Mild temperatures and mixed weather this week

We had planned to ski the Col du Beaugeant, my favourite descent in the Aiguilles Rouges from the top of Flegere, and with a bit of a late start due to queues at the cable car we were up to the top of the Index chairlift for 10am. Unfortunately the Floria drag lift wasn't running but that's not a big problem as the ascent from Index to Floria is less than 10 minutes on the freshly groomed cat track. From there there were only a handful of ski tourers skinning directly up to the Col des Crochues, and on our planned route towards Lac Blanc only a faint traverse track was visible, so we knew that we wouldn't be fighting for fresh lines no matter where we went.

So we were quickly round the traverse to attach skins again, then up towards Lac Blanc on a decent skin track. There we bumped into a couple of friends-of-friends who still weren't sure of what they were going to ski so they were happy to join in on our plan.

Breaking trail a little further to the base of the wide couloir up to Col de Beaugeant, we encountered some windpacked snow and triggered a shallow slab avalanche under us at one point, so switched plans to the neighbouring Col du Belvedere instead which already had one group ascending it on its safer, gentler gradient.

The Col du Belvedere was my second ever ski tour in Chamonix and my first real steep skiing experience but I hadn't skied it since winter 2012/2013, so the plan was fine by me. Skiing certain classic routes after a long break is an interesting experience. Descents which I once considered scary sometimes seem like no big deal these days, a sign of my growth in confidence and technical ski skills. Routes covering a long distance can now seem commonplace, and with my fitness constantly improving and gear getting lighter, the ascents can seem far less effort than they once did. Today's route combined all of these factors.

So we were up to the Col in good time where the group in front of us was just starting to descend back down the same way, so the normal descent on the north face into the Berard Valley was all ours without any tracks on it since the new snowfall. There are a few abseil anchors at the steep north face entrance but after testing the snow stability with a good hold of our ropes well wrapped around my arm I felt confident to ski in, while the others felt safer abseiling.

The snow for the first couple of hundred vertical metres was a good 20cm of fresh powder with just a few slightly firmer spots, which would normally be perfect to make fluid turns down, but unfortunately the clouds had closed in so a more cautious approach was required without being able to read the slope too well. In the middle things were a little heavier but we did have much better visibility closer to the rock wall on the right side and so could open up a little and make some longer, faster turns without any other tracks on the whole slope.

For the last section towards the few tracks from the classic Crochues-Berard descent route, the snow looked perfect through slight rolls and gullies, but sadly this is where things turned very nasty, with some of the heaviest and stickiest snow I have skied in a long time. I could barely ski properly without my tips catching and almost sinking in the snow so I had no choice but to lean right back and just ride it out!

To exit the Berard Valley to Le Buet the snow really wasn't much better even though there was good cover all the way; very heavy and sticky even on the track that had been skied-in this morning so it was poles and skating most of the way. I've never been happier not to be a snowboarder - a few we passed stomping footsteps 20-30cm deep in this snow didn't look to be having much fun. We got out to Le Buet fine anyway, in perfect time for the train back to Chamonix although this did mean skipping our usual beer break at Hotel Le Buet!

The next week looks to be continuing the gloomy theme with clouds and drizzly rain/snow. Temperatures will be staying high so not really the best conditions for any sort of skiing unfortunately. Proper snowfall or full sun would be perfect to finish off the last few weeks of skiing this winter, but we'll just have to make the most of whatever we get.

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