The
weeks after the Patagonia adventure has been filled with lots of rest, work,
family time and me and my girl friend moving in to a new apartment just
outside of Chamonix. Anyone who has been into the moving-in business know how
much time and energy that takes.
I
have totally ignored the warm rainstorms that has plastered the mountains with
perfect steep skiing conditions and instead rested my mind from most things
related to skiing.
Our tracks on Glacier Ronde yesterday the 29th of October!
But after getting my year pass for the lifts in Chamonix (and Courmayeur), the winter
excitement took hold of me and I felt like I had to ski something. From where I
live I have a first class view of on of the Chamonix classical semi-steep skis descents:
The Glacier Ronde, and with a weekend full of rain and snowfall I couldn’t stay
away from the thought of go skiing one of my favorite ski runs in the world.
Autumn
can serve up with some of the best steep skiing conditions of the year, but
it’s usually hard work to maneuver the lower elevations on the way back, where
the snow cover normally is really poor.
As
a proof of the possible good autumn conditions, a few years back, I managed to ski the Mallory
(direct) of the north face of Aiguille du Midi in the best conditions I have
ever seen up there. The thought of a mini repeat of that feeling was hard to stay away from.
Early
Monday morning I met up with Swedish (half Danish, grew up in Spain) friend
Niclas Hansen to take the first bin of the day at Aiguille du Midi. Only four
other skiers accompanied us up.
At
the top we skied down the semi icy ridge, then a very placky south face before
we traversed around to the west side of the mountain. We used the rope to check
the conditions on the traverse in to the big face where we found really good
skiing conditions.
The
first part of the run had about 20 cm of light powder snow, then the mid
sections was pretty hard and the last third had about 30 cm of fresh snow on
it.
We
did one rappel to get in to the exit couloir and from here and onwards the snow
conditions where competing with some of the better days in the winter season.
Great skiing, great weather and great company – I were really happy I was out
skiing in October.
At
the end of the couloir we did one steep rappel to get down to the glacier and
then we did about 2,5 hours of full on glacier warfare zig-zagging, jumping,
climbing, traversing and rappelling before we reached the block terrain and
“firm” ground.
From
here on we had a long walk down to the old lift station and then the tunnel where
Niclas Ferin (Thank you Niclas!) picked us up!
In
winter it’s easy to ski the Ronde five times and be back in town for après ski,
but now it’s still October and it feels great just to be out skiing again on
Aiguille du Midi and totally escapistic to get a 1500 vertical meter powder
run!
Season
Opening – Skiing The Glacier Ronde
New
for this adventure was that I was updating from the mountain, on Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter. Follow our adventures live online or keep reading on this
blog (a new page will come soon) during the upcoming season!
The
weeks after the Patagonia adventure has been filled with lots of rest, work,
family time and me and my girl friend has moved in to a new apartment just
outside of Chamonix. Anyone who has been into the moving in business know how
much time that takes.
I
have totally ignored the warm rainstorms that has plastered the mountains with
perfect steep skiing conditions and instead rested my mind from most things
related to skiing.
But
getting my year pass for the lifts in Chamonix (and Courmayeur) the winter
excitement took hold of me and I felt like I had to ski something. From where I
live I have a first class view of on of the Chamonix classical semi-steep skis:
The Glacier Ronde, and with a weekend full of rain and snowfall I couldn’t stay
away from the thought of going skiing on of my favorite ski runs in the world.
Autumn
can serve up with some of the best steep skiing conditions of the year, but
it’s usually hard work to maneuver the lower elevations on the way back, where
the snow cover normally is really poor.
As
a proof of the possible good autumn conditions I managed to ski the Mallory
(direct) of the north face of Aiguille du Midi in the best conditions I have
ever seen up there.
Early
Monday morning I met up with Swedish (half Danish, grew up in Spain) friend
Niclas Hansen to take the first bin of the day at Aiguille du Midi. Only four
other skiers accompanied us up.
At
the top we skied down the semi icy ridge, then a very placky south face before
we traversed around to the west side of the mountain. We used the rope to check
the conditions on the traverse in to the big face where we found really good
skiing conditions.
The
first part of the run had about 20 cm of light powder snow, then the mid
sections was pretty hard and the last third had about 30 cm of fresh snow on
it.
We
did one rappel to get in to the exit couloir and from here and onwards the snow
conditions where competing with some of the better days in the winter season.
Great skiing, great weather and great company – I were really happy I was out
skiing in October.
At
the end of the couloir we did one steep rappel to get down to the glacier and
then we did about 2,5 hours of full on glacier warfare zig-zagging, jumping,
climbing, traversing and rappelling before we reached the block terrain and
“firm” ground.
From
here on we had a long walk down to the old lift station and the tunnel where
Niclas Ferin (Thank you Niclas!) picked us up!
In
winter it’s easy to ski the Ronde five times and be back in town for après ski,
but now it’s still October and it feels great just to be out skiing again on
Aiguille du Midi and totally escapistic to get a 1500 vertical meter powder
run! Thanks Niclas for an awesome day out!
New
for this adventure was that I was updating from the mountain, on Instagram,
Facebook and Twitter. Follow our adventures live online or keep reading on this
blog (a new page will come soon) during the upcoming season!
I love the feeling of expectation going up Midi in the morning
Sami, Nate and Niclas in the bin
Sami opening the ridge up!
Niclas skiing down on the south side of the top ridge
Niclas at the top of Glacier Ronde
Looks inviting, doesn't it?
Niclas skiing autumn powder
Niclas at the harder, but still good, mid section
Me stoked to be out in the mountains
Myself skiing the lower section of the face in knee deep powder (Photo: Niclas Hansen)
Niclas entering the exit couloir
On rap to get in
A happy Niclas in the Exit couloir
Myself skiing in the exit couloir, knee deep pow!
Advanced glacier travel
It got more advanced the further we went
But at least we were through
We got awarded with a beautiful sunset on our walk back to town. Great ending to a great day!
