The Eugster Couloir on the N Face of the Aiguille du Midi
On the 11th May 2005 I met up with Seb (de Sainte Marie) for a run down the North Face of the Aiguille du Midi. This was something that I had been eyeing up for some time, but it is difficult to get it in good condition.
The first section of the descent you are directly under the cables of the Aiguille du Midi cable car. I had passed over here hundreds of times, always wondering how it would be to descend it.Seb on the steeper section of the descent, this section is shared with the Mallory, which is another classic route down this face.At the point where Seb is now the Eugster carries on down the slope in front, the Mallory drops over the windlip just behind him.A bit further down the Eugster heads down the couloir to the left.In the middle of the couloir, it got narrow for a short while.Before opening up allowing us to get some nice turns in. You can see the valley floor way down below.A short abseil was required to get through a rocky section.Before we could open it up a bit on the final slopes at the end of the descent.
I was skiing on a pair of Nordica 105’s which were an amazing ski. They basically took their GS ski and made it 105mm wide at the foot. This was wide at the time, but because it was a GS ski, it was also fairly straight, which is perfect for the steeps, and it was stiff, really stiff. I had a pair of Salomon race bindings that had DIN settings of 10,15,20 and 25 or something like that. Cranked up to 25. You don’t want them to pop off on you.
No helmet – they hadn’t become popular at that time. I wouldn’t ski without one now.
