Vallée Blanche by the slopes of "Le Rognon”

Last Sunday I had one of those outings that stays on your mind for a very long time; the Vallée Blanche. I took the Aiguille du Midi tram that takes you in minutes from 3,000 some feet to 12,600 in an impressively scenic and steep ride that enables you to ski all the way back down to Chamonix on one of those legendary ski routes that drops 9,000 feet an travels some 15 miles through magic glacial terrain.

When you get off the tram you find yourself projected into a completely different and striking world of infinite peaks, needles, snow and ice. Glaciers as far as the eye can see, you feel you could practically reach out and touch the Mont Blanc as well as both Italy and Switzerland. You get to see the Matterhorn in the distance too. This is the place...

When it was time to move, things got serious immediately with our rather chilly conditions of the day (-23 ° C and -50° wind-chill on the ridge line), wind gusts in excess of 60 mph and a near straight drop to the north of 7,000 feet and a 1,000 feet to the south and with the ridge line falling away and really steep in and by itself, whatever side you look its far and steep down - this was quite the aerial experience! We were roped and used crampons (was glad I brought both) with skis on the pack. 

Once you're off the ridge line with its howling winds (my ear got to enjoy a bit of frost bite...) you end up on "Col du Plan" which offers some protection against the wind and that's where you get your skis on at about 12,300 feet.  From there we took towards the Pass of the “Rognon” (kidney in French) continued on to the Rognon slopes and into the valley “du Requin”, the “Salle a manger" (dining Room), the Mottets stand (small boot pack up) and from there back down to Chamonix. 

Avalanch risk (or should I say promise?) for the day was High - 4 and that was definitely confirmed on the ground. As a result of the heavy snowfall in recent days, the overnight large to huge avalanches (they were everywhere and on all aspects) covered several passages on the Vallée Blanche. Picking the route with that  in mind, we tended to end up in spots where the snow was often windblown by the prevalent northeast winds. Snow conditions were quite varied with everything from somewhat dense powder to hard pack windblown, cardboard, crust and outright ice but mostly we still had good to relatively good skiing.

Thanks to our fantastic season, we were able to ski all the way back down to town. It is not rare these days of global warming for skiers to have to stop before the end of the Vallée Blanche and take the cog train from the Montevers station back down to Cham. But this is not that season! So we were fortunate enough to go all the way. To do that you get out on the left bank of the Mer de Glace (past the level of the Montenvers) following a sort of narrow drainage that this day was covered by a sheet of ice. From there you boot-pack up to the Mottets stand (the boot-pack was in great condition and took no more than 15 min up). The snow from the stand to Chamonix was excellent with hardly any rocks, this was a fast and fun ski out.

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

"Refuge des Cosmiques" on the Glaciers des Geants is one of the staging
grounds for Mont Blanc summit attempts.

Mont Blanc du Tacul (not "the" Mont Blanc) 4248m - 13,939 feet

In the distance to the left the highest one is Aiguille Verte (4122 - 13,525),
the next are  Les Droites (4000m - 13,125) and Les Courtes (3720m - 12,206).
This is all hallowed ground for climbers. 

Close up of Aiguille Verte with a nice but unusual white layer of windlown

The Dent du Geant (the giant's tooth) with Glacier du Geant in the foreground.

The left most of the two summits is Aiguille du Tacul, the pass (above 
the nice line) is the Col du Tacul and the ridge line going across from 
Aiguille du Tacul and all the way to the right of the picture is Les 
Periades (Ok I'll put arrows in when I get a minute)

Just because...

Tour Ronde offers some gnarly skiing and is a whole day outing in and by itself

Le Petit Rognon defined our route this day

Beware of lurking crevasses..

For that "on the rocks" application

Gotta love those colors...

...and those

Where Glacier du Geant meets Glacier du Tacul

Some will see a crevasse others a natural halfpipe, and yes,
we skied it and it was FUN!

Just for the beauty of it...

...and this one too

On Mer de Glace some crevasses are just sizable, see the people in the
middle for scale.

Closing up on the Montevers (bottom of the "V") with Aiguilles Rouges
sunlit in the background

Gotta love that symmetry...

Ice as far as the eye can see...

To the left the Montevers Hotel and Station and you get off the Mer de Glace
 just a bit past that to start a quick boot pack up to the Montevers trail that
you then ski down to Chamonix (snow cover permitting)

Le Col des Chasseurs (par le Col de la Cicle) 2520m

FOR US LANGUAGE VERSION CLICK HERE

Une belle sortie organisée par Phillipe Dilloard du CAF de Chamonix. C’est une traversée qui part de Notre Dame de la Gorge au col de la Cicle puis, immédiatement au sud du col de la Cicle, une petite escalade mixte (crampons aux pieds selon les conditions), puis une très belle traversée jusqu’au Col des Chasseurs. Tout ça dans un grand décor avec des vues somptueuses aussi bien coté Beaufortin que coté Mont Blanc.

Massif : Beaufortin

Carte topo : 3531OT

Orientation : N (pour le descente dans le couloir)
Altitude de départ : 1200

Altitude arrivée : 2520m

Dénivelé cumulé : 1585m

Accès voiture:

Du Fayet continuer vers Saint-Gervais puis vers Les Contamines et garez-vous au dernier parking publique  env. 200m avant l'Eglise de Notre Dame de la Gorge (compter env. 30 min à partir du Fayet).

Accès trace:

Chausser au parking puis s’engager sur le pont de la piste de Nordique puis engagez-vous sur votre droite. Continuer tout droit laissant l’Église gothique sur votre droite et prendre la voie Romaine qui ici commence la montée. A noter qu’occasionnellement la partie basse de cette voie romaine peut être gelée au point de rendre les crampons indispensables !

Voici les photos prises hier (cliquer pour agrandir) ainsi que « the movie »:

Monter au col de la Cicle puis traversr jusqu’au Col des Chasseurs

Filmé et produit par notre réalisateur hors-normes : Jean-Charles Granet (aussi du CAF Chamonix) . 
Pour voir le film cliquer ici puis le lancer une fois sur la page du CAF.

Francois, Philippe et Jean-Charles en pause aux chalets des pâturages
 de la Balme juste après la sortie des Bois de la Rollaz 

Petite escalade mixte mais il vaut quand même mieux éviter de lâcher prise…

Vue coté Beaufortin…

...et coté Mont Blanc

La descente du Col des Chasseurs 

Col des Chasseurs (via Col de la Cicle)

POUR LA VERSION FRANCAISE CLIQUER ICI

A beautiful tour organized by Phillipe Dilloard of the French Alpine Club, Chamonix chapter. It is a tour that starts from Notre Dame de la Gorge, goes on to the pass at la Cicle then immediately to the south some mixed climbing (crampons required depending on conditions), then a beautiful traverse to Col des Chasseurs ending with a 40 degrees some north facing 2000 foot shot. All this is set in an impressive environment with magnificent ridge views on both the Beaufortin side as well as the Mont Blanc.

Topo map: 3531OT (French IGN reference) 

Starting elevation: 4,000

Highest elevation: 8,300

Elevation difference: 4,300

Total elevation gain: 5,200 (lots of up and down from Col de la Cicle to Col des Chasseurs)

Dominating aspect: North (for the descent couloir)

Access by car:

Drive through the village Le Fayet, continue up to Saint Gervais (the “other” normal route to the Mont Blanc summit) and drive till de very end of this valley and park on the last public parking lot at Notre Dame de la Gorge (about 200 yards before the church).

Trail access:

Start skinning right off the parking lot. Cross the Nordic ski trail’s bridge and take a right onto the flat wide trail, continue straight ahead and leave the Gothic church on your right. Here is where the “Voie Romaine” (roman path, yes its 2000 some years old…) gets you started on your up climb.

Here are some pictures taken yesterday as well as a link to “the movie”:

The traverse: Up to Col de la Cicle, climb up due south  then skin
across to Col des Chasseurs

Col des Chasseurs - The movie filmed and produced by our Film
Director extraordinaire: Jean-Charles Granet (also of the French
Alpine Club, Chamonix chapter).
To view the video click here then scroll down.

Francois, Philippe and Jean-Charles on break with nicely snowed in chalets in the background.

Minor mixed climbing but falling back remains a bad idea...

View towards the Beaufortin side...

...and towards the Mont Blanc side

After the effort - the reward: The slope down from the Col des Chasseurs with
 the Saint Gervais valley in the distance. The slope itself is about 2,000 feet
 but from here to the parking lot you're dropping 4,300

Les Frettes 2527m

Ceci est une bonne sortie de découverte du massif de la Lauzière surtout lorsque vous voulez mitiger un risque d'avalanche important. Se méfier quand même de la pente un peu raide sous ainsi qu’un peu à gauche du sommet car quand vous pouvez le voir plus bas nous avons étés témoins hier, par risque 3, d’une bonne petite avalanche à cet endroit-là (elle a emporté un skieur mais sans l'ensevelir ni blesser ).

Massif : Lauzière

Carte topo : 3433ET

Orientation : SW
Altitude de départ : 1370

Altitude arrivée : 2527m

Dénivelé : 1157m

Accès voiture:

A Albertville, s’engager sur la N90 vers Moutiers, prendre la sortie 36 puis s’engager sur la D213 direction Col de la Madeleine (distance d’Annecy : 82km). En hiver la route s’arrête près de « Celliers du Dessus » et il y a des places de parking (si vous vous levez tôt) au bord de la route juste avant l’entrée au village.

Accès trace:

Chausser juste à la fin de la route et monter la combe de Bridan, passer sur le pont qui traverse le ruisseau a env. 1570m puis continuer sur la rive gauche du ruisseau jusqu’au lac de Branly. Du lac, prendre le Creux de Lachat jusqu'aux Portes de Montmélian puis monter sur la crête des Frettes pour accéder au sommet.

Voici les photos prises hier (cliquer pour agrandir):

Nous n'avons pas eu a tracer grace au 27eme BCA au loin, un grand merci! 

Le Pic de Lachat 2436m

Des coulées  au soleil : en veux-tu en voilà… 

...et a l'ombre

Possibilités infinies… 

Les pentes douces sous les Portes de Montmélian ne sont pas à la hauteur...

...des Frettes avec leurs belles pentes bien tentantes...

...mais pas sans danger ...

Une plaque qui n'a pas été trop loin mais une ligne de rupture qui s'est quand même pas mal propagée.

Annecy under the snow

Our town is just barely at 1,600 feet elevation and so doesn't see snow all too often through the season. This makes it an extra special event every time we get it and today was such a day.

Annecy is an old town with medieval roots and used to be the “capital” of Savoy. It is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the French alps. Today the town has a population of about 52,000 and is part of a wider metro area of in excess of 200,000 inhabitants but these are geographically quite widely spread.

Here are the pictures (click to enlarge):

The towers in the upper eft corner is Palais de l'Isle is a castle built in 1132
in the center of the Thiou canal. It was the primary residence of the Lord
 of Annecy (Duc de Savoie) as early as the 12th century

This castle was built between the 12th and 16th centuries. It served as the 

residence of the Dukes of Genevois-Nemours.  

Bridge over not so troubled waters.

This one is mainly there for the snow...

Took this glorious shot this morning on a tour on the way up to the Col de Balme.

...still at 2,000 m (6,500 feet) - 1.50 m is five feet...