UKC

Good evening everyone,
Chamonix was skiing pretty damn well last week, and I was lucky enough to grab a descent of "The Easiest Route on the North Face of the Aiguille du Midi", or the north face of the Col du Plan as it's also known.
We had near-perfect snow from top to bottom, except for the crust-and-cookies traverse back to the lift, but with slopes of up to 50 degrees, a few mandatory rappels at various points along the way, and a certain-death drop over a hanging glacier if you don't pay attention, it's still a pretty exciting descent, even if you do get it in good snow.

There are lots of words and pictures about the day over at my "web log" if anyone is at all interested:
https://altitudinalnoodles.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/col-du-plan-north-face-...

Bits and bobs of snow falling early this week with some good weather coming on Thursday-Friday, so here's hoping for some more decent skiing!

Cheers chaps, have a good one.

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Nice one!
Looks like a vintage late spring in Chamonix this year.

Might pop my skis in the bag in early June if it's still holding

In reply to ClimberEd:

Cheers dude! Conditions are shaping up nicely, we've got quite a bit of weather going on up high right now and it looks like there's more coming this weekend, so things are filling in a treat.

There's been some pretty exciting new descents put up in Chamonix already this year, and if things carry on the way they are going there'll be quite a few more before the season is over. Fingers crossed!

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Great write-up; the line looks stunning and is definitely on the tick list. You really sum up the appeal of steep skiing / ski mountaineering for me. Shame I haven't made it out to the Alps this year, but hopefully next season will offer some opportunity (not that I don't like Scotland, but I've got my eye on some great lines out there!).

In reply to James Jackson:

Thank you for the kind words. Don't worry about not making it to the Alps this year, the lines aren't going anywhere! Not all of them, anyway, just yet.

The tick list just keeps getting longer!

In reply to Pete Houghton:


Oh of course; I've had an epic season in Scotland so nothing to complain about!


Tell me about it...

In reply to Pete Houghton:

Brilliant, looks amazing... maybe I'll get the ski's back out after just checking Scottish forecast for this weekend .

One to add to the list (for when a better skier)!

In reply to Simonfarfaraway:


Why have you put them away? There's been tonnes of skiing around!