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/
We went a bit too early and had some time to kill at the top waiting for the corn. Fortunately rando-man followed us race style with no crampons or axe then headed off down iron clad west face on his alti-trails. This provided some entertainment for a while, especially when he started sidestepping back up to a ridge, frantic to get his ice axe out and crampons on. Hat off to the dude for skiing it on F3s and Altitrails. I own a pair of Altitrails and they werent my ski of choice for the day!
Photos from Philip Ebert:
I had spied this line I wanted to ski and with the good weather the west facing lines were turning into lush velvet corn so the day I had no one to ski a with I went on a training run from Le Buet to Col Cornes de Loriaz in 2.75 hrs on heavy AT kit (the cornices getting sun on the east face above motivate you!). I hung out on the col for 45 mins to allow the snow to soften then was able to join the couloirs on flat lush spring snow without taking my skis off.
We went to the Grand Cap rock climbing. We almost bivied but at last moment threw in a tent as it was a ski in. I shivered from 3-5am until I realised that John was awake to. It seemed highly unlikely we would be going rock climbing at 3800 m. How did I just have one of my coldest nights ever in the mountains while in a tent when its 20 C during the day! After a few brews to warm up and having my feet in and out of my touring boot liners to rewarm them we legged it from the tent to route where the sun was already hitting. What followed was sublime day out on perfect rock, all the more sweet as it was so unexpected in the middle of the ski season and having barely touched rock for months. I’d been wanting to climb this monolith for 15 years. Thanks to John McCune for a great day.
Sunkissed immaculate orange & gold granite, ski in, ski out, climb in t shirts, views to the north wall of the Argentiere basin. 6 pitches to wet the appetite. Check out Cedric’s awesome photos @ http://cedricbernardini.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/watching-birds-and-other-planes/
Ross Hewitt Guiding 