Cyclops.
Michelle starting down.
Creamy snow.
Me skiing.
Approaching a short mixed section.
Lunchtime. The route goes from South to West so we hung out waiting for the sun.
Still waiting.
Feeding the burds.
Nearly had my finger off. Didn’t know they had teeth!
Glad we did some slope maintenance on the way up to get rid of the death cookies.
Sunbathing Girl
We’ve both hand stomach problems the last couple days so not felt super energetic but with the snow level rising fast we were motivated to do the long 1400 m tour up Tres les Eaux to Col de la Terrace to get the superb corn descent down the SW Couloir. I’m certainly getting a workout dragging heavy alpine touring kit round the mountains but it makes the descents so sweet. I’ve toured so much this year I can barely remember what its like to be in glove like race fit 130 boots!
We didnt see another person all day so it was fantastic having the mountains to ourselves with amazing spring snow conditions.
Michelle just finished a 3 day photo shoot for Berghaus and was itching to get back out skiing. Dave Searle also joined us for a relatively mellow day ripping lush velvet corn. We went to the Southern Combe on Mont Oreb which was really fun.
We went the long way. 1300 m from the valley. We weren’t sure of the cornices, and going from the lift would mean it being already hot by time we got to the top. Arriving at the bottom we were disappointed to find it got skied the day before – no first tracks and variable snow. Both couloirs off the upper snowfield had been skied, we chose the one with the marginally better looking snow. When the snow got poor we stopped and made the changeover to skis. The skiing turned out a bit better than we thought going up the bootpack but it was still a bitter sweet day in the end. Photos of me by Philip Ebert.
With the snow being a little tricky and looking worse out left towards the summit we opted for the line shown. On the way up I had my doubts about how good a ski it would be, maybe tiredness from being 4th day on was draining my positivity…but it was fun. Thanks for another great day Cedric. His 5D photos are superb:
http://cedricbernardini.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/b-line-lunch-at-elevation-and-a-hot-chick/
Ross Hewitt Guiding 