 Poster: A snowHead
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That famous American skier John F Kennedy once said "We do these things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard" and indeed just getting into then back out of the Combe de l'If is not easy. The couloir is rated 4.3/E2, E2 means that you fall, and you will probably just be injured. Great, a lingering death in a remote backwater of the Chartreuse rather than instant death. It brings to mind the case of a walker, off track in the woods above Le Tour, his body or rather his bleached skeleton found 3 years after a mayday call to the PGHGM, his bony fingers till clutching his mobile phone.
The first 50 meters of the couloir is a 50°, this flattens out to just 45° for the rest of the couloir. Of course what they don't tell you is that to reach the combe you have to ski the exposed NW couloir
 , E3 this time, you fall and you die a bit quicker. Yeah yeah, all this E1 - E4 stuff, invented by ski touring pioneer Voldia Shahshahani probably sounds like "l'enculage les mouches" as the French would say but the NW couloir is exposed, a 300 meter sheer drop on the right which is not immediately obvious from the photo. Still to understand Volodia's ski rating system you have to understand the man, Volodia, an American who has lived in Grenoble since 1951, was a member of the gauche prolétarienne, an extreme left wing maoïstes group where minute policy details had enormous significance, at least for the members. Think People's Front of Judea.
Say a little prayer before you ski
The couloir, from the top, doesn't look that hard
This year someone had broken the cornice earlier in the season and it is possible to down climb with crampons to a small ledge just under about 5 tonnes of unstable cornice. Nice.
Otherwise it is a rappel from a dead-man or a bouncy pine, here a skier opts for the bouncy pine. I preferred the downclimb but the rappel is probably safer. It is all very Blizzard of Aaahs.
From the ledge under the cornice, with a nice 1m40 of headroom, the couloir doesn't look steep, does the camera flatten things a bit?
maybe this view gives a better perspective?
 - from this page http://www.skitour.fr/sorties/charmant-som,46179.html
For my descent the conditions were excellent
after a slightly icy entrance which I sideslipped for a few meters there was 10cm of powder on a firm base
general view
the couloir leads into the ominously named "valley of shadows" very tolkienesque, from here it was a case of skiing down to the main road and hitching back up the hill to my car. Nice view waiting for a car to come by
these photos from a couple of weeks before show the cornice, the downclimb is on the left
this is about where I made my first turn
 - not keen on Jeroen's style here, still he did quite well in the Pierra Menta last week.
and this shot gives you more idea of scale
I was on my own so didn't have a "model" for perspective. It is what the French call a Couenne a Ski - a bacon rind. Not a major line like stuff in Cham but a nice confidential gnarly route that doesn't get skied every day.
Here is the route description: http://pistehors.com/la-combe-de-if.htm if you find yourselves in the Chartreuse.
and the trip report: http://pistehors.com/la-combe-de-if-route-2.htm
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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great stuff. love the photos.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Fantastic.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Agree lovely photos, but with norris here.
Glad you made it down davidof, buy i'm not very good with heights: that is the stuff of nightmares for me.
and i wonder where "hard" ends and "bonkers" starts,
But then i look at other areas of my life, and realise that its a matter of ability, confidence and courage.
We all do some pretty bonkers things at times.
We probably need to.
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Very nice 
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Rad!
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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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Great report, I'm also with norris,
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