damian 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 [Long post warning] Even though I have managed to put in about 20 days so far this season, I have only just made it out for my first proper full day BC tour. It was a little more fun than spending the weekend reading about how flat Niseko supposedly is or feeling uncontrollably envious at the mounds of powder you guys get Having no experienced BC buddy to ride with this season I had to bite the bullet and hire a guide for the day. It is an expensive habit but turned out quite worthwhile. Here is a little report from my end of the world and the amazingly free Chamonix valley. Left home at 5.30am and had a very traffic free drive the whole way. It took about 3 hours (I didn't drive and fell asleep for a while) I had arranged an all day one-on-one with a guide who I had not worked with before. He turned out to be a great guy and a very solid snowboarder. He was riding a swallow tail which is always a good start. We started by taking the lifts to the top of a resort the traversing for about 700m out of the resort area (which most of the time in Chamonix is not marked or defined by any fence, sign or anything). The temps in the last week had been warm and this south facing traverse was on the most chopped up rock hard freeze-thaw 40 degree slope I have seen: brutal. I was on my heel side and no torture device could hurt me more. I tried switching around to toe side fakie but the steepness and sheer iciness combined with the bulk of my pack made the 180 degree switch very hard. So I took my time and enjoyed the heel side burn. After the traverse we put the boards on packs and snow shoed for 30 minutes across easy undulating terrain. The routes was all the time across the valley from Mont Blanc etc and the view was fantastic. At a little frozen lake we started the ascent proper. It wasn’t far, about 800m of vertical to cover up a steepening 40-45-50 degree gully that is itself a fantastic descent in the afternoon when the southerly sun has softened the snow. I tried to capture the gully from the bottom but my camera was being very flaky in the cold as usual. From the top the slope is not entirely visible and the pictures less telling. The climbing was good and we were flying up at 10 meters per minute (very good for a desk jockey residing in the unphysical environment of London). There was a group of ski tourers ahead of us on rando gear and we pretty much caught them on our snow shoes due to the hard icy nature of the ascent chute. They were using ski crampons and still going slow. Score 1 goal for snow shoes on very steep icy climbs. At the top of the chute we roped up and took our snow shoes off. I would have like to have been wearing crampons at this point but left them back at the apartment. We had been hiking for about 1.5 hours at this stage. The last section of the ascent was up and across about 70m of near vertical mixed rock and ice and mud. It looked pretty easy and the picture makes it look really short. But it was actually quite a stimulating experience and the closest to rock climbing I have ever come (I have never been involved with climbing). From a mountain climbers perspective it would be considered an easy scramble. However with my pack on and with tired legs I got some buzz out of it. The guide was lead and I followed in 20m sections. At the end of each section I had to unclip the rope from the piton which was an added buzz. For the last section the guide lead away up over a snowy/ice ledge and I had to unclip and go the that last stretch on my own. It was a good experience and I felt quite... alive! At the top of the ridge (2900m) we had lunch and picked out shit loads of routes on the other side of the valley. This place is a playground, but everyone is here doing the same thing and fresh lines don't last long. But with some work and on the right aspects you can get great lines in 7 days after the last snow fall (we were on our way to one!). After lunch we looked over the reverse side of the ridge that we had climbed and took a look at our descent. It was in shadow and looking nice and cold. We had to put in a short abseil of about 25m to get to the slope so we took our boards off the packs and clipped them to our harnesses and got our gear into full riding mode. I abseiled the whole stretch of about 60 degrees with mixed rock and snow. The guide then set up an abseil that allowed him to come part way down and then recover the rope and throw a few jump turns down the last leg to where I had unclipped my board and strapped in. My legs were still pretty tired. This is the tough part of short intense tours: you pump the legs for 2 hours, lug your pack and then need to have fresh legs for the good part. It reinforces my belief that the key ingredient to awesome snowboarding is powerful legs capable of a full day of endurance and unfaltering performance. I am going to work on this as if your legs can go the distance then you don’t worry about making a costly technique error. If your legs are drained then technique sucks, your pack feels progressively heavier and you don't rip. Anyway, I took it easy for the first bit whilst my guide tore it apart. The snow was relatively good, consisting of patchy wind compacted old powder. The usual scenario: smooth areas are hard and grippy like styrofoam. The dimpled and rippled areas are soft and rippable. I attempted to sight-up the slope angle and it appeared to be at the most 50 degrees for only 30m then backing off to 45 for a hundred more. The remainder of the descent was on connected leisurely 35-40 degree snowfields between rocky outcrops. Eventually it cliffed out and due to a pretty crappy snow cover this season we didn't negotiate the otherwise excellent cliff lines, rather we went around the side and popped out of a 100m 45 degree chute onto the valley floor from which we took on the nastiest track out I have ever been on. I had used this path out a few times last season and it sucks. About 2km long, bumpy, narrow, next to a creek, rocky and trees. Like that short 30m long bumpy path out of Strawberries in Niseko except much meaner and on brutally tired legs in flat fading light wearing a back pack for 2kms. It is a crap way to finish the day but you can’t have everything. And so the goods had been consumed: the descent described was into a valley I had ridden before, except this time it was from a from a different approach and down a much better line with less tracks. We had a number of ok stale powder fields with no tracks at all. The ratio of work to joy was not so good, but considering it was 7 days after the last snow fall and there had been above zero temps in the valley during the week, we did pretty good. Once we reached the end of the commando course run out we had to catch a train back around the mountains to Chamonix. The next train was 1 hour away so I called my GF and she picked us up (she had just finished a day of resort riding by herself). It was a great experience, first proper day out this season (ie, a full day tour with physically and mentally meaningful moments). It had a lot: killer traverse, pleasant hike, steep ascent, buzzy rock scramble learning some beginner mountaineering techniques, ready-to-ride abseil onto a great descent followed by a run out that is designed to remind even the toughest boarders who the boss is. I was feeling pretty physically smashed on the way home so slept a lot of the way. The next day we took it easy and went to Venice. Now that is a fantastic place! I highly recommend visiting during the off season (winter). Thanks to my camera having a half dead battery and the cold killing the rest, I had to put the battery in my mouth before each shot (being careful to have the battery points outside my mouth). So I didn't get many pics. My guide took heaps so I will be getting more from him. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 Link to post Share on other sites
Meathelmet 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Haa haa!!! Hillarious TR there, spud! Nice writing and i have to say,those graphs on the pics got me cracking... Good that you had a...well...good day out. It is wonders that a that kind of day out will make to you´r psyche. Even if the run is crap,it is so much more rewarding than most of the lift served stuff. Nice that you got going there. Btw, are you still in that cham area in aprill? I´ll be around from the start of the aprill for 2 weeks or so. Hopefully the place gets some snow before that... A+ Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 Hey dude, glad you liked it. And you bet, hiking to ride is fun! I love spending the afternoon riding down a mountain face that has no lifts on it, no resort, nothing but rock, snow and trees lower down (and perhaps a glacier, but they can make life complicated). The only benefit of resort riding is giving yourself a chance to experience the ease of riding without a pack on fresh legs all day, and the improvement in skills that come with it. It is amazing how relatively well I can ride when I am not wearing a pack with gear! As for April, I will be in the area, 95% for sure. Actually, in the absence of anything else I have started to arrange a Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa ascent-descent in April. It is a guided group thing. It is still tentative and I'm open to other options. Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 I know everybody probably gets tired of hearing this from me But I can't see your freakin pictures Not going to read the report until I can see a couple pictures. Link to post Share on other sites
Goemon 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Nice annotated pics, _spud! I dimmed the lights here to enjoy the full Powerpoint effect. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Author Share Posted February 7, 2006 Power Point is the ultimate un-techy guys photo editing tool! It was fun so I might do a few more this season. Beanie - stop crying and check your gmail address from your SJ profile. Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Thanks dude Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 I remember when you were asking about whether to ski or snowboard spud now you are doing this. Keep pushing mate but stay safe Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Good stuff Spud. All in the matter of what ... 3 years? Beginner snowboarder to hardcore BC rider in 3 years, by DB. Niceeee. Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 Excellent post Spud. I haven't figured out my power point, but admittedly haven't tried much. The pics are great! I haven't boarded a place w/out lifts yet (my parking lot doesn't really count). It's my goal for this season. Link to post Share on other sites
sunrise 0 Posted February 7, 2006 Share Posted February 7, 2006 yeh, good on ya, looks like you're having a great season regardless of how much snow there is... getting lots of days in... Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 8, 2006 Author Share Posted February 8, 2006 [another long post because work bores the pants off me....] Thanks Sunrise, kintaro. I am actually a very lazy picture taker, especially with the cold+battery issue. But when you get a few snaps then it can make all the difference in following what you did after the event is over. Fattwins, NPM - yeah, it is embarrassing to admit, but this is only my (ahem) 4th season. I hate being inexperienced. It is also my favourite season so far as lots of skill sets have started to come together and I am quite simply able to do things now that I couldn't do last season, like there has been some kind of instant step-up that took me by surprise. Mind you, most of this season has been spent going slowly on piste and without a back pack. Literally all of last season was BC and with a bulky pack. The freedom of movement and all day leg freshness from riding lifts with no pack is a massive advantage in doing jumps, spins, riding fakie etc When I am off piste I always try to conserve energy by not crashing and don't want to screw up a hard earned line by trying a 360 that I have at best only a 25% chance of landing. Plus, when you are BC you don't usually know what a good hit is until you are down hill of it and by then it is too late to hit it. Riding a BC route or line you have ridden before is a huge benefit to progress. Kintaro - Riding well away from a resort is great, but you guys in Japan don't really need to do it much as there are so many ropes that can simply be ducked. But if you do want to break away from the crowds then a good way to get yourself acquainted and comfortable is to leave your board at home, pack a lunch and emergency pack, put on your snow shoes and start walking off into the hills from the side of the road. Stick to heavily treed areas, less than 30 degrees, don't go alone etc etc etc. Enjoy a 1-2 hour bit of uphill exercise and nature. Once you get to the top of what ever hill you walked up you will realise just how easy it is to get up there and how much you want to ride back down. Even if it is only a 500m descent, you will get a huge buzz out of it. Now that you have acquainted yourself with your chosen hill you can take your board the next time. The ratio of work to riding will be pretty bad, but the personal satisfaction will be immense, way more stimulating than getting heaps of lift served milage on groomers in a resort. Enjoying the BC doesn't mean some big mountain hike and sketchy descent. You can hike your local hill and enjoy the silence. If the snow is good then you will have a huge buzz. You can of course take your board the first time, however a lot of people seem to have a psychological barrier when it comes to (a) innocently walking up a snowy hill for enjoyment or ( walking up for the intention of riding back down. Because people grew up riding resorts, the later feels uncomfortable and awkward to them. All you have to do is park the car off the side of the road, walk up the hill, ride back down to the car, have bite to eat, do it again. Screw the resorts! They are useful if you want to gain rapid altitude and then hike away for a few hours. But so many have rules about 'going outside resort boundaries'??!! Well, you can't go 'outside resort boundaries' if you don't go to a resort in the first place, ne? Seriously, I would be half happy of most resorts took their ridiculous inhibitive attitude and environmentally destructive presence deep down into the pit of bankrupt despair that so many are presently peering into. Resorts in Japan seem to have confused themselves with the sport itself. They think they are the sport ("don't confuse the moon with the finger that points at it"). They are not the sport at all: the sport consists of nothing more than snow + gravity + you and a smooth p-tex surface. Resorts are are just largely redundant facilitators and in many cases mild totalitarian manipulators. [strange off topic rant over] (Just remember that the local hill can av just as easily as a slope deep in the back country, so keep it tame and below 30 degrees, read about route selection, apply route selection when you are walking up... and buy a Prior khyber to tear up your local tree hill) ps - Power Point is easy: 1. make a new document, a blank white slide 2. click and drag a photo onto the slide and resize as desired 3. use the tool bar to draw arrows and write text etc 4. save as jpeg format, click ok, when prompted 'this slide only' 5. the annotated slide now opens as jpeg (you may lose quality depending on your settings?) Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 First-class rant! And I will work on my Power Point. Thank you for the info. Link to post Share on other sites
7-11 2 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Excellent read spud. Link to post Share on other sites
mattlucas 0 Posted February 8, 2006 Share Posted February 8, 2006 Quote: Originally posted by _spud: The last section of the ascent was up and across about 70m of near vertical mixed rock and ice and mud. It looked pretty easy and the picture makes it look really short. But it was actually quite a stimulating experience and the closest to rock climbing I have ever come (I have never been involved with climbing). From a mountain climbers perspective it would be considered an easy scramble. However with my pack on and with tired legs I got some buzz out of it. The guide was lead and I followed in 20m sections. At the end of each section I had to unclip the rope from the piton which was an added buzz. For the last section the guide lead away up over a snowy/ice ledge and I had to unclip and go the that last stretch on my own. It was a good experience and I felt quite... alive! At the top of the ridge (2900m) we had lunch and picked out shit loads of routes on the other side of the valley. This place is a playground, but everyone is here doing the same thing and fresh lines don't last long. But with some work and on the right aspects you can get great lines in 7 days after the last snow fall (we were on our way to one!). After lunch we looked over the reverse side of the ridge that we had climbed and took a look at our descent. It was in shadow and looking nice and cold. We had to put in a short abseil of about 25m to get to the slope so we took our boards off the packs and clipped them to our harnesses and got our gear into full riding mode. I abseiled the whole stretch of about 60 degrees with mixed rock and snow. This part is really cool Spud That's for sure the area I want to take my skiing into Good on yah Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 Thank you, 7-11. I like doing and then writting about this kind of stuff. Cheers Toque! I'm just sniffing around and seriously learning as I go. A guy like you would tear this stuff apart. Get into it. Make it happen in Japan or, dare I say it, forego a season of powder and live a season of French alps. I know I keep saying it, but the terrain and the culture of adventure, challenge and freedom is at times limitless. I can only speak for the well known and far too popular Chamonix, but you can literally ride anything you want. In fact, the culture is one where everything is expected to be ridden: if it is in form then someone will ride it. There is an awesome BC guidebook by a long time local Frenchman Anselme Baud. I almost guarantee, if you read this book and all the routes and lines detailed within, you would buy a ticket. One page it will list a route like the one I did, the next page it lists a route on which people have died taking on 500m of sustained 50 degrees hardpack. Anything and everything is fair game from easy to ridiculous. It appears that the culture in Chamonix (all of France?) is that if you can get to the top of it then you are free to ride down it. Simple as that. Chamonix itself is a valley full of adventure and risk. On a sunny day hang out near the hospital: the choppers come and go and an alarming rate. Image from http://www.cordee.co.uk/acatalog/winter2.html where you can buy the book. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 Still going crazy with Power Point. Some pics from the weekend. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 There seems to be something supernatural happening at the top right of your montage... Please let me know if I need to perform an exorcism on my hard drive. Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted February 14, 2006 Author Share Posted February 14, 2006 Hey, spooky, you are right. I looked at the full image to reveal the spectre.... it might scare you. (For the young readers, don't worry, it is just 'crud dust' kicked up as I rode down from behind the photographer. You can see ice lumps and stuff rolling down the slope. It was quite wind packed at that spot). Link to post Share on other sites
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