Tag: snow
Dent du Geant South Face
I’ve been waiting for the right conditions to get this done for a few years now. This years exceptional snowfalls on the Italian frontiere ridge of the Mont Blanc massif has ensured the rocks at the top are covered, and on the back of a Foehn storm we were guaranteed cold snow. After queuing with the holiday makers until 10 am for the lift it was going to be a race to the top quick to ski before it got too hot. There was no time to wait for the lift guys to put our skis on the cable trolley and we comically wrestled our skis out of their hands explaining we had lost too much time to wait. Running up the stairs with our skis on our backs to the top station (its nearly 3500m) was a rude lactic inducing warm up.
The climb up to the Dent du Geant follows the normal summer line; characterised by loose rubble and slabs under a dusting of faceted snow which all feels a bit precarious. The reward today was 2500 m of lush rip-able snow and 25 minutes later we were down at the road.
Looking back up, the first hot afternoon of spring produced some pretty impressive slides as the face purged its winter coat, trashing it until next year.
Bel Oiseau South East Couloir
Nonne Eveque
We planned for a 2 day stay in the Couvercle refuge and set off carrying food, stove and gas for the stay. On the approach to the hut the wind kept getting stronger and snow quality for skiing was deteriorating rapidly. At the hut we stopped for an hour or so to brew tea and wait and see if the wind would drop. We could see the big South facing ski lines were covered in wind polished, crusty snow, there wasn’t going to be any good skiing in the Telefre basin the next day. We decided to take our kit and go home via the Nonne Eveque which would be sheltered from the wind and contain good snow. I have been wanting to go there for a few weeks now as its not often that the moraine is easily passible and the hot afternoon sun usually runnels this West facing line. Its a great line, never that steep, with the added interest of a narrow ice choked chimney at its base. 
Photo credit: Phil Ingle. Check out his page at http://philingle.com/breche-nonne-eveque/
Pelerins Descent
Last week saw a probably 1st descent of the Pelerins normal climbing route by the Italian Snowhow team of Davide Capozzi, Julien Henry and Luca Rolli. I’m sure there are very mixed opinions of such a line out there. More photos here:
http://www.snowhow.it/pagina%20foto/aigpelerins%2013/aigpelerins13.htm
Ross Hewitt Guiding 