After yesterday’s aborted mission on the Glacier Rond we figured if we wanted to ski a steep line a better option would be to head over to the Italian side which is the South Face of the massif, and basking in sunshine we were anticipating being presented with some lovely corn snow.
So after heading through the tunnel, we jumped in line and bought tickets for the soon-to-be-replaced cable car. While we were waiting for our allotted time we jumped into the cafe for a coffee, a must when in Italy, and we were not disappointed. I had been drinking shit coffee for almost a month and I was over it, but the Italians delivered in spades, and with that I was ready to face the day.
Due to it being a weekend the time spent lining up and waiting for our allotted cabin meant we were later up than we were hoping which struck a line through one particular route, but as it happened we were not to be disappointed. We jumped on the series of three cable cars to the magnificent Punta Helbronner where I proceeded to yet again take dozens of photos of peaks that I already have dozens of photos of. But it’s just so beautiful up there that I couldn’t help myself.
We then set off to the skier’s left as if we were skiing the Glacier de Toule which we have done several times previously. But in this case we would be skiing further to reach the Col d’Entreves, which afforded us a short section of lovely powder before we fixed our skins.
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[…] yesterday’s successful mission on the Italian side skiing the Aiguille d’Entreves we concluded that if the weather remained the same our best chance of skiing some steeps was in a […]
I only learned to ski 5 years ago in Chamonix but am totally hooked. I try to go back to Chamonix as often as I can afford (like tomorrow!) and am just dabbling in off piste terrain now. I love your blog and your pictures in particular – very inspirational!