Attempt on the Gabarrou Les Courtes

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Mikko, Tom and Ben chilling in the sun.Les Courtes Gabarrou-12 Les Courtes Gabarrou-14 Les Courtes Gabarrou-15

Mikko.Les Courtes Gabarrou-17

Luca arriving at the hanging glacier.Les Courtes Gabarrou-18

I’m not going well today and about to ski down. The guys blast on and ski from the summit.
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Luca coming up.  Les Courtes Gabarrou-30

I get great snow on the way down before it got hot. About 2 turns in a section 100 m wide ripped above the serac. Would have made a good photo from below.Les Courtes Gabarrou-33

Tournier Spur entry to Col du Plan

I promised myself I was going to chill out and get ready to go to the mountains the next day. When I woke up there was a little FOMO going on after the storms of the last 2 days and 15 minutes later I was down at the Midi promising myself I would only go to take photos.  But on the ride up it was clearly the Midi May day with snow plastered everywhere and I joined Luca Pandolfi and Mikko Heimonen for a run.

I don’t think anyone had been over the Tournier Spur this year and it had been looking icy until recently so I was pretty nervous hearing the ice under the guy’s boards and had to use  axes to get down a 5 m section. A couple more storms and it will be awesome. Apart from this small section we found great snow top to bottom. 
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Last of the Lift Served Powder

 

 

Its been a long powder season and this could be the last of it. We enjoyed a few laps on the Midi to get the most out of it.

I’m psyched to get a few steep ski mountaineering routes done now. Envers & CosmiquesJohn Minogue getting his first face shot of the day.

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Betony up to her thighs.Envers & Cosmiques-29Michelle carving

Envers & Cosmiques-37Into the Cosmiques

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Envers & Cosmiques-69Jake Morgan popping his cosmic virginity – what a day to choose. We went staight back up for more.

Envers & Cosmiques-72Luca joins us for a 5 o’clock run.

Envers & Cosmiques-73Enticing creamy pow

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More Couloir Cache Photos

Sylvain sent me through his photos from yesterday’s run:Couloir Cache-2 Couloir Cache-3 Couloir Cache-4With a lot of fresh cooking in this suntrap I tied on to make the traverse to the couloir.Couloir Cache-5 Couloir Cache-6 Couloir Cache-7 Couloir Cache-8 Couloir Cache-9 Couloir Cache-10 Couloir Cache-11 Couloir Cache-12 Couloir Cache-13 Couloir Cache-14 Couloir Cache-15 Couloir Cache-16 Couloir Cache-17 Couloir Cache-18 Couloir Cache-19 Couloir Cache-20 Couloir Cache-21 Couloir Cache

Couloir Cache

 

 

5 star day out in the Brenva cirque with Sylvain Reynaud. Never had it so good from the top to the bottom on this 2000 m run. 
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The Couloir starts at the demi-lune. A very exposed traverse gains the entrance.Couloir CacheCouloir Cache-3CouloirCache-4Couloir Cache-5Couloir Cache-6Couloir Cache-7Couloir Cache-8Couloir Cache-9Couloir Cache-10Brenva Cache-11Brenva Cache-13Brenva Cache-14Brenva