An early start this morning, with our french guide, Christof picking us up at Le Refuge at 7.30am for our first ski tour adventure of the week - The Vallee Blanche.
Along the way we picked up the perennially young Stewart Poon. Stewart, is a former guest of Te Wanaka Lodge and a regular visitor to Wanaka for heliskiing each year. We had met up with Stewart in Hong Kong, on our way to Europe. He went out of his way to show us a special day in his buzzing home town. He is such a delightful man and we thoroughly enjoy his company.
Stewart had been heliskiing with friends in Italy the week previously and he had organised to meet us in Chamonix before continuing his heli-ski extravaganza in Switzerland. He confessed to us that he had already skiied the Vallee Blanche 2 days before, from the Italian side, as part of his heliskiing trip. But he was happy to go again with us.
We had asked Christof if we could do some ski touring and see a bit more of the Glace de Mer, rather than merely skiing the traditional route down the glacier. Stewart, although a very strong skier, had never used skins or touring skis before, so it was a new experience for him. Unlike his first trip, we left from Chamonix on the hair-raising telepherique to the Aiguille du Midi (3812m) and walked down the infamous snow arret. This part of the trip is probably best described by http://www.pistehors.com/ :
"Before you put your skis on, there is the famous arête from the cable car
station which needs to be negotiated. Judging by the number of deaths this is
probably the most dangerous section of the route, especially for those who will
follow the voie normale. People fall off this ridge and die each and every year.
On one side you basically end up somewhere near Chamonix 2000 meters below.
Although both faces have been skied it is around 40 degrees pitch so once you
slide it is goodnight Vienna."
1/ The busy "VB" Arret!
But to be honest, it was not that bad. Even for me, who really hates tracks with big exposures. Compared to the conditions when we visited the Aiguille du Midi on Christmas Eve, a good track had been cut into the north face of the arret and roped on both sides. Travelling down this route was much easier. There was only one breathtaking cliff on your left, rather than on both sides when you climb down on the ridge line. We were also ensconsced in a big queue of people who, like us were off to enjoy their Vallee Blanche adventure.
There is no question that the scenery on the Vallee Blanche is breathtaking! But the number of people is quite daunting. And today was a quiet day, according to both Christof and Stewart! The Vallee Blanche is not the solitary mountain experience that we usually enjoy when ski touring at Mt Cook - that's for sure!
Stewart coped well for his first time on touring skis! We joked that he had now begun his mountaineering career!! He responded, that at 60' something years of age he may have left his run a bit late!! But he did say that he enjoyed being able to have a good look around. With heliskiing, the mountain scenery tends to pass by in a blur of speed!
2/ Stewart the "mountaineer!"
Our itinery took us to the southern edge of the glacier rim for a lunch stop on the Col d'Entreves at 3527m. We were spoiled with a cloudless sky but more importantly there was no wind - a rare event at this altitude. You could see the Matterhorn to the east and the Courmayeur Ski Resort stretched out far below us.
A flock of the pretty little Choagh watched and waited for the humans to depart their high altitude home. Through experience they have learnt that humans are messy eaters and there is sure to be plenty of crumbs and leftovers to enjoy. What a contrast to our our bolshy NZ Kea's whose general modus operandii is to take a daring swoop at a sandwich or launch an attack on an unprotected ruck sack!
After lunch, with no other person behind or in front of us, we began our long run home down the Glace de Mer! Christof even found us some pockets of nice powder in which to leave our tracks. No mean feat as it has not snowed in Chamonix for nearly 10 days now.
For the run home...see Part 2!!
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