Another day with Brian Hall ... Dave and I had discussed going on a longer tour with Brian, and he suggested the Col De Tour Noir .. a regular classic in the area for new converts to the touring world. While we would be doing this, Sue and the girls would take KT in the backpack up aiguille du midi and then participate in some xc skiing in the afternoon.
We, (Dave, Alan, and myself) met up with Brain and a previous client of his in the Grand Montets car park, and took the first lift to the very top .. a process that would be repeated many times over the years. This is a typical scrum with a linear series of queues... first you wait for the building to open then queue for a "one up" day ticket at the ticket offices, then you charge up the stairs and wait in the queue for the cable car, hoping that you are close enough to get through on the first lift. Then the attendants count out the people to move through to the loading bays, wait again for the car to drop from the top, squeeze in, all the time trying to not get someone else's gear in your face, and also make sure you have something to hang on to as the car goes over the pylons. Once everyone has squeezed in ("move down please"!)and the doors have executed the final crush everyone shuffles around to get comfortable for the ride. At Lognan (the middle station), there is a huge rush the minute the doors open, as the whole process is repeated .. a charge around to the extension ticket desk, queue for the car, staging loading, crush and set off. The upper lift is smaller than the first one so there are always some people disappointed and have to wait for the next one.
From the top station we were soon down the ladders and on the col getting ready in the shadow of the Petite Aiguille Vert for the descent to the Argentiere glacier.
We dropped down to the glacier, following the higher route through the seracs to retain height. The descend was on very hard frozen snow, no problem with technique, but the ride felt like riding cobbles. Once we got down on the glacier my legs were stinging from riding the ridges, we thankfully paused for putting the skins on in the shade before the sun poked around the mountains.
Setting off up the glacier the sun popped over the tops around us.
After passing the Argentiere hut we turned left up the glacier coming down from the col, just past the long curve of the moranine
Climbing up this Tour Noir glacier was fairly simple to start with, just a gentle slope. After a while we came up on the crevasse zone and a much steeper section, and the first kick turns of the trip.
Once over the crevasse zone, the angle dropped back to the same as we started with, and we continued up the side of the Aiguille de Chardonnet.
There was a small sting in the tail as we came up to the col, with a steep final section, I remember this as it was also very hard packed, and I ended up stepping up, and had a few issues with my bindings and the friction (or lack of it) of the hinge. this made stepping up hard as the ski tail dropped before I was ready.
I vowed to spend some time understanding how the mechanism works and what is a god way to maintain them effectively. After I had recovered my composure and the air was less blue.
At the col we had time to recover from the climb, and take a lot of photos
Over the other side of the ridge we had great views into Switzerland, and a world we would be spending a lot more time in a decade later.
The descent followed the line of the ascent down to the Argentiere glacier. We soon discovered that, as the sun warmed thing up, there were easier and harder lines down ... the easier ones were where we did not have to bounce so much were where the wind had packed the snow down and blown the surface powder away. .. It never ceases to amaze me how much the ascents takes out of you and just a few turns on the descent get your legs screaming.
Dropping down onto the glacier brought us back to the consolidated trails (not yet pistes, but that soon followed). Once we joined up with the Pic a Ric piste it was a simple schuss back to the mid station and down - I cant remember if we skied down or took the lazy way. Back in the car park we said our goodbyes before heading back to the apartment for rest and rehydration :)
While we were experting ourselves, the girls went on a trip up the aiguille du midi cable car.
After the scum of the people doing the vallee blanche, they settled for a more gentler pursuit of some ski de fond.
We, (Dave, Alan, and myself) met up with Brain and a previous client of his in the Grand Montets car park, and took the first lift to the very top .. a process that would be repeated many times over the years. This is a typical scrum with a linear series of queues... first you wait for the building to open then queue for a "one up" day ticket at the ticket offices, then you charge up the stairs and wait in the queue for the cable car, hoping that you are close enough to get through on the first lift. Then the attendants count out the people to move through to the loading bays, wait again for the car to drop from the top, squeeze in, all the time trying to not get someone else's gear in your face, and also make sure you have something to hang on to as the car goes over the pylons. Once everyone has squeezed in ("move down please"!)and the doors have executed the final crush everyone shuffles around to get comfortable for the ride. At Lognan (the middle station), there is a huge rush the minute the doors open, as the whole process is repeated .. a charge around to the extension ticket desk, queue for the car, staging loading, crush and set off. The upper lift is smaller than the first one so there are always some people disappointed and have to wait for the next one.
From the top station we were soon down the ladders and on the col getting ready in the shadow of the Petite Aiguille Vert for the descent to the Argentiere glacier.
We dropped down to the glacier, following the higher route through the seracs to retain height. The descend was on very hard frozen snow, no problem with technique, but the ride felt like riding cobbles. Once we got down on the glacier my legs were stinging from riding the ridges, we thankfully paused for putting the skins on in the shade before the sun poked around the mountains.Setting off up the glacier the sun popped over the tops around us.
After passing the Argentiere hut we turned left up the glacier coming down from the col, just past the long curve of the moranine
Climbing up this Tour Noir glacier was fairly simple to start with, just a gentle slope. After a while we came up on the crevasse zone and a much steeper section, and the first kick turns of the trip.Once over the crevasse zone, the angle dropped back to the same as we started with, and we continued up the side of the Aiguille de Chardonnet.
There was a small sting in the tail as we came up to the col, with a steep final section, I remember this as it was also very hard packed, and I ended up stepping up, and had a few issues with my bindings and the friction (or lack of it) of the hinge. this made stepping up hard as the ski tail dropped before I was ready.I vowed to spend some time understanding how the mechanism works and what is a god way to maintain them effectively. After I had recovered my composure and the air was less blue.
At the col we had time to recover from the climb, and take a lot of photos
Over the other side of the ridge we had great views into Switzerland, and a world we would be spending a lot more time in a decade later.
The descent followed the line of the ascent down to the Argentiere glacier. We soon discovered that, as the sun warmed thing up, there were easier and harder lines down ... the easier ones were where we did not have to bounce so much were where the wind had packed the snow down and blown the surface powder away. .. It never ceases to amaze me how much the ascents takes out of you and just a few turns on the descent get your legs screaming.
Dropping down onto the glacier brought us back to the consolidated trails (not yet pistes, but that soon followed). Once we joined up with the Pic a Ric piste it was a simple schuss back to the mid station and down - I cant remember if we skied down or took the lazy way. Back in the car park we said our goodbyes before heading back to the apartment for rest and rehydration :)
While we were experting ourselves, the girls went on a trip up the aiguille du midi cable car.
