skykilo

Trip: Les Hautes-Alpes - Cherchez Les Pentes Raides, Vol. I Date: 4/1/2008 Trip Report: Having made three research trips to Finland over the years, this time I had to seize the opportunity to ski the Alps. Sixteen days, sometimes spending sixteen hours in the lab, north of 60 degrees lattitude with a stressed-out must-succeed attitude, I was ready for release. They were having a late winter in Finland throughout my sojourn. In a fitting ending, the morning I left Jyväskylä, I walked to the train station through a blustery snow storm in which I had to don all my ski gear, including goggles. Here I am waiting at the train station. I often felt more uncomfortable and disoriented on my trip through Europe carrying all my crap than I do atop a steep, exposed slope with my skis. Due to a lack of infinite travel funds and procrastinated planning, my itinerary to Geneva was Jyväskylä -> Tampere -> Frankfurt -> Mainz -> Geneva via Train -> bus -> plane -> bus -> train^3 I was very happy to see Ryan at train city in Geneva after a frustrating hour with the telephones. His rippin' Scottish ski buddy Jim drove directly to the station for the Aguille du Midi. Finally, time to get high. I was ecstatic to ski powder after three weeks, so much so that I immediately headered twice from the Col du Plan. Ryan and I formulated a low-cash, no-class Washington scrapper strategy to ski the Aiguille d'Argentière the next day, starting from Argentière at 4 am. I must admit that we forfeited our style points by stopping au Refuge d'Argentière for some eau gazeuse and cookies. Mont Blanc and Chamonix for scale and scope L'Aiguille d'Argentière from the top of Les Grands Montets Ryan skins up the Argentière Glacier so early in the morning. Dave skins up Glacier du Milieu with La Verte(!) in the background. We were going to ski the Barbey Couloir, but the weather went to shit, so we skied the classic route that we'd just climbed. Ryan skis Milieu. Drew skis Milieu. That was a can-crushing (dénivelé de 2650 m!) day that made us all feel great. We took a good night's sleep, bought food and liquor, took the tram up Grands Montets, then headed to the Argentière hut to facilitate an early start. Next up: Les Courtes, one of the most classic ski lines in the universe. Les Courtes - 1300 m of orgasmic glory. Thanks to Damian for the photo. See his website at http://steepdeepjapan.com Ryan looks like a kid with candy. Wonder why? Nearin the top of Les Courtes. We were early in the season and the glacier ice high on the face wasn't covered. We took a slightly steeper finish with a thin coating of powder over rocks. Drew in the place to be Let's get this party started? I proclaimed the edge-worthiness of the icy snow below the veneer of powder, so I was the first to demonstrate. Sidestepped the first bit off the top because of lurking rocks. skykilo, sultan of sidesteps We all survived the landmine-infested top bit. Drew starts the party. March 30 is quite early for Les Courtes, so we suffered on the top bit. But then we got to ski more than 1 000 m of the most incredible steep powder that hardly sluffed. Dave demonstrates. Get it, Dave. Now for an interlude to admire La Verte. We scored big. Satisfied, Ryan and I were discussing mellow plans for the last day; then we saw a good forecast. So we reoriented ourselves for something sicker: Couloir Ouest on Aiguille du Chardonnet. Too bad, not only was the delicate traverse to get to the top 250 m too scary sans corde (we didn't take any rope or avy gear on this one), but the summit shot wasn't in skiing condition either. Sky, still stoked. Powder makes a good consolation prize. We enjoyed great turns on our descent to the Argentière Glacier. Ryan revels. Through the squeeze to the hanging glacier Glutton Next: Grenoble and La Grave. Gear Notes: Hate it. Approach Notes: Télépheriques rock.

Yeah, wasn't that a huge wet slide I cut below the false summit? Good thing I knew it was coming....

Trip: Mt Stuart - Ice Cliff Glacier Date: 4/12/2008 Trip Report: After a bus to and a high-speed train from Grenoble, a lovely evening in Paris, a two-hour flight to Amsterdam, a five-hour wait in Amsterdam created by flight delay, and an eleven-hour flight to Seattle, Ryan was nice enough to nab me from SEATAC Friday evening circa seven. Four hours after leaving me at home, most of which I spent drinking Génépi liquor and raving to my roommates about France and Les Hautes-Alpes, he reappeared with his new kick-ass ski buddy Monika and they were ready to go to Leavenworth. There was a bit of discussion about what route to ski. Colchuck Peak's NBC was mentioned, but I thought that a hot day and early sun would guarantee a death slurpee there. We needed to get high and find shelter. I knew just the line for the job: Ice Cliff Glacier: so protected, so high, so steep, so lovely. What better way to cure jet lag than a long approach after a short nap? Ryan skis toward Mt Stuart after a pleasant ~12 km approach from Icicle Creek Road. Mt Stuart: the Ice Cliff Glacier and its couloir are hiding in the shadows to the left of the summit and false summit We had some fun playing on the blue ice of the glacier... Monika enjoys some ice - we didn't have to climb this, but it was good to avoid exposure below a menacing serac. This chunk of ice required a small amount of air time on the descent. When Casey and I skied the couloir two years ago, it took a good edge, but it was none too soft. This time we found chunky pow that made for some wickedly fun steep skiing. Monika and Ryan get at the cornice, while I offer them a rope between kicking snow onto them and taking pictures. Monika and Ryan approach the true summit. Monika is a ripper; she's so good that she levitates over vertical rocks on her skis. La trace raconte l'histoire... No, actually, she was on rappel, as Ryan is here. He was just holding her rope. He didn't hold my rope. Jerk. The snow was incredible. Ryan finds his groove. Wonderful steep turns down the whole couloir! In case you can't tell, Monika is shredding the steeps. Ryan enjoys his turn on the same. Ice cliff bulge from above... ...and from below. This route is definitely a steep skiing classic. The Stuart Range is holding a ton of snow this spring. Everybody go bag some lines! Triple Culos? I have lots of material from the Alps; so much that it's overwhelming. Coming soon... after I do some work. Gear Notes: Carried and used 1 metric shit-tonne of gear; it was heavy. Approach Notes: The Cascades kicked my ass after sipping expressos in the Alps. Sky and Ryan au Refuge d'Argentière two weeks ago. We're here; we're there; we ski steeps everywhere.

Very true that glacier routes can evolve from easy to impossible on their own. That's part of the fun of the game. I'd also be interested to hear what else your boss skied.

Great TR, Ryan. La Grave is very special, too.

You mean with a 7 k' climb? That's not easy (comparatively). Let's quit being apologists. We f'n slay hard in Washington. Nevermind the ski, pas de télépherique, no helis, go get it son. I don't doubt that your boss could've done it, but who is he and what else did he do? Your post demands more information. Merci beaucoup, ton ami à La Grave, Skykilo

I've made a voodoo doll dressed like a precision low-energy nuclear physics experiment in your honor. First, I exported it to the other side of the world north of the 62nd parallel and now I'm killing it. Nice pics.

Here's a thread on TGR that includes some young powshredders: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115065 Hope you all enjoy.

I'm very jealous. Nothing ever makes me feel better about missing any epic Cascades skiing, Jason. Great work d00dz.

If you want it, the skiing is good year-round. Of course there are other distractions available....

Thanks for the additional info, everyone. It's always good to ruminate on the relevant particulars.

DEATH TO THE SCROLLBAR!

Some of my shots:

Jason's version of the same:

So it sounds like a hard windslab. Can we please get some specifics like elevation/aspect? If I were smarter maybe I could interpret matosan's very specific-sounding number.... Glad you're all right.

Are you f'ing serious? Just go skiing! (You won't be finding any brush unless you really look for it. The snowpack has consolidated but it's still deep.)

Nice pics and great tour. Hitting the summit of Kaleetan is definitely proper style; I love that shot off the top.

Good luck, man.

Quality fun.

Who wants to go skiing?

This TR makes me want to go see the Price Glacier firsthand again. It's such an awesome display of steep glacier ice - like a raging four-thousand-foot frozen waterfall.

Sweet pics and touching prose. Is this Broken Top? Looks like a killer face.

I remember lots of snow over rock. Maybe not too much protection unless you spend significant time scratching through the snow. It seemed reasonable to climb unroped to me. Steep and exposed does come to mind...

Glad you got it. Love that line. Post your zoom shot of the slab in your Alaska photo! I know you have it. And you skied the Southeast Face.

What blows my mind is how many people I see skiing on clown shoes and looking like shit. If they make it easier, shouldn't the people on them look like they're skiing well?