Ski Mountaineering

Wow what an ace trip me and Alex had. Last year we ski toured the Haute Route as our second trip without a guide and the trip went really well, lots of bad weather and challenging navigation and some superb skiing as we took a variation a little higher and longer than the "normal" route. But the weather caught up with us on the last day and we got stormed off at the Vignettes Hut with only one long day left to go to Zermatt. So we abandoned and ski'd the powder down to Arolla. So this year we needed to finish off last years goal and find a new one - i had been hatching a plan to climb Mont Blanc and ski off it - the plan was now a goal.

We got up early in Chamonix and drove over to Switzerland, dropping the car off at Visp and catching a bus up to Arolla, we then sunk a strong coffee and started uphill - a lot of uphill and eventually through searing sun we made it to the Vignettes Hut at 3100m (or just above!). Bit of a gamble as coming from sea level up to 3000m to sleep in 24 hours is not usual! We actually felt fine and we drank wine and slept really well. next day the start was an early 6am start as it was a long day with avalanche risk and three big cols to go over. We powered up the first one, overtook a few groups (bit strange as they were acclimatised and we definitely weren't - but maybe they were knackered after a week of skiing!), the views were excellent, the sun was out, it was t-shirt weather and it was great. next 3000m col was under the belt and we still felt good on the steep climbs but by the time we got to the last one (about half way up it at about 3200m) Alex suddenly turned round and said - you've slowed down - umm - yes I feel like shite - she did too - groups passed us again and we plodded on to the col at 3500m, took a picture with the Matterhorn in the background and shot off for lower climes!!! The downhill was long and we passed slopes prone to avalanche as quickly as we could as the temperatures just got hotter and hotter, the snow turned to deep slush and and twisty turny trees and eventually we hit a track that took us to our wine in a bar - we had finally finished the Haute Route - it took us a year not a week! Next day we climbed up the Breithorn (4165m) feeling a little slow with hurty feet but the sun was out and the ski off was great - bits of hard pack icy stuff, snow crystals, powder, spring snow and slush - excellent fun.

Next we went back to Chamonix for a good nights sleep and a look at the forcast, the weather was settled for the next two days, so we set off up to the Cosmique Hut near the Aguille du Midi lift at 3613m for an acclimatisation night.

We met a bloke who was gonna climb a

big gully the nex

t day then climb Mont Blanc

solo the next day, we were gonna ski Valley Blanche in the morning then back to Cosmique Hut and up Mon

t Blanc the same day as him, so we joined up and attached a plan to go together. Alex and I watched a big rescue going on near the hut on our route over breaky, bit scary (ok a lot scarey), but we had a good look at the route through the seracs with the bino's and gulped and set off down valley Blanche about an hour too early - it was

bolier plate re frozen crud and slush - umm how pleasant - the last little bit became nice to ski so we should have waited a bit for the snow to soften - oh well - it was good for our combat skiing!

Down into Chamonix for lunch and a shower (luxury!) and back late afternoon for the Cosmique Hut again, we met up with Nick at the lift station. The hut was crowded and we opted for the 1am breaky - god - how was I gonna get up for that - simples - I hardly slept - Alex and I were in the top tier of the 3 layer bunk room - it was like an ice climb just getting up there and people faffed, used their mobiles and snored all night - so i was wide awake and raring to go by 1am. breaky was yummy home made bread, the weather was quite warm and the uphill started. We roped up when we got near the seracs where the rescue had been and found a way through

the blocks, powered on up the next skiing slope to another crampon bit as the sun came up at the start of the Col du Mont Maudi section (there is a fixed rope here for the skiers to come down so you can tell how steep it felt!) we were loving it, feeling good and enjoyin

g the climb. we topped out over the col and saw the rest of the route, blimey that looked a long way and it took forever - i was rather knackered and had no oxygen and went quiet - unusual for me - bet the other two were quietly pleased with that result! Another few hours on we crouched just below the summit to put some more kit on and then piled on over the gently rise to the summit ridge - superb - we'd done it, we had fantastic views and an awful lot of people to climb around - it was like the M1 on a bank holiday!!! We texted all the important people and set off in crampons down North Ridge - we were doing a traverse of Mont Blanc so not going down the same way we came up. We got to the Vallot Hut about an hour later and had alot of chocolate, a rest and ut our ski's on for the downhill. Superb snow through scary seracs, blocks the size of houses or hotel ready to tumble and crevasses with bridges that looked a little unstable - we went through some new avalanche debris from 2 weeks ago (we had surveyed this online and seen photos so knew we had to get through it quickly), the bridges were very weak over the crevasses and holes between the blocks so we pushed on and forgot the camera for a bit. Then came a few more climbs as it was re-routed due to the debris and suddenly after 11 and a half hours we were back at the half way station of the Aguilles du Midi lift, we quickly found the café and got the drinks in to celebrate – we had climbed Mont Blanc, ski’d Mont Blanc and were safely back down the hill. Did you know that the record for climbing Mont Blanc is set by a runner at 5 hours 14 minutes and 10secs and it si done from the middle of Chamonix! – Bloomin impossible!

We spent that evening having bubbly, the next evening having bubbly and the next evening having wine! Excellent - oh year and we did a bit of rock climbing and some walking and some running, the weather turned pants so we came home early having achieved all our goals!