Phil Ingle

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.

We were a group of 5. Dave, John and Peter descended by the North Western slopes while Alex and I skied the NE couloir. The snow was excellent, dusty powder on a firm base at the top of the couloir followed by deeper powder low down and then really nice powder in the trees at the bottom.

The couloir narrowed to about 50cm wide at one spot in the middle and it was just possible to straightline it and then kill enough speed straight away before it got too hairy.

At the bottom of the couloir we skirted around to the north, above Lac Blave, to hit some nice north facing slopes we had seen on the way up. It was a great descent in better than expected conditions.

Here is a map of the route

download it to view in Google Earth