Orelle, France

We had tried to spend the night in the fort at Aussois, however it was completely full and w ehad to find alternative accommodation...   We settled for an auberge in Termingnon.

The weather was for heat, sun and more heat ...  this is not exactly what we were looking for, and the big slide kept coming back to me, as the longer it went on the more unstable things would get.

We decided to go to Orelle - the Maurienne side of Val Torens and spend the day skiing before deciding what to do next.

Taking the bubble lift up to the mid station, which was the hub to continue up to the val Torens side as well as up the valley on this side.

With the sun on this side it made sense to stay here and take this side route. We were not alone in this decision and we followed a lot of people. At the top it was still very cold and we soon had additional layers on.

Just around the corner from the top station, the piste dropped very steeply, and there was a large group milling around at the top ... below the slope was littered with bodies and equipment. The general skier was struggling on a sheet of ice. Bryon and I pointed the tips straight down and went for it, before looking back up at several others following the same technique.

We took the ski lift up to the col
to have a look over at Val Torrens which was exceedingly bare, kept alive by snow making.

From here we dropped down a couple of runs to the town itself, but very quickly realised it was not for us.

We abandoned the mass of bodies for the higher mountains again working our way back up to the col via an area called "the glacier de Peclet".

From here the skiing went from ridiculous to sublime and back again. the initial part was as icy as the first run, and then we dropped into the main bowl and everything got better until it got too soft and slushy.

Going back down the Orelle side was soft and hard work, it was only just after noon and the day was over.

We headed down on the bubble lift and sat in a cafe while we discussed our options.

Looking at the weather, it was set fair for the next week and more, the day had proved we need to be complete before noon at the latest if not earlier, which limited the routes we could do. None of the ideas we started with would be options, and after this weekend the ski resorts would be closed, limiting that option too.

This was our last tour this year, and we headed back, the first time we had ever been defeated by something other than bad weather.

Bonneval descent, France

Last night my feet were in a terrible state, my boots were rubbing just below the ankles. this was something that had been getting worse over the years and also not helped by long sessions of very flat skinning - as we had on the approach day. I was also feeling tired after three very hard days, and
Along with this, I had discovered that I had brought lots of left eye contact lenses, but had not enough ones for the  right eye - not a disaster, but would affect my vision.
We decided that with the weather unrelenting on top of the other issues we would not go for the continuation over the selle d'Alberon, but drop back down to Bonneville.

Hindsight would show we should have stuck out with a rest day, but unsure of the weather and out of signal.

So a lie in, followed by a late breakfast, and slowly got ready for the descent, waiting for the snow to soften up. In the meantime I took some panorama pictures of the sun rise

The route down, involved a walk (or skin) over to the col, beyond the hut.

The walk over raised the temperature inside our shells, and stretched all the muscles.

At the col we paused to put the skis on and checked out the route. It was supposed to drop down a little then dog leg out to the west before coming back.

There were ski tracks everywhere and we picked up some heading left after while these headed back right.  Without thinking too hard, we assumed this had been the dog leg ...  not correct.

We dropped down too far and could not get back left. This meant we dropped straight down, and had to negotiate through some rocks and scrub, but as we were early in the day it was sufficiently bonded to allows us to get down without too much issue.

The run back to Bonneville was back down the track we had come up on the first day, avoiding the walkers going in the other direction. The road pops out in the village at the lift, and a small walk up the other side of the river lead us back to the car park.

As we packed everything into the car, looking back up to the traverse from yesterday, we could see a massive fall over the traverse line

Heading off for a coffee and some thing to eat we could look back up the valley to see where we had been before retreating back up the valley.

Traverse to Evettes refuge, France

We got up early as today was going to be a very long day .. we had learned over the last two days that the snow pack became very soft in the afternoon and the risk of big avalanches was very high. So we aimed to be skiing down to the Evettes refuge, if not already at it by noon.  This would be a tall order and we would need top push all day.

Yesterday was a big step up on our fitness for this trip, but this would take it even further.

We dropped down to the lakes from the hut and put the skins on ...  this would be a repeat of the first part of the day before, up to the col, following the obvious lines - this time in the dark. It just started to get light as we reached this point.

From the col it was down into the next valley..  as this slope got a lot of sun it was a maze to pick out the previous tracks on hard icy snow. We first traversed left then zigzaged our way down to the glacier below.

Once on the glacier we started to follow the tracks, we needed to descend a little then cross over to the other side. However we went a bit too far down and had to put the skins on early and make our way back up to the bottom of the slope, luckily it was not too far.

The sun was now playing on our side of the glacier and was inching to the track. We could see that the slopes had slide tow or three times over the previous few days and were anxious to get up it before the sun came across properly.

The route went initially from left to right then back across to a false summit before heading on to the ridge line. We hit the steep section, which was quite sugary at the same time as the sun. It was unnerving to see the slides underneath us.

It was a great relief to get past the gullies that were the sources of all the slides and make it to the false summit. We paused for a while and took in the view back tot he route down the other side.

From here the gradient got a little easier, as we worked our way up to the ridge line. On the skyline you can make out the party in front of us .. we had been following them for two days and this was the closest we would come them.

Reaching the ridge line was a relief .. this meant we were now just a traverse away from the descent ...  the traverse looked reasonable, just a long, long way.

The traverse started with a slight descent, before a gradual climb across to the col Grand Mean.

The route across was hot and got hotter .. the full glare of the sun was on us all the way over, and we constantly looked at the slopes above and hoped we were early enough ...  looking back from the valley when we got down later in the week there had been a massive slide across the tracks...

At the col we were exhausted, but elated to have made it within our target time. the party in front had detoured up one of the little peaks at the head of the glacier, but we did not have time and prepared for the descent.

The initial descent was down onto the glacier proper, before cutting over tot he other side before it diverged into two different tracks. We headed over to the left hand one and dropped over the edge. The skiing was brilliant, a slight softness to the surface with a firm base.

Cutting down a couple of steep, exceedingly pleasant gullies, we headed down towards the flatness in the bottom of this hanging valley.

From here we crossed the mainly flat section to the lip that overlooked the valley down to Bonneville, before the final effort up to the hut ... these last sections always suck the last remaining energy out of you.

The hut was a welcome place indeed, and i was in desperate need to look after my feet ... I was severely blistered, and knew I would need time to repair them. The hut was like a prefab ...  but really cosy and welcoming. Because of the state of the snow we had arrived in time for lunch, so rosti all round washed down with a small beer.

Fantastic.

Levanna Occidentale, France

The day was promising again ...  we set out early. the sun wa just rising on the peaks behind the hut.

Ahead of us on the other side of the bowl was the target...  a prominent summit over looking the hut, with an obvious route ... up to the col then read left up the ridge and back to the summit.

Most of the ascent to the col we did in the half light before the sun came up, following the tracks.

As we came to the col the sun was just breaking over the hills around, we were not doing bad for the first high route of the tour, but a little behind the book time.

We were caught here by a strong party we would share the next few days with, but it did show us we were on the right path.

The route from here went up the face to below a rock band before cutting back right to ridge.

We both had to pause for a while to fit our crampons on where the surface was wind blown and very icy.

Once on  the ride it became  little easier, and we followed this up to a little point below the final slope to the summit.

Here we left the skis and continued on foot, up to the summit and the Cross.

After the obligatory photos on the summit we made our way back to the ski depot, and had a quick bite to eat.

The descend started off on the same way as the route up, and back to the col. It was a little tricky on the windblown slabs, however once back at the col we saw that the other party had stayed high and traversed around to the slopes above the frozen lakes by the hut.

Soon we were really please d to have followed them as we dropped down some most excellent slopes down to the lakes. This was some really good steep(ish) descents.

Back at the hut we relaxed in the sun reflecting on a fantastic day.

Carro Refuge, France

The forecast for the next few days was for good clear days, however it was to start off overcast.. We would use the overcast day to get into position and then use the good days for the traverse. 

Loading the packs up and strapping the skis to our backs we worked our way up the footpath on the left of the valley.

After a while we could cross over to the road on the other side, and put the skis on.

The track gradually climbed up to a village only accessible in the summer, and then got really flat as it followed the river. Luckily the snow was packed on the road as it was very sparse all around.

As the valley bent around to the right there was a green slope heading into the clouds with a thin ribbon of snow leading up, before it ran out.

At this point M-J was having terrible trouble with her boots, and causing blisters. She and Chris turned around at this point and headed back.

Bryon and I continued on up the thin ribbon, this was the first real piece of ascent and we rapidly gained height.

Just below the cloud layer we ran out of snow, and had to head into the cloud blindly hoping it was in the right direction.

In the cloud we followed some tracks in the hope they were going in the right direction. The track cut up beside a stream, as we headed higher.

Above the next step we came out of the cloud into a brilliant blue sky and perfect weather.

There was another step to make before we reached the level of the hut and could finally relax that the very long approach was over.

We had started off at around 10 am and it was now pushing 4 pm ...  a very long day for us at the beginning of a trip when we were not really very fit.

The warden of the Caro hut was very pleasant and welcomed us, and understood that we were slightly depleted. He also said it was a common occurrence with the long walk in.