Brevant, France

Last Day... with Bryon, Sue and Nick A, we chose to go up the "local" slopes .. just up the hill behind Chamonix - The Brevant has fantastic views of Mont Blanc and the Aiguille de Midi. We took full advantages of the lift pass and went the very top several times.

 The routes from the top were quite extra-ordinary, with the long drop/ view down towards Chamonix, as they traversed across the slope to the mid station.
As with the day before I have little recollection of the actual routes we did, but we would have traversed the whole area. In those days there was not link to Les Praz and therefore it only extended to where the station now exists.

 At the end of the day.. Bryon an I together with Dave and probably several other took the black run back to the valley .. this is rarely in condition when we have been there subsequently, so we were quite fortunate

That was it for this trip ...

Grands Montets, France

Blue sky again, .. now we knew so much more about the delights of Grands Montets, I went back with M-J and tried to recreate some of the routes we had done with Brian.
we started up the Bouchard lift and down the red, .. very hard packed snow on wide sweeping runs, with several challenges, mainly around keeping out of the way of the speedsters.

I don't remember much more about the day, and we would have explored more of the off-piste routes ...  the other area is from the pictures I have which show the "back bowls" down to the piste road back to the mid station, so these would have probably been from the Herse lift.

The rest of the day does not remain with me, but we have spent many wonderful days at Grands Montets, and these all merge so it is hard to identify specifics.

Bryon, Chris and Nick attempted the Petit Vert from the top of Grands Montet. Others went to the Brevant.

Vallee Blanche, France

Waking up early today .. we were heading for the "premier ben" or first lift... up tothe Aiguille de midi. Although it is not really possible to get this as it is sown up by the local guides, we got on the second, which is effectively reserved for parties with guides, and if you are on your own, there is a long wait until all the guided parties have gone through.

We drove to the bottom station, parked in the closest car park, and got dressed in all our gear. Today we would have even more in the packs .. so in addition to the glacier kit, we would also have crampons, and ice axes...

This was the first time I had been up to the Aiguille de Midi, and the trip up was fascinating, with the long hangs between pylons, but generally the magnificent views overawed everything else.


At the top we did not have time to do the touristic thing, and visit the viewing galleries, but headed down the tunnel to the exit. just in side we paused to fix our crampons onto the ski boots for the walk out the connecting ridge to the col at the top of the valley blanche. The route was just a track in the snow, well packed down and icy, with enormous drops on all sides ...  struggling with Skis, poles, and ice axe, whilst trying to ignore the drop, I was very thankful for the crampons.

On the col we got ready for the descent in the sun, this warmed off any early morning chill and was a perfect conditions and settings for this superb route.
From the col we dropped down into the bowl above the Rognon, keeping as high as possible we contoured around below the NE flank of the Mont Blanc du Tacul.

Dropping down the glacier now into the first crevasse zone, we kept as far left as possible, before dropping through seracs and jumble, before traversing into the refuge du Requin.
This was where the controlled skiing we had been practising the previous days was needed, and memories of the Argentiere glacier descent was very prevalent.

We stopped at the Requin refuge for a bite to eat and a coffee.

 Setting off again, we traversed down onto a large flat area (Salle a Manger), and some gentle schussing in an almost straight line ... in fact it went on for so long everyone got worried about catching an edge and looking like an idiot!. Brain took the opportunity to point out all the peaks and routes around.

Tending over to the right to avoid more crevasses, we dropped down to another flat area, which angled diagonally to the left.
Up to the right was a slope heading down from the top of the Grand Montets, a route called "Pas De Chevre", Dave and I would come down here in a few years time.

From here the path climbs up to the ridge...  it is an ascending traverse and we managed it with some side steps and polling.

On the top of the ridge there is a little Buvette, and was doing a roaring trade today, and we then headed down the track down through the forest back to Chamonix. Very tired legs made this more arduous than it should be, but survival skiing got us down. The track ended at the Les plannard ski area, and a short step over to the bar by the Montenvers railway station.

Glacier D'Argentiere, France

I think we slept well last night. ...   certainly my muscles were very tight and complaining a lot this morning.. there is that trepidation as we headed towards the meeting in the carpark below the Grands Montets. A second new area for us that would become very well known over the years to come.

Today we also had heavier packs, as we had harnesses, and crevasse rescue equipment (slings, ice screws, and several karabinas).

We took the chair lift up, as Brian had some ideas, and also the queue for the cable car was at over 40 mins. from the top of the chair it is an easy step over to a second chair that goes through the trees to reach a point on the central traversing trails. A quick burst back to the bottom of this to warm up, and get the muscles accustomed to exercise again. Along the way we started a second exercise of perfecting the hockey stop as the culmination to a turn, so effectively turn down the slope and then hockey stop to get out of it ... a very safe adn secure way of controlled descent, one turn at a time.
There would be many occasions in the later years I dragged this out of the kit bag to get down a slope where great care was required.

The second time down we stopped in the trees ... to-day's first lesson was about Transceivers. After the initial overview and demonstration of how the electronics worked .. we went into a series of exercises. Brian started by placing a spare one on the surface of the snow and we walked through a search procedure. These were the days of the old analogue systems - they had only just agreed the global frequency for the systems between the US and Europe!! Later on the arrival of Digital systems and the computerised pointers etc.. would change all the techniques up front. We learnt about staggered searches up hill and listened intensely for the beeps. Then we did a walk through for real with a hidden transceiver, before a full blown high speed search. Several things came out of this ...  running up hill in boot is not fun, listening to the beep when your blood and heart is pounding in your ear, when you get close it is complex to pinpoint the actual position with the depth etc., if some B****r switches to transmit by mistake everything goes haywire. digging takes for ever, and whatever you can do to assist the removal of snow is all-round a good thing.
Brian had that smile on his face of the sadist enjoying others pain!.. however I have never forgotten these lessons so they succeeded perfectly.

After the lessons we returned to practising our off-piste techniques, with some of the routes that became traditional for us on a visit to Grands Montets.  We dropped right after the Bouchard lift and came straight down.. another memorable one was under the cliffs from the Herse lift - Brian called these the Italian bowls ...  Dave ask why, to be told that is was because of a party of Italians who were "lost" there.
Having been totally worn out by this it was time for a break and something to eat. then we were off on the second half of the day...  some skinning on the Argentiere glacier.

Towards MT Blanc

We took the second cable car (requires an extension to the ski pass). this is very popular and has a queuing system - this was later replaced by tickets, but at this time we just turned up and joined the queue. This was the first time we had been to the top station, and so dumping the skis, we went up to the roof to have a good look around, and enjoy the view in the sunshine. There would be times later one we would be up here in a howling gale, but this was excellent weather.

Petit Verte behind the top station

Tourist things over, we picked up the kit and made our way down the seemingly endless steps down to the col behind the station. going down open metal steps in hire ski boots (we did not have our own boots and it would be several years before we bought touring boots) was not a simple task, and holding onto skis at the same time juts complicated matters.

Down to the glacier

Down on the col we dressed up and tightened up the skis. The first horror was  the exit onto the top slope ... a narrow gouged runnel curving around to the right and deep rail tracks. Once committed no gong back ..  we all survived.  In the future this would be an enjoyable "fun" hurdle to be taken at speed.

looking up from the Rognon

From here we went down the un-pisted, but well tracked route , leaving the ski area just above the grand Rognon. where we headed relatively straight down to the glacier floor.
After the final schuss out onto the glacier, we stopped to put the skins on, before heading across in the general direction of the Argentier hut.

More practice of skinning and also included the first down hill skinning - frightful initially and also a disaster for us all as we sat down in the compression at the bottom of the slope. Again lessons for the future where this becomes part of almost every tour in one form or another.

It was really enjoyable to stroll up the glacier .. looking very benign, with little sign of the potential dangers. the snow was nice and firm to take the skis.

 Arriving at the moraine curving behind the Argentiere hut, this would be our high point today, and in some shade from the Aiguilles Verte, Droite and Courtes. Such a fantastic backdrop!.

From here we schussed direct back where we had come to the point where we joined the glacier. From here we followed the obvious trail down the side of the glacier, this was good preparation for tomorrow, but we did not yet know that. The trail was close enough to the crevasses and seracs yet there was a solid trace that weaved its way through the difficulties. At the bottom the trail cut left, over the lateral moraine and back to the piste/ road that lead back to the the middle station.

Completely knackered, but strangely happy with another fantastic day in the mountains, and definitely sold on the concept of using skis to get away from it all in winter.

Tomorrow would just be the icing on the cake.

Tete de Balme, France

It has finally arrived, after much planning and anticipation, the first day of our course on Ski touring. We met Brian at his house, and we went over our equipment and what pieces we were missing. Luckily Brian had all the spares we needed, Skins, Couteau, transceivers, and after a short logistics check we headed off to Le Tour at the end of the valley.

Today was going to be a work out for our skiing capabilities followed by an introduction to skining. The weather had improved, sunny with a chill wind.

We started off doing a fast traverse of the resort, up to the top of the Charmarillion lift, down back up then across to the drag, then around to the tete de Balme drag and down from the top.
The first section was standard Red piste skiing, and we soon realised how slow and technically deficient we were, and things were not going to get better on the next section ...  as we worked over to the drag, Brian took us off through the powder off-piste between two pistes. Carnage would be the best way to describe the three of us splattered over the short slope. Eventually struggling through it was obvious to everyone that we were greatly challenged away from the prepared tracks.

Brian cottoned on to what we needed to learn quickly and we spent every opportunity after this on techniques and practice to cope with the powder. In place of the common instructor shouted command of "bend zee knees" we had "hop, hop, bounce" to try to persuade us to ho into the fall line and power around ...  was the cause of much pain as we inevitably leant back after the hop and crashed, or leant too far forward and either turned too far uphill and fell over backwards, or just face planted down the slope. I do remember swearing a lot as things got worse before they got better.

Along the ridge south

We were getting the hang of things but very tired - the drag up to the top  of the station was very windy and icy and I remember wondering how I was going to get through the day .. every muscle ached. Luckily this was the culmination of the first act ...From the top we dropped down to the middle station on the pistes trying to be as fast as we could ... thighs and calves screaming we stopped outside for a break and something to eat, and more importantly a welcome rest and recovery (lots of sugar and caffeine.

After lunch we took the Charmarillion chair back up to the top, and then  the second act started. We had a lesson on putting the skins onto the skis, then we started off for the top of the Tete de Balme. On the way we learnt how to skin and make uphill kick turns.
The route traversed across to the refuge and from there up the ridge to the top. this was a very relaxing way to climb the hills and we were soon enjoying the views.

Looking down the valley to Chamonix

Wind scoop on the tete de Blame

After this was full steam ahead as we charged down the pistes to the bottom and finish for the day.

Our first summit on skis

Flegere, France

M-J, Sue and I headed off to the ski area at Flegere, whilst the others went to find some ice at Argentiere.

After we all got back, Dave, Steve, and I went to the Bar Nat (the traditional meeting place in Chamonix for guides) to meet up with Brian Hall and discuss the next few days.

Les Houches, France

First outing on skis for at least a year...   everyone was tentative, and apprehensive...  we chose to go to Les Houches, as this was deemed to be the gentlest place to start out. and stretch the leg muscles.

The weather was not brilliant with cloud down around the top of the lifts. The pistes them selves were a bare in places, and as was usual for Les Houches, whenever I have been there, large patches of very hard packed almost ice ... plenty to get the nerves going.

These days our skiing was not great - we could get down most things, but it was never pretty and involved lots of traversing. There was definitely no parallel skiing and lots of snow ploughing.
We skied a good amount of the day and covered most of the mountain, before finishing, ready for a big feast back at the apartment, and preparation for tomorrow and the new adventure.

We had arranged to meet Brian in the Bar Nat. (national), the traditional place of the time to meet up with guides. After the introductions we went over the itinerary for the next 3 days, and also discuss what we expected to achieve and also our impressions of our capabilities. We also discuassed the equipment we had and what we needed.

Over night it snowed heavily which would add to the fun on the following day.

1992 Spring Ski Tour, France

Last year started some thought processes and our minds were occupied with finding out how to make life easier for ourselves in the winter months, especially as we now knew it took as long to get to the Alps as it did to Scotland.
In between time Dave had researched a relatively unknown type of binding, and even tracked down a book (by Peter Cliff) that covered ski mountaineering. the bindings were hard to find ...  eventually we got some from a friend of a friend who knew someone selling their gear - two pairs one for Dave and the other for me ....  this was the age before the internet and eBay, so selling things was much more in small circles and knowing who to ask.
We also started a thing that would become more used as time went by - that of reserving an apartment and filling it with people, in a bunk house style. The bedrooms were converted into dorms, and the remaining rooms into the living areas .. like a mountain hut.
The next hurdle we need to get over was how to actually use this new equipment we had and how to learn all the new techniques and methods described in the book. There were a small number of local courses that taught ski touring to skiers, which involved a lot of learning about mountains, and a little about skiing  ...  what we were after was ski touring for mountaineers where the emphasis was on surviving on skis in the mountains. Dave eventually found a UK guide based in Chamonix, who was newly venturing into this kind of territory - Brian Hall - the same person who would later find fame as the "off the ground" safety person for Gladiators, and then his big passion as camera man and mountain unit director for major films where climbing was involved.

So we booked a 3 day course with Brian - Introduction to ski touring for mountaineers, and we would make it up as we went along. the party would be Dave, myself and Steve.

We also booked an apartment on the outskirts of Chamonix, on the back road to Les Praz. When we got there we were lucky that it was not high season as the parking was minimal, but we were able to get close enough. For some reason I still have a memory of the dark corridor with a Dennis the Menace plastic cut-out on the door.

Eight people (Steve, Bryon, Nick, Sue, Chris, M-J, Dave, and myself) signed up for the trip so we went in two cars, Mine and Nick's. The others would ski when we were on the course and we would all go together on the remaining days.
Everyone (apart from Dave and myself) had to get gear, with Steve getting specialist ski touring skis - when you know what to ask for, and it is in the Mecca of Chamonix is much easier than we had imagined.

Trip Time Line

	|
	|	Arrive Chamonix
Les Houches	|
	|	Flegere
Tete de Balme	|
	|	Glacier d'Argentiere
Vallee Blanche	|
	|	Grands Montets
Brevant	|
	|	Go Home

After 6 days skiing, and three of those completely exhausting ... we had a fun night on the town involving fondu and wine... before we headed home.

Beachy Head, South Downs

Several from the climbing club decided to g fro a long walk along the South Downs, starting off at Beachy Head, dropping over to Birling gap and over the Seven Sisters before cutting back to pick up the cars.

Beachy Head was busy and blustery, but then we left the crowds behind.

Birling Gap ... time for a cuppa, and also for Dave to secrete several rocks into Bryon's rucksac, so he carried extra weight over the seven sisters, before finding out.

On the way Alan had a play on the limestone... there was talk of some coming back another weekend with ice tools, but I have always been against this due to the destruction it causes. They did come back but went nearer to Dover.