Here is a picture of Tom clearly not understanding what the cornflake box game is supposed to be about…
And here is what happens when an avalanche airbag goes off…Hopefully!
http://pistehors.com/news/ski/comments/1043-rowdy-airbag-save-caught-on-film/
Sometimes you read stuff and it literally makes your stomach curl… two people died in La Grave yesterday skiing La Voute, a guide and his client. According to the news report one of them fell in the couloir and took the other with them. The snow conditions are hard at the moment and they couldnt stop their fall down the couloir…
The police were in the car park yesterday and the helicopter was buzzing around. From the look on the emergency crews faces it was clear something was up but shit, this is horrific news. I dont really know what else to say… Thoughts and prayers…
Just in case you were wondering I thought I’d just reassure you that I am still very much alive and well. Sh*t me though it’s been cold the last few weeks! And it still is. It was all a bit too much for the van unfortunately which gave up soon after the mercury dived. Luckily I have some very understanding friends who have looked after me and I also bit the bullet and checked into the Hotel Castillan in La Grave.
So what have I been up to? I’m trying to remember but the highlights have definitely been visiting friends, firstly Jarv and then the gang. I always managed a rather good fun ascent of the Promenade du Matheysin, one of La Grave’s classic ice routes (excuse the handlebar moustache in the pictures).
Here is a picture summary.
On Tuesday I skied the legendary La Grave route that is La Voute. This has to be one of the best runs that I have ever skied and I suspect it will take some time before I ski something that beats it.
I had in my head that I would work my way up to skiing it probably some time in March. But yesterday the conditions were good and my trusty partner Markku was confident that he knew his way into it. So off we went. After negotiating the upper, more gentle slopes of the glacier the route narrows in and steepens up significantly. After cutting back in you locate the abseil bolts and get set up. Depending on the snow conditions there’s a 30-40 metre abseil into a crazy couloir that leads you back to the road (two joined ropes advised).
It really is a true adventure. There’s chained bolts at the top so it’s just a case of threading the rope through and knotting it, putting your skis on your pack, making sure your harness is done up and then finally ensuring your pants aren’t full. After that you’re good to go…
In the morning we also skied Les Freaux couloir another 800 metres of bliss but without any rappel so it all feels a bit easy now I’ve done La Voute – it isn’t, so don’t underestimate Les Freaux especially when the conditions are icey.
We also did a ski tour the day before (16th January) starting from the Col du Lauteret and heading up the North face of the Combeynot (the route is called Versant Nord in the Sebastien Constant guidebook). After about 800 metres of ascent we had to drop the skis onto the pack and boot pack up through some really deep snow. We attempted to get to the summit col and then onto the summit but time was running short so we stopped about 80 metres short of the summit col. About 1000 metres of ascent in total and we were up and down in 4 3/4 hours so with that and the magic in La Grave I’m feeling pretty whacked.
As a boring note for some but potentially helpful for others… there was serious depth hoar just under the surface at around half height on the Combeynot touring route (so between 2200m and 2600m). Watch out when the new snow arrives – I won’t be going anywhere near those slopes for a while as they will be ripe for a big slide.
Apart from that life continues to be sweet! It was bloody freezing last night (-18deg) but the van continues to excel and the Propex heater is fully firing… turns out the exhaust pipe was blocked before so that is why it wouldn’t start. But I’m loving life in the van and have already turned down 3 offers to stay in people’s flat’s this week – though that decision could be swayed depending upon who was offering of course (no offence to those that did!!!) But I am really starting to get the impression that I must be starting to look and smell somewhat alternative now to the general passer by – I’ve passed 2 months of van living now!!
What else can I tell you… lots but you’d be even more bored! We need more snow but there’s maybe a bit coming this way towards the weekend though I don’t think loads is forecast. Oh and there’s hardly any ice – I seem to have chosen one of the worst seasons for ice climbing in a long time.
Right then been a bit lame on the blog front recently with the exception of the La Grave update… which had to be done! So in an effort to capture everything here is a bit of a summary:
But it’s been the last few days that have been the absolute highlight… floss invited me to head out race training with her and some instructor friends as they all have their ‘Eurotest’ in a few weeks time – a timed Giant Slalom run that they must do within a pre-determined (and not too shabby) time in order to get their full license to work in france. Anyway as if that wasn’t enough of an honour we were also training with a girl called Isabelle who is an exceptional racer… I’m told she has 23 fis points which = very good (if you are in the World Cup you have none and the highest number of is points you can have is around 200). To top it all off her father then arrived to train us and it turns out he is one of the best trainers in the area… he has his own office in which we have been watching videos of ourselves and according to one of the many articles about him on the wall his name is ‘Il Guru’! How awesome is that… not only am I know a wanna be ski racer (I hired GS skis and everything) but I am also being trained by a genuine guru – I’ve never even met a guru before!
So all in all life is very good! Just feel like I’m running out of time to do everything… not sure whether to ski piste; freeride; race or tour… maybe do a little ice climbing or get down to the bouldering wall for some indoor training (I am joining the local climbing club!) But tomorrow the plan is for a tour with my finnish friend Markku with a bit of mountaineering to a summit then maybe ski La Grave on Tuesday. Hopefully I might be race training again on Thursday and friday – got some serious work to do on my technique to get me out of the old skool and into the new… but with floss and the guru on my side it’s coming on well!
What to say… I skied La Grave yesterday by a couple of non-itineraire routes. One of the best days in the mountains that I have ever had without a doubt. We skied Girose Right and Orciere… a total of 2.4 kilometres of descent. Things I learnt:
Been a bit crap at updating the blog recently – just been too busy skiing; ski touring and ice climbing! Will get the pics of all that up shortly but the pub is calling me now for a bit of hair off the dog… too many Leffe’s last night in celebration of still being alive.
Ski touring today… up at 630 to get the weather window. One way to well and truly get rid of the NY hangover.
Drove to Besse, about 20 mins from Deux Alpes, and toured up to the Sommet de la Quarlie, about 850 metres of ascent in ever worsening conditions. The ski down was fun as the snow was never great given yesterday’s warm conditions which meant rain on the snow followed by a refreeze, so a hardish crust. Felt a lot better watching the UIAGM guide, who was guiding another group, fall over twice.
Snowing heavily now so hopefully a powder day tomorrow.
Well we survived the riot in Deux Alpes… it was a war zone on the streets of Deux Alpes and the Gendarmes didn’t seem to give a flying wotsit. Anyway we managed to avoid the battling Italians and Frenchies and ski toured up the mountain to bring in NY with a bottle of champers and some homemade french onion soup (thanks Susie). Bliss.
Conditions wise… it’s dumped but the weather’s warmed and the powder was gloopy as anything yesterday – hard on the legs! It’s a beautiful day here today but sadly I am hungover and knackered! Weather’s due to come in again tomorrow then brighten up for a few days. The base is pretty good now on the mountain.
Not loving the new Line Prophets unfortunately… too wide for me and my skiing style which favours shorter turns with a pop. The Line’s are more for bigger GS style turns and are just too heavy to get any pop with especially when I’ve got the Snowpulse on my back as well. On the lookout for some new ones I think (funds permitting) so if anyone is after some new Lines then let me know! They’ve a got a few chunks out the bottom from hitting some rocks but I’ll patch that up otherwise they’ve only be skied for about 8 days in total.
It’s dumping here today so no skiing just chilling! So far today I’ve bought a ski servicing kit and a new cap; Tom’s done some gym ball training and we’re now watching Lyndsey Vonn videos (for their exercise tips of course). Next up a ski movie…
Hopefully freshies tomorrow though the forecast is still showing more snow.
Been a bit quiet on the blog updates recently mainly because I’ve been skiing so much! The weather’s calmed down a bit over the last few days but a week or so ago there was more powder than a Colombian submarine. Skied some brilliant stuff and thanks to my new ski bum pal Miss Flossie Cockle who I’ve been skiing with loads and she’s also been feeding me and letting me shower!
Life in the van continues to be challenging but fun. The heater chose the coldest night so far to pack up – in fact I think it was just too cold for it – it was -18C. Took me about an hour to get up in the morning!
As for conditions the snow’s been dumping but there’s been a lot of wind and it’s struggled to settle which is making for some strange snow conditions: build ups and cross loading in the gullies but scoured ridges and plateaus. The ice is building up in the La Grave valley but it’s still quite thin or maybe I’ve just turned into a bit of a conditions snob now that I’m living out here! We went for a ski tour the other day as well which was good fun though had to turn around about 300 metres from the top as the weather came in. I’ve learnt the hard way in the Alps that if you can’t see the summit then sometimes it’s best not to go for it!
Here’s a few pics. Hope you had a good xmas and have a happy New Year.
onefootinlagrave 