Phil Ingle

A life in the outdoors

Category: Skiing

  • The Brèche Nonne Evêque with Dave

    The Brèche Nonne Evêque with Dave

    The Brèche Nonne Evêque is the obvious thin couloir with the red arrows pointing at it. First skied by Jean-Marc Boivin on the 21 April 1984. The Brèche is at 3306m and the start of the climb from the glacier is at around 2000m.

    The lower slopes
    The lower slopes

    The first 800m of ascent is up slopes like these. By the time we had got back to these slopes to ski down it was nearly dark and skiing them in the pale evening light was a fantastic experience, brightened by the sparks from our edges as we occasionally hit rocks hiding in the snow.

    The very thin bit at the base required some ice tool action to get up it.

    Dave scrambling up
    Dave scrambling up
    Ice axe action
    Ice axe action

    The climb just went on and on and on. The couloir itself is 500m of 50 to 55 degrees.

    The climb goes on and on
    The climb goes on and on
    Thigh deep boot pack
    Thigh deep boot pack

    Eventually reaching the brèche at around 4 in the afternoon, after having caught the 8:15 cable car from Cham.

    Phil at the top
    Phil at the top

    If you look past Dave you can see that the west face of the Droits is looking in good condition to be skied

    Dave at the top
    Dave at the top

    Time to head down…

    Dave heads down
    Dave heads down
    Dave on the descent
    Dave on the descent
    Phil passing through
    Phil passing through
    Looking steep
    Looking steep
    Good snow
    Good snow
    And hop
    And hop
    Half way down
    Half way down
    Feeling steep
    Feeling steep
    Dusk arriving
    Dusk arriving

    From here the light was starting to go and we put the cameras away to make sure we got back to Cham in time for last orders.

  • The Eugster Couloir on the N Face of the Aiguille du Midi

    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.

    Seb under the Aiguille du Midi Cables
    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.