First tracks down the Vallee Blanche : 5th January 2012
Skiing the high mountain

Earlier in the week, we headed up the Aiguille de Midi to take advantage of all this fabulous powder.

Navigating the arête was fairly hair raising. And then; bottomless powder with lots of unstable snow. It looked and felt like a ski movie! But, oh so dangerous. Skiing with guides, pro skiers and experienced alpinists we opened the Petit Envers run. Anything steeper was too scary to contemplate. We saw and caused many an avalanche. Some only knee deep, others leaving a wall higher than I am tall.

All in all, a glorious day on the mountain, but do be careful out there. Yesterday's storm brought huge amounts of yet more fresh snow and the avalanche risk shot up to 5/5. 

As you can see from the photos the safety ropes along the arête are not yet in place. Anyone thinking of skiing this route should do so with a mountain guide.

Idris Skis design and manufacture environmentally friendly freeride skis in Chamonix.

• Number of pistes open
  20
• Depth of snow on upper slopes
  140
• Highest temperature
  2
• Date of last snowfall
  21/12/2011
• Latest Conditions
  mostly cloudy - becoming cloudy with sunny spells during the afternoon. Period of sunshine close to 30%.PRECIPITATION : possible scattered snowflurries in the morning.WIND - ground level : variable light.WIND - mid mountain : NW light to moderate.WIND - high mountain : N strong.TEMPERATURE : low 0
• Depth of snow on lower slopes
  40

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