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BEAUTIFUL

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Col du Sabot, Mixed windswept refrozen crud.  Beautiful views and nice to stretch the legs.

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Stormy skies rolling in last night.

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Sammy enjoying some well deserved powder turns in Sestriere yesterday. A stark contrast in conditions from here in Alpe d’Huez and the majority of the French alps where both a lack of cold weather and precipitation is meaning we slide our way through another brown Christmas on artificial snow. It is, however, still fun. Everyday!

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Pic Blanc du Galibier Another great day, amazing panoramic views of the Col du Lautaret, La Meije and the Barre des Ecrins seen in the background of the last photo.

13/12/2016

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Montgenèvre

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A short skin up the Signal under the full (super) moon. The snow was sheet ice, which was manageable on the smooth shoulder - but when I moved onto tracked areas it was difficult to keep it together. No tripod - high ISO leaning on a post.

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Some Autumnal colours. After another nice stint of sunshine a strong cold front is now approaching,  It has just rained for 12 hours in town with a high freezing level set to drop below 1200m tonight with more sporadic snow showers before a bit dump midweek. Hopefully the temperature stays low through November and we receive more precipitation!

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The first whisper of winter dusts the peaks above 3000 meters.

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A cloudy Pic Blanc reflected in the Lac de Bergers and a sundown shower over the A frame.

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Sunset on the Col du Sarenne,  watching the last of the sun creep up the Aguille d’Arves and the Meije whilst the shadow slowly engulfs the valley behind.

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A moody walk up the side of the Glacier du Bonne Pierre, As you head up a ridge of earth, carved by the glacier, you are surrounded by mountains on all sides. In front of you is a sheer and intimidating face riddled with long cracks running almost un-broken from bottom to top, occasionally interrupted by a smear of ice across the rock. The ridge line at the top is aggressive and jagged only occasionally showing the scale of the Glacier which sits above, enshrouded in cloud. As we climbed the clouds were looming over the mountain tops whilst rocks fell almost continuously onto the glacier from the high faces opposite, echoing delicately around the valley. After reaching an automatic weather station at just over 2900m a mix of hail and rain started falling and we commenced our descent towards La Berarde.  Walking towards a spectacular view of the Veneon valley towards St Christope.

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Away from the mountains the weather passes over you and it dumps the rain on you from a mass of grey above. Amongst the mountains it passes under you, rises up off the hillsides and surrounds you.  You become a part of the weather and you see it move.

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Climbed some sport routes in Le Vert on Monday, Humid, greasy and not feeling so confident in my feet but it was great to get out there! I’d like to blame the lack of time spent on the rock this summer but I also think my shoes are worn out.... I pottered around in Bourg for a little while trying to decide what to do on my 2nd day off. Eventually concluded that a visit somewhere new was necessary so I drove to La Berarde to spend the night and see the mountains there without dense cloud cover.  Surrounded by sheer faces with deep valleys running off in different directions it is an intimidating but inviting place.  Don’t you want to see whats around that corner or over that ridge? I’d seen the Dibona for the first time in the book ‘25 best mixed climbs of the Ecrins’ and subsequently spoken to a few people about climbing it. There are many routes up it, the one suggested by the book turns out to be the descent route for those doing ‘real climbing’ I thought it would be nice to get to the Refuge du Sorelier which sits at the base of this incredible looking peak, to get a proper look. There were two climbing teams tackling different routes up the south face. (Final 2 photos) One group traversed to an arete on the left of the face, presumably route 1. The other group climbed up a large crack which ran obliquely up the face towards the left, perhaps route 3.  I would REALLY like to climb this before the end of the Summer,  this feels like a more realistic goal that tackling a 3 peak traverse as my first entry into alpine climbing...

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Had a rather athletic day yesterday.  I’ve been wanting to get out and really explore the mountains above Villard Notre Dame and Villard Reymond to scope out some touring opportunities for the coming winter but also to summit Le Rochail. I had the Tuesday off and thought doing it entirely human powered from the Valley floor to the peak would be nice.

I set off on my bike at 7am from Bourg d’Oisons to Villard-Notre Dame - finding a hidden spot to lock it up (completely unnecessary I’m sure) at the start of the Rochail trail. 8:10am time for a Cliff Bar. Started along the trail and made it to the Refuge de Sources in good time. I’d been told that instead of walking across the Col du Rochail and subsequently the ridge to summit, it’s possible to scramble directly up the rock face which separates the Glacier to the left and the ridge towards the right. As I advanced I was trying to choose my route, eventually committing to the line that felt most natural.   A nice traverse just above some lingering snow before following a small and easy arête which soon flattened off and into easy scrambling.  

Summit (3022m) at 11am. I still had a good bit of energy and felt with so much of the day ahead of me it would be a shame not to make the most of gaining all this altitude. I climbed down the ridge passing the Col du Rochail  and skirting around the backside of a steep and cliffy section and up to the Pic du Col d’Ornon from this peak the wide ridge continues through to the Grand Renard and the Petit Renard and only then can you see down into the beautiful valley which leads down towards Villard Reymond (photos from a distance in a previous post)  There was some cloud starting to creep over some of the higher mountains and didn’t want to risk hanging around up there for too long.    From the Petit Renard there was a loose but easy descent towards a lower band of rock where there was a mellow 40m down climb/scramble. Descending on loose rock for a while before hitting grass and subsequently crossing onto the wide grassy ridge leading to the Croix de Carrelet. A few more kilometers back to Notre Dame and back on the bike for a nice ride down the hill, though the unlit tunnels are more of a shock when your travelling at speed. I’ve tried to plot a route as best as possible and I’ve ended up with a total distance of just under 30km  with total ascent of 3000 meters. 10 hour trip.

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Is this what we’re all really doing?  In our jobs, in our cities.

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Weather

14/07/2016 -  17:00 Snow falling at 1800m. High winds.