 Poster: A snowHead
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Had a good day at Courmayeur. Not as snowy as cham but better vis. On piste was quickly scraped to the hard pack but the off was good, with 20-30 over hard snow sometimes mogules. Did the op from Arp which was in good nick. It's 5pm and lamping down here 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Taconaz 5pm.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Looks like tomorrow could be another bonanza if this snow keeps up, shame I'm on the bus by mid morning.
jbob, Touchguru, Idris & anyone else - enjoy!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Brevent and Flegere weren't too bad. We decided to go there as we've done Grands Montets every day this month (due to B/F turning to slush early on) and wanted a change! Brevent only had Cornu open from the top as there was a high risk of avalanches on Charlanon  We did the bottom of Charlanon before we left and as it was closed and completely untracked the powder went up to the waist in places! We headed to Flegere and, again, Lachenal, Crochues and Floria were all closed due to avalanche risk. Did Pylones a few times going different routes off-piste and the powder was knee deep but hard-packed underneath.
Will do the same again tomorrow, hopefully more pistes are open, then we'll head to GM and Le Tour later in the week when the off-piste will hopefully have improved further.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Yo,
What's the general condition of exit of the Pas de Chevre onto the Mer de Glace at this time of year? I know it has been totally humped for most of March, but can the sort of snow we're getting now fill it back in sufficiently? I'm on my first season here so some local knowledge would be useful
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Fergus, NO not unless we get a lot more snow. Yes people will ski it today. But unless you really know what you are doing avoid it. There have been a couple of deaths there this year, please don't add yourself to the statistics!
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Idris, The rock fall wouldn't have mattered if you knew what you were doing or not would it? That was pure bad luck. But agree, if you don't know the right exits then stay away. Or get a guide. HOWEVER in Chamonix this season all deaths I've seen reported also had guides. Its a dangerous place and that stats prove that. I've often thought that guide, or not a guide, then after a snowfall like this you are playing roulette on the terrain from the Midi as no one knows what snow bridges have collapsed until they see one, or fall into one.
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| Alex A wrote: |
| That was pure bad luck. |
yes, but also a big timing mistake, doing PdC late in a hot afternoon is asking for trouble.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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OliC, Yes, very true. But again they were with guides !!!
"Late Friday afternoon a group of nine Swiss skiers and two accompanying Swiss guides were skiing the Pas de Chevre route off the Grands Montets, when a block of rock broke away from the mountain and hit two of skiers in the group."
I've got to admit I've very little trust in some of the guides in Chamonix.. there are so many of them. I've experienced one, booked via Evo2, who clearly wasn't up to the job. He could hardly ski. We did the Glacier Rond (on his advice after doing the Envers in the morning) and it was super sketchy. No way we should have been there and he wanted me to ski first down the main pitch... which I did as he was a complete muppet. Scary even..
Alex
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Great few hours this afternoon in Le Tour in between clouds. A friend has also reported that Flegere had a lot of great stuff untracked when the vis was usable, and not too busy.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Le Tour was class today, loads of untracked powder everywhere and it cleared up a bit too!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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+1 Le tour
pow!
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+2
pow!
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You know it makes sense.
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Deep day on the Midi
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Alex A wrote: |
OliC, Yes, very true. But again they were with guides !!!
"Late Friday afternoon a group of nine Swiss skiers and two accompanying Swiss guides were skiing the Pas de Chevre route off the Grands Montets, when a block of rock broke away from the mountain and hit two of skiers in the group."
Alex |
Wtf were they thinking? There was next to no snow on the moraine 2 weeks ago and that was before the high temps of last week.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. Ended up getting first bin up the Plan de l'Aiguille and doing a lap off the mid-station. Was super deep up top but bad vis and we decided it wasn't worth another lap. Headed up to Brevent and did laps of Cornu and Charlanon - probably one of the deepest days of the season!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'm out at Argentiere on Saturday, doing one of the off piste courses with UCPA - hoping for the nice conditions to continue!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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kat.ryb, I#m hoping it holds up too, as I have to pop back to Geneva for a couple of days, so can't ski again until Friday!
Bumped into a couple of UCPA offpiste groups today - doing some bootpacking up to Tete de Balme and other stuff about the place. Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun, hopefully you'll have a great time with them.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Glacier Rond - Top pitch was ice on the main face for about 400m.  Side slipped down skiers' left, bricking it on my wide skis (190cm and 127mm waist), so didn't make to many turns! Then traversed the main face on a rope to some knee deep powder skiers' right and then back over to the exit couloir. Some funky rock hoping and side slipping. The exit couloir was tracked but still great fun, lots of powder. Great snow down to the tunnel but you can feel the firm underbelly in every turn lower down though.
Fun morning, a touch sketchy at the start but lovely powder after that. Would love to ski it when theres more snow stuck to the main face.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Buddy1664 wrote: |
| my wide skis (190cm and 127mm waist) |
But I bet you looked cool in the gondola!
I watched people coming down the Para face late yesterday afternoon. It looked stunning, hope you got some nice turns too!
Today we broke trail in the moyenne mountains and got first tracks down the classic Crochues Berard Traverse which was in superb condition. The track out of the valley was very fast too!
Hopefully it stays cold the next few days and the Aig Rouges could stay in condition for a little bit longer.
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OliC,
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But I bet you looked cool in the gondola!
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Far from it, too busy trying to stop someones axe going up my back bottom as we were crammed in like Jap commuters.
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Skied the Cosmiques for the first time yesterday. wow.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Fergus, cool ! Pictures, or it didn't happen  !
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Sounds like you are all having a good week! 
Cheers fixx, really looking forward to a week in the mountains, whatever the snow.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Entry rappel of ~30m
GoPro ran out of memory straight after the rappel
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Fergus, what was the snow like and was it busy?
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We did it quite late (probably too late) in the day so we were the only 2 on the route. Weather was questionable too with some hanging cloud, but we reckoned enough vis. Snow was great, all chopped but alot of nice stable snow. Only freshies were down off the glacier beside the old mid-station which was lovely
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You know it makes sense.
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Good effort... always wanted to do it, but when I've planned it never worked out
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Good one Fergus
Skinned up south east face of Tete De Balme from top of the Autannes chair this morning and then down Bonshommes along the river track. Good snow off the top and tracked out from midway to the bottom of Belle Place.
Then went across to Combe de Vormaine with some great snow on entry on the one west facing couloir but got a bit icy halfway down before opening up into a combination of 20cm of fresh on ice and variable crud and sluff debris before the run down to Le Tour in spring slush and corn.
Heading up ADM tomorrow and haven't 100% decided on the route yet but might skin up to the Aiguille de Toule or Pointe Helbronner.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone done the col de passion this week and knows what the bottom is like?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PS the Midi cable car was broken this morning.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Anyone doing VB soon with a private guide and want to split the costs? I'd rather have a guide between 2-4 rather than sign up to a group one with 8 or so people in!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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jbob, I got up to the top of ADM on number 14 bin around 9:45am and it looked like it was struggling to settle and they had to prise the doors open. Thought that it may cause an issue. How long was it down for?
Came down the classic route with a sharp left around Gros Rognon where there were still some really good turns to be had.
Skinned up to skiers left below the bottom of the Glacier de la Noire about 35 minutes and had some great snow (if a short run) down to the run out to la Salle a Manger.
Weather was amazing!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Touchguru, not sure how long it was down for, but there were a lot of post VB drinking going on around Montenvers at five.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| jbob wrote: |
| Touchguru, ...but there were a lot of post VB drinking going on around Montenvers at five. |
Excellent!  Left on the 2:30pm train down, after a couple myself.
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Touchguru, I meant at the bottom station not the hotel. I ended up at GM where idris seemed to have a large fleet of skis?
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Someone was asking about the pas de chèvre, I counted only 8 sets of tracks going down it (none mine) since it snowed last which was last weekend. I guess it's not getting done much for a reason. I had a minor epic last year in the exit gullies, when I went down the wrong one following tracks (I know) ended up donating a rope, which quite a few others slid down over a large boulder, they did say thank you.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Very pleasant few hours up GMs. Fairly well formed bumps of chalky snow skiers right of Herse don't go under the cliffs, nicer with a gentler route wiggled around a bit until Bochard wasn't a zoo and skipped down Lavancher. Chalky at top, getting nicely springlike lowe down. Pierre a Ric quiet (!) and really rather pleasant as we headed downi around 14h30 for chores.
Nb, rabbit run to crem d l gcacier is a rock field about 10m in. If I had not oerfected my hovercraft turns, I might have had an embarrassing moment.
On good authority I have it that the Aiguille was a bear garden this morning.
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FAQ
), so chilling in the sunshine 