into the Val Veny via a wonderful, chalky couloir.

Walking through the old village of Dolonne, below the Courmayeur ski areaMy crew of guests descending a fine, chalky couloir that took us from the top of the Arp lift to the bottom of Val Veny.

Today, the conditions in the Vallée Blanche were "adventurous". High winds following the last few storm systems seem to keep wrecking our higher elevation powder and turning it into a field of thought provoking Sastrugi fields. Bring your "variable conditions" skis!

The good news with any adventure, though, is that it doesn't have to be "all about the skiing". A 20km ski descent down the Vallée Blanche will often have some difficult conditions in it somewhere. That's just the fact of ski mountaineering. On the plus side, the ski trail from the Buvette to Chamonix is in great shape and will be for some time to come.

Our journey down the ski run took us through a cloud cap near the Aiguille du Midi, around the Gross Rognon (where we finally found a little powder!) and down across the Salle de Manger, where we found ourselves to be some of the only skiers to ski the Vallée Blanche today!

Looking back up from the junction of the Lescheaux Glacier and Mer de Glace was spectacular. Plumes of wind-blown snow stretched away from the tip of every exposed terrain feature.

Our group (and one other french group) making their way down the side of the Gross Rognon. Sastrugi MinefieldMonica skiing in high winds above the final icefall before the Salle a MangerLooking back up at the Vallée Blanche descent from the Mer de Glace

Col de Bel Oiseau and Col de Fenestral

Adam George, Mike Bromberg, and I drove up to Finhaut, Switzerland on a guide's day off. Our goal was to do about 2000m of touring. I was just getting over the flu, so I hardly took the camera out of the bag - especially on the uphill battles. Adam has been training for the Patroulle des Glaciers - the Zermatt-to-Verbier mother of all ski-rando races. There was no way I was going to try and keep up.

Without incedent, we arrived at the Col de Bel Oiseau at 2553 meters, and enjoyed a nice 600 meter powder descent back into the Bessons drainage. We then skied up and over the Col de Fenestral, which was ruined by a nasty sun-crust and a lot of ugly tracks. We descended a contrived and overly steep entrance couloir into the Comba Rossa drainage but this could have been easily avoided by just climbing to the tip-top summit of the Dent de Fenestral and descending the North East face. Once past the crusty, 45-50° entrance gulley, we enjoyed good powder pretty much all the way to Finhaut. Of course there was some pesky bushwhacking at the bottom, but it was all in good fun.

Mike Bromberg side-slipping a 185cm couloir with his 180cm skis. Lucky him. descending into Comba RossaWe didn't get first tracks, but we were able to get 18th, 19th, and 20th tracks, respectively. Mr Bromberg finding first tracks not far above FinhautAdam George finding good, cold, powder snowMike probably thinks tree skiing is fun. With the light getting low, it's time to find our way back to Finhaut

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).