Blog Archives
Gerva
Back at the start of June i had a quick hit on the Gervasutti couloir on Mont Blanc du Tacul with Luca Roli from first bin. It was a hot day after a storm and the fresh snow had turned a bit wet but we had some fun skiing and a good day. The couloir is pretty mellow for the most part (compared with the other lines on the east face) with a few steep turns in the choke.
A week or two later another storm came, this time putting down a LOT of snow, me and Cedric caught a last bin up to try and ski the Gerva in powder the next morning. I even took some big reverse camber skis. Unfortunatly there was no safe way up to the top of the tacul so we bailed only 100m up the triangle after some scary sounds from the unstable snow pack. A good call as we watched a big slab break off as soon as the sun hit.
Luca heading up the Mont Blanc du Tacul North face
A Little higher up, with the Aiguille Verte in the background
Looking into the couloir from the top.
The scary serac that guards the top of the couloir.
Luca skiing the top section.
The Heli hovering around watching us.
More people skiing the couloir, Italian friends of Lucas.
A very wintery Mont Blanc du Tacul in the middle of June and one of the many avis on the day me and Cedric bailed. Gerva is the large couloir in the middle of the photo.
The Tour Ronde N face plastered with snow on the same day. A Line i would like to ski in good snow, it was very hard when i was there.
Catch Up
I have not blogged since breaking my computer last summer, but i have done some fun things in that time. The hight lights were great climbing in the autumn on the Ginat and Modica-Noury and some recent ski touring. The start to my winter did not go well as i got frost bite in my toes climbing the Frendo-Ravanel. There has not been mush snow this year but i have had some good skiing in the Contamine couloir, the NE couloir of the Breche du Tacul, the Milieu glacier and the NE face of the Aiguille de l’Amoine.
- The Ginat on the N face of Les Droites
- Modica-Noury
- Frendo-Ravanel
- The Contamine couloir in yellow and the Spencer in red.
- Milieu Glacier
- NE couloir of the breche du Tacul
- Me at the top of the NE couloir of the Breche du Tacul.
- Me traversing into the NE couloir of the Breche du Tacul.
Mont Blanc du Tacul- Jager Couloir (TD+ 50°-55°)
Yesterday Brendan and I got a first bin up the Midi to ski the Jager couloir. The couloir is well filled with snow and the burgshrund was easy to cross. There were excellent conditions in the couloir, even the snow cover on the icy step was good and there was no need for any side slipping. There was a large snow slide that came down the couloir just as we started to climb which was a little worrying but it turned out the stability was good and we easily controled our slough. The pictures from the decent are below.
Mont Blanc du Tacul- Diable Couloir (TD+ 50°-55°)
Yesterday Brendan and I jumped on a first bin up the Midi Planning on some steep sking which we got in the Diable Couloir. The snow was varied on the decent. Near the top after the split with the Isolee the snow had transformed the day before but when we set of at around mid day it was still frozen. In places there was a breakable crust sitting on top of powder snow and in others it was just very hard and a little icy. Further down where the couloir gets wider we stayed on the right bank to avoid the icy central gully. It is very steep here but the snow was perfect for steep sking, it had stayed cold and there was a few inches of soft snow, giving great edge hold. The narrow bottom section is well filled but icy in the center where the snow has fallen out. We put in a rope of 15m for the ice step at the bottom. We took a few photos of each other as best as we could on my broken camera which are below.
