March 27th, 2009 | 
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Archive for the ‘skiing’ Category
Back on the Eissassa Rog and I spotted some likely lines over on the Peouvou. Rog was most keen on the left hand line, but we didn’t know if it went through the cleft in the rocks. I was after the right hand couloir with the S at the top.
I had seen this couloir from Ceillac back at the beginning of January and have been keen to ski it ever since. I can’t find any record of it having been skied, neither in the guidebook, nor on any ski topo websites, nor asking around here, so it is probably a first descent.
Pointe des Marcelettes is a great ski tour, right in the middle of the Queyras, with fantastic views and a real mountain feel to the summit. There are a few different descent possibilities, the north east and North West slopes tend to hold the snow well, but have a reputation for fatal avalanches. The south west slopes are not that steep and are great if you get the spring snow in just the right conditions.
The couloir that I had intended to ski with Hubert on Sunday was still un-skied. Alex and Dave had had a few days warming up in the area so I managed to convince them to have a go at it.
I saw a nice looking couloir on the pic du Jaillon last weekend when I was up at Arvieux skiing with Ollie. I had a look in the book and couldn’t find it so I managed to get Hubert interested in going and checking it out.
Back up to Ceillac with Seb. It was even colder than yesterday. From the top lift you can traverse across to start skinning, but it was so cold that we skied a bit further down so that we could put our skins on in a patch of sunlight.
Seb and I headed up today to have a go at this couloir. It was really cold. really really cold. That was the overriding theme of the day, the cold. We did good speed on the skin up, and in the sun it was OK, but once we got in the shade, no matter how fast you went you didnt stay warm without lots of layers.
We were not sure whether to do the central couloir or the north couloir. On the approach the north one looked good, and as it is the classic line we decided to go for that one first. Read the rest of this entry »
Headed out to Ceillac again (it is getting to be my favourite spot) with Matt to ski a nice looking north facing couloir off an unnamed peak with a hight of 2766m marked on it. The weather was a bit variable with clouds and snow drifiting in an out all day.
In theory it should have been quite a quick and easy climb to get to the couloir. Rather than go straight up it, we went round the other side of the peak to skin up the south facing slopes where the snow would be a bit more compacted after a few days in the sun. Read the rest of this entry »
The Eugster Couloir on the North Face of the Aiguille du Midi was first skied in June 1977 by Laurent Giacomini. It averages out at between 50° and 55° over 500m of descent.
Anselme Baud says in his guide Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles Rouges: A Guide for Skiers
that the slope reaches 56° in places. This puts it in the toponeige
Having done the Heart of the Rond (the French call it the ’salopar’ or bitch) a few times we thought that there was a potential route down the ridge to the skiers left. The Heart of the Rond is a nice line, but it involves about 60m of descending a couloir that is about 180cm wide, so a sideslip with tips and tails touching all the way, followed by a small drop which is never nice.
