Chamonix TR (extended)

[rach 1]

That was a really cool report spud, sounds like an amazing time.

[sunrise 0]

Wow, what an adventure you had! congrats.

[damian 0]

Thanks dudes + sunrise, Rach. It really was a huge adventure in terms of new experiences, learning skills and understanding personal thresholds. But I have to be honest and say that it was not enjoyable. The altitude sickness made it downright unpleasant. Both the guides wholeheartedly confirmed that mountaineering is only a fun idea before you go. After the departure it becomes progressively more uncomfortable and less fun. I am so happy to have done it but openly admit that it was extremely difficult and quite unpleasant. I would do it again, but would make greater effort to acclimatise first. I can also be pretty sure that the art of mountaineering doesn’t appeal to me in isolation. The motivational aspect has to be the snowboard/ski descent. Personally, going up there for the sake of it isn’t worth the effort.

 

Toque – we set out on foot at 3532m and gained 1278m to the summit at 4810m. However, due to the down walking we did between each peak we had to re-gain the height again and so actually did a cumulative height gain of 1443m. It is the largest single height gain I have done, but still should have been so much easier if not for the altitude. Of the 11 hours hiking, the last 10 hours were all up and down above 4000m. The difference in atmospheric suitability between 4000m and 4800m is dramatic and after 4000m, gaining each sequential 100m became exponentially harder as we neared 4800m. As for me seeming taller…. well, I am standing on a summit! Most of the guys were about my height, hence the optical illusion. You make out like I’m a damn midget like FT.

 

Fattwins – it depends on hoe you guide prices themselves, but you would base you estimate on 2 days of guiding at between €250 and €350 per day. Plus you would pay for a cable car ticket and a night in the Cosmiques hut + food at €50. However, if you didn’t know the guide previously he might want to spend a day on a long 4000m altitude hike with you to make sure that you have the capacity. That would cost an extra day.

 

Plucky – I saw you 3D mapping post. My favourite thing at the moment is a 150cmx150cm plastic 3D model of the Chamonix mountains. It is exactly the same as a topo map… but so much better (except you cant fold it). They are really expensive, but I am buying one as they are an almost indispensable trip planning tool in this play ground.

[soubriquet 0]

Great stuff, spud. Thanks.

 

I've done 1700m vertical in a day in Morocco, but only up to 3000m. Even then it was 20 paces and rest etc. I turned back 500m before the top because I was alone and knew I wouldn't be able to get off the mountain before dark.

[damian 0]

Yeah Soub, its not easy at all is it. I've got a lot of new appreciation for the strength and fortitude of those big mountain mountaineers. Those guys really must be seriously tough minded people.

 

Just jumping back a bit to the Aiguille d'Argentiere summit and the descent down the Barbey couloir. This is my favourite pic which was taken by our guide, I just got hold of it. I’m in the red and the rest of the crew are just arriving at the top. Our drop-in point into the line is just to the right rear of my position as you look at the picture. The shot was taken from a rocky peak to the side of the cornice.

 

[bushpig 0]

Damn! Sweet pic spud!

[Goemon 0]

How'd you get that last pic, spud? Did you set the timer and throw your camera in the air?

 

What's the dog doing all of this orienteering?

 

And how did you feel back at the "bottom" again? How did your body react to the change in altitude returning to a lower elevation?

 

Sorry, nothing but questions this post!

[damian 0]

hi G-mang,

 

pic was taken by one of these guys from where they are standing:

 

Dog: The dog stayed in the campervan, keeping guard (and sleeping). On the nights I was away he had company of my girlfriend.

 

Being at the bottom: On the afternoon I retuned to the valley I felt very tired and sore but quite perky. All the drama and suffering seemed like a distant drugged out dream. Over the next few days I was super strong and could fly up some of the BC tours my girl and I did together. An interesting comparison was one we did 3 days ago: a vertical rise of 1000m over approx 5km with an ‘exponential’ profile (the enjoyable descent was quite short, the rest is flat). Anyway, the rise over run is the same as the Mont Blanc route. The difference was that the altitude started at 1400m and ended at 2400m. The absolute ease with which I could do it was astounding. I now understand why athletes do altitude training.

[nzlegend 1]

awe-inspiring stuff mate, just reading this thread has made me and everyone else ultra jealous, I know Toque for one would be creaming his pants reading this thread.

 

How much weight have you lost, no doubt you have shed a few kgs with the mammoth exertion of the past while.

[damian 0]

Cheers mate. I hope the jealousy is not causing irritation. I'm not writing about it for that. I just can't help myself. It's a passion. I have 'trained' (conditioned) my girlfriend to do some of it with me and we are having a good time but I am not able to do 80% of the more dedicated routes with her and have desperately needed a BC riding partner all season. The one or two remaining lines that I have on the list are waiting for a particular guide to get some free time next week. Its killing me waiting as I know they are in condition right now (actually, they were in absolutely perfect form last week but I was on the MB stint at the time).

 

!!Desperately seeking BC buddies!!

 

After the MB summit I took my girlfriend on her first glaciated tour. It was also the first time I had ventured out onto the glaciers without a guide although I had a good long chat about my plans with a guide the day before. The area we were in is well filled in and frequently travelled by other BC users. The hike up was good but the descent only ok as we didn't get nearly as far up as I wanted in the ascent (I keep forgetting that she is so very slow... said in the nicest way possible of course). Two people can be a bit sketchy on a glacier. Ideally a team of 3 or 4 would be perfect as crevasse rescue is very difficult in a team of two. Crevasse rescue is seldom as dramatic as it sounds. It simply means arresting a partners brief fall through a snow bridge and then hauling them out again. To set up a Z-pulley is difficult on your own if you need to hold their weight at the same time. So really, I am desperately seeking 2 or 3 BC buddies for next season. Can't one of you bastards come and teach English to the French? Your Japanese wives would love the food hear. I learn a lot from the guides but I would learn so much more if I had a crew of dudes that were all up to the same trick and knew a bit more than me. Its the only way to learn.

 

As for weight loss: I am one of those odd people that do not really lose much weight as I carry no fat in the first place. Its just my natural state. In fact, with heavy exercise and good food I put on a small amount of weight in the form of muscle as I gain strength. Carrying a pack so much also adds modest torso and back muscle. The only physical downside has been a massive blister on my bottom lip that keeps cracking and bleeding as it dries out and heals. It looks like I have been in a fight.

[Goemon 0]

 Quote:

I now understand why athletes do altitude training.

Yeah, Iw as wondering about that in particular. Alot of my running friends in high school and college used to train in Colorado (in higher altitudes). One guy came running with us once while wearing an experimental high altitude simulator device that he wore like a backpack. It had a long tube that ran to a mask covering his mouth and nose. Some company had given it to him to test. I haven't seen anything like it recently though (only altitude chambers ).

Maybe you could get one for your camper van.

[mattlucas 0]

 Quote:

Originally posted by le spud:


Toque – actually did a cumulative height gain of 1443m.
As for me seeming taller…. well, I am standing on a summit! Most of the guys were about my height, hence the optical illusion. You make out like I’m a damn midget like FT.

That's a pretty big gain at altitude
I've done the same and a lot more on the Japanese high mountains and back home but have never been above 3700 (Fuji). I can't even imagine what it's like at the hieght that you reached. Someday I hope to get up some biggies over in Canada. But that will be 3-4 week ski trips with acclimitization.

FT is a tiny guy. Knee deep powder for me is waste for him.
Maybe you've sprouted in the last year or so with all this new activity

Keep climbing and telling us about the mountains. And like you say you need to find a good partner so you can save your hard earned Euros. You've got the skills. Just need the partner.

[Fattwins 0]

dont be jealous cause im always getting the goods. youd love to be short too if you could get it waist deep everytime.

 

spud its time to slip the ring on this girls finger these type of girls are hard to find.

[mattlucas 0]

You and bloody marriage dude

[eskimobasecamp 0]

i heard a rumour that the pad in kyoto has more wedding pics than you can shake a ski pole at...!

 

FT - you gonna decorate the place in hakuba with a fine array of smooooshy pics?? LOL

 

and eh.... as a potential (not so distant) future 'skiing down some very huge mountains bc slut' - does that make me one of those types of girls that are hard to find? hmmmmmmmm?!

[eskimobasecamp 0]

le spud - looks and sounds absolutely absolutely absolutely amazing!!!!

[Yuki's Passion 1]

 Quote:

Originally posted by Fattwins:
dont be jealous cause im always getting the goods. youd love to be short too if you could get it waist deep everytime.

spud its time to slip the ring on this girls finger these type of girls are hard to find.

you get more face shots than a porn star - and not by the snow nowadays either. Whats it like to be teaching kids when theyre all taller than you? Bet you must get the kancho daily eh?

[guzzlers-baps 0]

Excellent pics and story, sounds wonderful.

[damian 0]

Thanks G's B.

 

Update:

I need to focus on the good parts of today as the big let down is frustrating. As I mentioned in the 'is your season over' thread, I today returned to part of my Mont Blanc ascent route. From the other thread:

 

 Quote:

For those who will excuse me all this big talk....I just met up to discuss our plans for the day and we have decided that tomorrow we (guide + myself) will repeat the first third of my Mont Blanc climb. After the ascent we will ride from 4200m down to 3500m on some really good steep but crevassed terrain that currently has about 30cm of powder on it! After that, if the sun has been shining enough to soften the surface layer, we will descend the next 800m of vertical via a 45-50 degree couloir. Another big day out.

Well, we hiked from 3500m to the 4200m peak as planned and rode down ok. The hike up was special for me as it was the part of the Mont Blanc hike that we never saw as it was in darkness. At 2am with a group of 8 it took us a little over 3 hours. Today two of use did it in 2.5 hours. It is a solid bit of work due to the nature of the terrain. Not a lot of vert but a big lump of ice covered in snow. I really enjoyed seeing what we did during the night last week. I also enjoyed being back above 4000m and feeling the weak legs, short lungs and headache again. It is not pleasant but it was important to go right back up there and experience the difficulty again. Otherwise last week's effort would have been at risk of being a 'special event' rather than a repeatable event. Last weeks climb also left me a little daunted, so it was good to set the record straight (internally, with myself). Besides the headache and weakness, highlights included riding over a partially bridged crevasse. It was only 1 foot wide, but as I skimmed over it, I saw it was deep and black. So to the next one, which I stuffed up and rode directly over a 3 foot wide unbridged section mid way along a traverse. I was not expecting it and I got a real fright. Lucky I was moving fast and managed a little pop air once I saw it just in front of me. This took us to midday and a short hiked to our planned couloir descent from the Aiguille du Midi.

 

The wind had picked up in the night and blasted most of the fresh snow from our morning route. It was sunny but properly cold (guessing -5 to -10C with a very stiff cold wind). The sun doesn't get into the couloir until about 11am. With no clouds the snow would get softened on top after the overnight freeze. But the day was cold and the wind really was a big problem. We poked around the top of the couloir and sure enough, the snow was hard and cold. And it was also taking the full force of the wind. We had no idea of the snow condition further down the line and the entry was the real deal requiring a 60 meter abseil. We had a 60 meter rope that would need to be doubled so we could recover it after the abseil. Doubling the rope and leaving a margin of error meant that the 60m entry would take two full 30 meter abseils plus a third short abseil. Three abseils to reach snow of quite uncertain safety. We had no idea what the wind was doing 60 meters down and at 50 degree slope angle my guide, who I have done quite a bit with this season, decided to turn away and take another plain vanilla route down. I totally trusted his decision to turn away and we discussed the factors that went into the difficult decision. He felt uneasy about it and used the kiss of death phrase 'I gotta bad feeling about this one today'. I am glad we turned away and I learnt a lot from the decision, but also disappointed as it takes so long to accumulate experience. Just one afternoon riding one significant descent is a huge step forward. You don't go forward unless you are taking steps. This one will have to wait for next spring.

 

Tomorrow we are planning an early morning start on another classic in the valley. The advantage this time is that we will climb for 6 hours up the very snow that we will ride back down. So with real time data samples all the way up there will be no uncertainty about the conditions this.

 

Got some good pics today but don't have my USB camera cable on hand.

 

Spring is a funny time, I'm glad to experience it in my default home resort. I am staying in Argentiere, a small village up the valley from Chamonix, but included in the collective term 'Chamonix'. The place is an absolute ghost town now that Easter is over and spring well underway. Most bars are shut, the people are gone, ski shops are shut. I'm staying in a little hotel of 20 rooms, a 'quaint' old discount place that I know and like. There isn't any staff besides one guy who does check-ins in the morning and again in the late afternoon, and then he leaves. So I have a 20 room hotel entirely to myself. It is old and creaky and has a distinct spooky feel to it. All the holiday makers and skiers have gone. I really wonder what motivates me sometimes.

 

By the way, for anyone familiar with the valley, tomorrow I am doing 'Couloir en Y'. Every committed BC area has a Y couloir!

[damian 0]

For those with the fortitude to read long posts, here is another update to the story:

 

Today worked out well. But only after we changed our initial plan. The original logic was that since yesterday was quite cold we would put on hold our plan to do les Courtes couloir and go instead for the Y couloir which is across the glacier facing in the opposite direction. The area we were in is the Argentiere basin and it is like a massive amphitheatre of 1000m rock walls surrounding a large flat glacier. It is an epic playground, my favourite place. There are heaps of routes and couloirs to chose from. Anyway, on approach to the Y we became concerned that last night's wind actually warmed and so there was not a decent overnight freeze. This being the case, we were running about 3 hours behind a safe schedule. The sun was already baking the couloir and our concerns were correct: the snow didn't sufficiently re-freeze overnight and by early morning the stones and small rocks had already started to release from higher up making the couloir a bowling alley of random infrequent rocks. I have a photo of the line and it is genuinely steep and narrow, a classic, but not a good spot on a rock fall kind of day. I really wanted to do this line but too bad. Next season.

 

But all was not lost. We turned around and went across to what had been on our agenda for so long: les Courtes NE couloir. Since the night had been warmer than we anticipated the previous day, it would be soft. The risk was it would be too soft. Spring is an uncertain season. One day too cold, the next night too warm. You never know what is do-able until you are standing on it. Too much thaw-freeze action is bad as well since the snow pack 'rots', or gets lots of holes in it and looses any type of structural support Some lines are only good in spring, and even then only for a few days in spring, and of those days, they are only safe for 2 hours. Too early in the day and they are frozen, too late and they slide, and after that once the sun dips behind a ridge they can re-freeze very fast, making a late descent a big risk. Spring is difficult.

 

Les Courtes was looking good. I got a very limited number of pics today but no USB cable so here are the ones I posted at the start of this indulgently long thread. The line taken is between the red dots, or marked with 81.

 

 

 

 

 

Les Courtes NE couloir is 800m of vertical, 400m of which is 48 degrees. The rest is 45 degrees and some short stretches of 50, particularly on the flank of the couloir that we took. The couloir is entirely glaciated and in some rare areas you could shove your crampons through the snow and hit hard ice 12 inches down. There was also ice peeking through at the side near the rocks. The angle is very consistent at 45-50 but I find at these angles a few degrees makes a big difference. The delta from 45 to 50 feels significantly more than the same delta at 25 degrees (obvioulsy it is linear, but the delta sure feels exponential). By the time we made it to the 40 degree apron at the base of the couloir we were ripping down it like it was a green run in a resort. It is amazing how quickly your mind adjusts to steepness.

 

It took us almost 3 hours of good fast progress to reach our strap in point, just short of the absolute top which was hard packed and rutted by skiers side scrapping their way down the first sketchy section. The ascent is literally straight up, like the worlds longest step machine, in crampons and boot packing.

 

The descent was superb. One side of the couloir was untouched and the snow was ok quality up top. Further down it was perfect corn, almost too deep in places (for safety reasons). It was heavy but very ripable. The deeper sections produced more sluffing than was safe so you had to interrupt your descent after several turns and wait off to the side for the sluff to run by. Alternatively you could change your fall line slightly and ride down next to the sluff river. After switching fall lines a few times the width of the sluff became pretty large so you had to pause on the edge of the rocks waiting for it to subside. You could ride through a lot of the sluffing ok and most of the time we got good long pitches from safe zone to safe zone. It was bloody fantastic. A good sustained steep face with a lot of really meaningful turns amongst a river of snow belting down the face all around you. Spring corn is noisy stuff to ride and the rushing noise of the sluff torrent was quite loud, along with the crusty surface breaking off and spinning down the face.

 

It was the best descent I have had all season. I'm not sure how to top it, so its probably just as well that the season is over. I had aimed at this descent all season and bloody well got it. I'm seriously stoked right now.

 

We had a bit of an incident on the way up, as we approached the bergschrund about 1/3 of the way from the bottom just as the morning sun hit the rocks much higher above us. To our right we noticed the tell tale danger sign of snow balls thumping down over the rocks. We waited and watched. Then the waterfall of snow came pounding over the rocky drop-off. It carried on for about 60 seconds and was very noisy and impressive. It was well off our line and posed no problem at all. But.... after it stopped we looked up the slope we were climbing and saw the seemingly slow-ish progression of a single point avalanche as it built up a body of snow and moved directly down the funnel towards us. We were unfortunately positioned directly in the very obvious gouged-out rut that ran the full length of the couloir, directly up the middle at gravities 'lowest point'. We had to temporarily take this nasty centre line to cross the bergschrund, which is done by climbing up the cone of sluff debris that funnelled down the chute. It is the only way to very easily get above this overhanging 3 meter high cliff of ice. The cone fills in a significant area of the bergschrund. We watched it coming down towards us and decided that we had to get out of the way. This all happened in a very short period, a few second. Not enough time. The guy I was with was directly up hill of me so I tried to get out of his fall line in case he was bowled over onto me. And then it was just dig in the spikes whilst covering our heads. Thankfully having a board strapped to your back gives quite a bit of shield protection when you bend over forwards. The heavy snow that comes with single point avalanches always stays on the surface and does not fly up in the air like a dry powder slide. But we were directly below the bergschrund and 1 second way from coping the pounding of a frozen waterfall as it shot out over the drop-off onto us. The first hits felt really hard and gave me a fright. I really thought I was going to be knocked off my feet. The slope we were on was getting close to 50 degrees and I did not want to go for a tumble. I was covering my head whilst being flooded with falling snow. I couldn't see how much was coming down but it had built up a pile up to my knees. Although it was hitting us hard, luckily most of the debris was flying over the ice cliff so fast that it just slammed into me or the ground around me and continued on its way down the slope, rather than bury us. It went on for about 20 seconds and was very noisy and very intense. I was quite relieved to still be standing in my original position once the bombardment from above slowed. For the next hour the middle line of the couloir was gently flowing with snow that made a crackling noise as it ran down the rut. All was quiet on the face after that... until we started riding down and breaking away significant quantities of snow and crust, as described above. The entire descent really was a torrent of snow rushing down the guts of the couloir.

 

There were two skiers also making the climb a fair way below us. They started their ride down from about 2/3rds of the way up just after we started from near the top. I got a little bit of mpeg footage of them coming down to one of our safe zones.

 

And thats that. The best line of my short career is in the bag.

 

I'll give the snowboarding a break tomorrow and have a restful day using the lifts and working on my skiing (which is easy and fun in spring corn. It is coming along very well. I can tackle any piste run on skis that I can do on a snowboard. Although I think my technique is pretty bad)

[Kumapix 0]

awesome tr spud!!

[me jane 0]

Missed this thread before somehow. Just wasted almost half an hour at work reading about it all. Great stuff. Love the pics

[damian 0]

Hi me jane and Kuma, thanks for reading it all!

 

I didn't go skiing today, will do it tomorrow.

 

Today I went paragliding from the midstation of a cable car. It was my first flight so I had to go tandem with a guy I know. Taking off is fun, not at all scary as it is so logical. You lay the wing out behind you and run into the wind. The wing inflates and rises into the air behind you. You run harder. Just before the drop-off edge the wing very gently lifts you off the ground, which is good as our drop-off was very steep, about 60 degrees. In the air you feel solid and safe and it is quite relaxing except for when you hit a thermal which gives quite a bump as you enter it and then you get pulled up into the air. I did some piloting, just turning around the place and cruising in a line over the valley. It was bad weather today and I managed to pilot us into a mild hail shower. The motion in the harness is quite rocky and I felt ever so slightly sea sick. Another guy came up with us and he was dangling in the air along our side having a chat. It is amazing how you can slow down to a crawl and just hang there, moving no more than perhaps 15kmph, forward motion it is barely discernable from that height (we were about 1500m above the ground). Then the other guy went off and did some aerial acrobatic stuff, which looked good so we gave it a go as well. We did something called a 'satellite' where you spin almost horizontally to the ground about your wing which becomes like a fixed point of axis in the middle of a rather fast downward spiral. It apparently produced 3 G's of force and you could feel the blood rushing to your feet. It was a big rush to see the ground directly below your right ear hole. But you spin quite fast and after a few of these in both directions I was feeling a bit sick and dizzy. We also did a few 360's. The acrobatic stuff isn't scary and you don't feel any fear but you do feel adrenaline, big time. I really enjoyed the overdose of this natural drug... but I felt a bit sick. The remainder of the flight was just cruising around and calming my spinning head whilst chatting about lines that my instructor has ridden (he is a former extreme snowboarder in the valley who has all but given riding for flying). It is seriously cool fun to cruise around the mountains checking out different descents and the snow condition. I really enjoyed that.

 

Landing seemed to require a bit of concentration and diligent attention to the process. The instructor did a really good job, it was a non event, kind of like walking off an escalator.

 

I was considering kite boarding or mountain biking but nah, it looks like I have found my summer sport for hilly Germany. He reckons he can get me flying solo after 2 days of tuition (of a 5 days basic initiation course). The only problem with flying is it doesn't really keep me fit for snowboarding.

 

Japan would be an excellent place for flying. Anyone done it? Give it a go, it is really satisfying.

[damian 0]

Pictures to keep Toque happy:

 

From the other day, our ascent and descent of Mont Blanc du Tacul (4200m). It is the first peak that you have to get over to reach the Mont Blanc peak. This was the one that we hiked at 2am, so it was great to see and climb it again in daylight. You ascend and ride the large right hand snowy flank

 

The ride back down was good, but as you tell, quite crevassed. For scale you can just see the two parties ahead of us. One is a group of three, the other group of 2. One group is at the bottom right of a big crevasse, the other is at the top left of the same crevasse. The crevasse and the two groups are in the large triangle shadow in the middle left of the picture. In the uploaded version they are mere smudges, very hard to see. There is also a tent in the picture.

 

Negotiating a crevasse:

 

Whilst I was at the top of Mont Blanc du Tacul in daylight I the chance to snap a picture of the second peak that we previously had to overcome to reach the actual Mont Blanc peak. This one is called Mont Maudit (4400m) and was incredibly difficult ice and rock-hard snow of 45-50 degrees. After climbing directly up this thing I am confident that Grivel G10 wide strap-on crampons work just fine with snowboard boots.

 

Close up of the same. You can just see the track leading up to the sheer ice band below the col to the right of the summit.

 

Looking down the cosmiques couloir from the Aiguille du Midi. It is the one I discussed above that we turned away from due to the high probability of a very hard wind frozen and packed surface to ride. This picture looks so peaceful, yet the wind was howling that day.

 

The Couloir en Y that we chose not to climb and ride due to one or two rocks falling from the softening snow at the top. The viewers left hand branch of the Y is obscured. This will wait until spring next season. We crossed the glacier and went up les Courtes instead.

[damian 0]

About half way up les Courtes couloir. You can just see the two skiers climbing up below me. One was a girl from NZ. She rode really well.

 

Part of the way down les Courtes couloir. That isn't me in the picture.