After our trip down this famous run last year with Brian Hall, all the other guys were green with envy, so Dave and I determined we would take them down this year, provided we had some good conditions. Given that everyone was experienced in the mountains and had several years summer alpine experience, the problem was going to be skiing technique rather than understanding of the potential dangers. Dave and I were only one step ahead of them and so would need to be sharp and on the ball down the whole trip.
We followed much the same routine as the year before and everyone had full crevasse gear, and we shared ropes around. we also all had crampons to assist with the exit from the top station. Although this year the trail was much more defined and there was even a safety rope to assist. This was a double edged sword ... how do you cope with, skis, poles and ice ax, as well as holding the rope ... or as I preferred, just make your own way down.
At the first col, we geared up ready for the descent ... but only after everyone had warmed up in the sun and taken a bunch of photos - the day was stunning and the early morning mist in the valley was magical.
Dave lead off and I brought up the rear, reining in all the stragglers .. the first slopes caused no issues at all and we were soon down into the main valley under the East face of Mont Blanc du Tacul.
From here we eased down the fairly gentle top slopes, while everyone admired the peaks on the southern side, and at the same time several of the party were pointing out where they had been on previous summers .. everything looking slightly different.
As we neared the first serac zone and steeper area the crevasses and dangers became more apparent, and the tension grew a little.
No real panics and we were past the main obstacles and soon cruising to the Requin Hut for a brief rest and some food.. It was still early - shortly after 9am but we felt as if we had been going for hours.
Leaving the hut behind we dropped down onto the plateau where the valley turns back north .. a large flat area where the biggest difficulty is to keep momentum and not catch an edge, all the while staying on the track to minimise the crevasse danger.
Before long we were on the last stretch and looking up at the Pas De Chevre descent from Grands Montets .. still a dream for future days.
We still needed to keep vigilant and as the legs grew tired after the long days, we had a few "tumbles" but thankfully all were minor and nothing to cause the heart rate to climb.
As we got to the Montenvers cable lift used for tourists to get down to the glacier and see the ice caves - unfortunately closed - we realised that there was not enough snow cover to repeat the descent all the way to Chamonix as we had the previous year, but we had to take off the Skis and walk up 150m ascent to the Montenvers railway station.
We waited with all the others in the same position to buy a ticket and then for the next train - not long, and we were soon all sat in a cafe by the terminus in Chamonix all having a coffee and reflecting on another great day in the mountains.
As we got nearer the glacier we could identify a number of lower routes, but right at the top end was a very striking looking route ... this rapidly became the target for Dave and myself. So while the others went off to play on the lower, single pitch, falls, Dave and I prepared to tackle this monster ... looked like 3 pitches.
Dave made up for it by blitzing all the lower routes solo, while I sat around feeling sorry for myself. As the sun started to set and the chill came in we returned to the cars.
Looking down the valley from the apartment, or from anywhere in the valley there is a prominent peak that seems to catch the sun. This we found out was called Mont Jolie. Looking for some where else to explore we had begun to look at places outside the Chamonix valley, and Les Contamines looked like a good place to go, just down the valley to Saint Gervais and turn up the valley road. at the end of this is the little resort of Les Contamines.
We did several runs on the piste to explore the resort and also to wait for the sun to warm up the snow.
We took this drag up to the ridge line, and dropped down to the next col, where we paused to put on our skins. This gave us a great view up the ridge, and the summit in the distance.
The ridge line was not technically difficult, and there were a number of tracks to help. The ridge was a classic with a number of bumps and troughs.
Back the way we came was more serene.
By this year we were becoming more proficient on the piste and parallel turns were now our main form of turning, rather than the stem turn, however when the going got difficult then inevitably we would revert to the stem turn, and when it got heavy then the snow plough turn would be brought out of the locker.
To get better at this then we needed to practice, especially with a ruck sac on. To this end our days on the slopes had changed from working mainly on the piste with an occasional venture into the "unprepared" areas, and had become a series of routes from the top to the bottom using as little of the piste as possible.
Le Tour was great for this with big open slopes, with a number of "obstacles" but especially a number of gulleys fantastically graded from simple to difficult.
Almost 2 months to the day after the New Year trip we were going back out again. We had rented an apartment at Montroc, near Le Tour, and again we packed everyone in hut style.