Ski touring in the Periades with Vallee Blanche behind.
Spring definitively established itself in Chamonix during week 11. The snow on mountain south faces got heavy and started its transformation into corn/slushy snow. There was not much precipitation happening this 3rd week of March, so ski touring and ski mountaineering was the obvious choise for most off-piste skiers in Chamonix.
In contrast to the cold snow we’ve been skiing the first half of March, in Vallon de Berarde and les Aiguillles Rouges for example, every sun-exposed slope below 2500m got a crust layer on top in the mornings. The sport has therefore been to time the descents with the softening up of this layer, but before the slope gets too warm and dangerously heavy. Knowing your group and the conditions well, bring you success in this game.
Powder skiing off Point de la Terasse
We had a great day ski touring to Point de la Terasse, in the land of the sporty ski mountaineers, where you get no help from lifts on your way up. Since starting the walk through dense forest, a different world opens up to you above the tree-line. Even higher, once reaching the summit ridge through Col de la Terasse, an all-inclusive panorama of the Mt Blanc mountain range is layed out before you – from Mont Blanc to the Aiguille du Tour, with the Alaska-like north face of Mt Buet and les Aiguilles Rouges in the foreground. Skiing a hidden north-east face in loose sugary snow followed by creamy south facing slopes lower down, this long day was truly a complete ski tour.
Hanna coming up Col de Cristaux.
The sunny and even warmer days to follow invited to explore all corners of the Chamonix area.
Ski mountaineering, involving both skinning and climbing with your skis on your backpack, we skied runs such as Col de Cristaux in the Argentiere basin and Breche Puiseux in the Periades (see the photo gallery from Brêche Puiseux). On descents such as these – just briefly touched by the sun – the snow was firm but grippy. Skiing this kind of smooth and stable ground can be really fun if just the surface is soft. When steep, it demands short turns in perfect control.
More photos from this week on Facebook in our Chamonix Ski Touring Album.
Wolfgang ready to ski from Aig. du Midi
Finally, on the 21st of March we got some new snow above 2500m. First day after we had great skiing from Aiguille du Midi. The snow was cold powder on shady slopes above 2500m, but the air temperatures reminded us of the skiing days we had last year in May!
The rain that fell below 2000m definitely ended the skiing down to the valley floor and the warm temperatures sent numerous wet avalanches down mid-mountain slopes. The pistes in Flegere got severely damaged by avalanches from above and couloirs in the lower parts of all Chamonix lift systems slid to the ground.
Great ski touring descent from Aig. du Tacul.
Staying up high, skiing various runs on the Vallee Blanche and ski touring in the Cirque Maudit and the Periads, there was plenty of fresh tracks to be made as long as the weather was clear. We skied off Tour Rond in the west couloir and off Aiguille du Tacul in sluffy powder (see a short video clip on Facebook from that run).
