In reply to J Whittaker:
The wonder dog appreciates your fandom. He is currently passed out on the sofa following yesterday's 1500m powder touring expedition, a quarter of a chicken, and a tin of sardines.
There is a general rule that the climber, or at least the downhill party, has the right of way, as they are more vulnerable to any actions taken by the skiing, or uphill party. But as Ed Woods says, common sense is the best way of deciding it, and decided it long before both teams find themselves shouting at each other...
If any skier brave enough to attempt the first repeat descent of Fil a Plomb were stupid enough to try it when the climbing conditions were perfect, and as such find two or three teams of justifiably-angry climbers on their scrape down, then they'd be in the wrong. Similarly, if any masochistic team of ice climbers, following a rare storm system capable of turning the route into a viable ski descent, were to feel like a long day of wading to, through, and from the route, back along the ridge to the Midi, they shouldn't really be surprised if some skier-spawned sluff were to add to the constant barage of natural spindrift they'd inevitably face on such a day.
This is just an example of course, and it's unlikely that there'd ever be such a conflict of interest on Fil a Plomb, a rarely-skied route, but there have been and will continue to be these encounters on similar routes. Anyone trying to climb the Mallory on a perfect skiing day has no real right to complain to the four or five teams that might pass them, though the first couple of teams might like to share a few choice words with the later skiers that follow them.
