Surprised to see no thread for this season unless I've dropped a clanger, though know KenX has been over a couple of times.
It's been 20 years since I first went to La Grave and last season even though I went over three times the lift remained closed for various reasons.
Yesterday was a change of plan rather than touring as LG had a better snowfall than here on the Thursday and I have some Scandi friends who are there for a couple of months so plan was to hook up with them.
First mistake was opting to go there on a sunny Friday as Friday is when many groups from here, Deux Alps and Alpe D'Huez go there as the "Grand Finale" to their various off piste weeks.
I've never seen it so busy I think we were in the queue for tickets and the lift for well over an hour and it was feckin freezin!
However you know that once up on the mountain people tend to disperse very quickly.
We eventually hooked up with my friends at P3 and did a descent off the glacier except that Ken and I were a little discombobulated with regards to the route finding, and then one of the Scandis tore off in front of us but we'd already committed to the line.
It was then that I realised we'd fecked up big time and even though Kenx was carrying rope etc it was not a good move. That said there were quite a few groups that had taken another line towards Muretouse but again think that involved rappels maybe.
So just as I was trying to work out what the hell to do (only Ken and I were packing skins and we could climb up over the rock spine rather than the glacier) this skier came round, looked at me and said "Gavin?" and it was a Mathieu Maynadier who I know well, he explained that we could ski down without the need for rope and we followed him and the three very fast skiers he had, but it was a very tough descent with a gnarly traverse and lots of you don't want to fall slide slipping!
We eventually made it to the road with people having descended the various Girosse couloirs and I got a lift back up to my van, quite an adventure in doing the Classic Chirouze, a first for me!
We then hooked up with another Scandi who had done two seasons and was a very very good skier and he pretty well destroyed me, though I did that myself by taking a stupid line over a small crest into what I thought was soft snow only to ski over a load of rocks falling on my left flank which is now red raw and sore in a couple of places.
So just when you think you're ski fit and can handle most things, a serious big La Grave day will sort you out, though has to be said that Kenx and I probably had a good 25+ years on them
A little vid of a nice line, but does not take into account the nigh on 15min traverse to get to it.
Have to add at the point where we were uncertain, it would've been a 20 min skin back to where we should have been, but one of the Scandis skied off on his own down the glacier another 150 vertical metres after having uttered the words "we'll follow you guys"...........
And they had no skins, so would have been extremely difficult and even more dangerous for him to have hiked up the glacier on foot.........
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?
@endoman, we all regrouped and skied down together, then the Mathieu the guide appeared.
There was another guide, typically French old school who appeared, who basically told me I was talking bull excrement when earlier I said to him that I knew Mathieu, and that Mathieu said it was ok for us to follow him. What he didn't know that Mathieu and I had just had a long conversation about Japan and a guide I'd met there as M was off middle of next week to Japan and was very interested in what / where we'd been. Then he said from where we were chatting it was very easy to follow the route, so with that I said I'd wait for the others and we said our goodbyes with me saying I owed him a few beers.
The Frenchie not knowing all this still thought I was making it all up and said if Mathieu knew me why had he skied off at left us, and that did get on my tits however I did hold back from getting equally stroppy as we would not have been there having fecked up. Just hope he asked Mathieu later on did I know him, then he'd feel just as stupid as I did.
But not clever and like I always say when off on your own in challenging terrain it's always worth packing skins.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@Weathercam, was it Chirouze you ended up skiing down? Did it several years ago with offpisteskiing and Jim Kerr; there was a skis-on rappel of 30m or so from a cable anchor. Was more for protection against the cliff below us. Given the amount of snow this year it’d probably be less sketchy to ski it - maybe the same traverse you mentioned. Stunning line.
@Sharkymark, think it was more Girose than Chirouze, possibly with a bit of Orciere thrown in! We were more skier's right than the classic Chirouze and ended up on the road about 500m on the La Grave side of the Grand Clot tunnel.......
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@KenX, if you look at it on FatMap was defo Chirouze as we were under that rock band that makes up the Girosse and you can see the track we took on the map below
All the Orciere / Girose routes come off if you go straight down the glacier, which actually gives you a much better run down.
Hence we met up with the people that had done them later on the traverse.
Those other snowboarders who were bearing left were probably doing the Murtose / Mines.
Just been woken up by Per who only got back home from Japan at 01:30 this morning with no boots or skis and he's working today, asking how the weather is this side of the Col as it's blowing a gale there. And what a surprise reasonably calm and snowing here the opposite to Friday when it was howling here and reasonably calm in LG.
He was quite surprised to hear how S Facing slopes here are bad - he'll probably do Combeynot but could well be too windy.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Weathercam, now I can see our trace it explains why we ended up so far skiers right, if we'd carried straight on at the bottom, that's where the Chirouze normally finishes, to the west of the tunnel!
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.
@KenX, yes good example to all those that think if they have a map then they'll be able to navigate their way. The route down to the tunnel as opposed to where we turned right looks so innocuous. There must have been good reasons why both guides opted for the gnarly traverse as opposed to going straight down that gentle descent through the trees to the road
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
It gets very lumpy at the bottom - we skied direct to the road when we did it. Loads of large boulders and scratchy cover. I guess it may not have enough snow (if it’s anything like the Aosta, cover isn’t amazing below 1500m)
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Great, classic La Grave today, although the busiest I've ever seen it we managed to get up on the first cars and were blessed with a couple of first track runs and a Triffide 1 scoring great untracked helped by having one of the top La Grave guides, Per As who I first met twenty years ago.
Apart from the team of Scandis / Vikings and an American, Kris Ericsson, (also American) was with us, one of the all time Rock Star mountaineers / guides now based in Chamonix who I've now spent quite a few days with who was breaking his La Grave cherry, and what a day to choose.
After an early lunch the glacier opened up, and they've now done away with the rope tow off the piste basher and replaced it with a cabin on the back of a piste basher that can only take a fifth of the skiers and a whole load of hassle loading / unloading skis, hence we hiked / skated along to the poma.
Then it was a cracking run down the deserted glacier nigh on all the way to where we met Mathieu last time on our little screw up
Then it was skins on and climb back up then ski down to Col du Lac and traverse to the Breche, down to P2 and back up to P3 and then Triffide 2 to finish the day off and we only just made it back to P1 for the last lift!
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.
Some good lines
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Heard a tragic story today, and one very very close to home......
I was skiing again today with Per and he told me that when we heard the helicopter below us yesterday down towards Chirouze and he commented must be bad for the heli to be there, that in fact a snow boarder had been killed.
The heli could not get in close enough to get the deceased out so two pisteurs had to ski down and carry the body out.
Per said when we were skiing yesterday that road runs were not a good idea as the rain from the previous day would just turn to ice in the shade, yet we saw quite a few snow boarders hacking down the glacier and on down towards the road runs.
Also three people had to be helied out after getting stuck on top of a couloir, that could have so easily been us a couple of weeks ago.
But not a nice feeling to know that happened just below where we were
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Sad news.
We had some nice conditions on Sunday, although I agree it was very very busy. Probably took about 2 hours to get to P3 the first time, including queuing. Heading back tomorrow and getting a guide, hopefully less people!
Had my first La Gràve experience on Saturday 10th. Had a great day with My daughter who is only just fourteen. We used Euan an instructor with ESF as our guide/instructor. What a day. Never to be forgotten, had to take the folllowong morning off the slopes to recover. Great meal in the refuge hut.
Only bad thing I got the GoPro out for the last run down from the very top to take some pics and lost it just before we got to some moguls before the icy scratchy road lowdown to La Gràve. Sad not to have the pics of my daughter but hey it still didn’t even scratch the surface at spoiling the day.
If any one knows of a GoPro being found give me a shout .
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Went over to La Grave with @KenX, to hook up with the Vikings, today was always on the cards given the forecast and Vikings keep us updated with whether it might open so we were there well in advance of the many late arrivals.
Game plan was that if it were not to open we'd ski Chazelet which was looking very sweet indeed.
We still had to buy a pass and even though there were not too many ahead of us, by the time we got the passes the lift queue had grown with people already having a pass, but in the overall scheme of things we did get up to P3 well in advance of others and scored some good conditions.
Snow was actually better lower down.
As P2 traverse was a no go due to avalanche risk we opted to ski all the way back to La Grave rather than P1 as we knew we'd get on a lift and that there would be a massive bun fight at P1 which sure enough was indeed the case as we went back up. Was a very good move.
I've never seen a queue like it, in fact at the bottom they were deliberately not filling all the cabins as they knew they had to pack them in at P1.
Once back at the top of P3 we put skins on and started to walk across to the drag on the glacier in the hope that it would open and failing that we'd skin to the very top. Once at the drag there were a few groups with guides in front of us and a couple of LG locals I've known for a while and everyone was very optimistic about the lift opening. I was ready to skin all the way but my comrades talked me out of it.
However after twenty mins or so the guides and their groups started to hike up, so we put skins on again and started the climb then a few mins later a skidoo arrived at the lift and things started to look more positive so we skied back down with skins still on and ten mins later the lift fired up.
Think there must have been about ten in front of us so we were able to get some good lines in before the piste basher started dragging people over, though I think we still got a few more lifts in before we decided to head all the way down to have a late lunch in Chancel.
30mins later was nigh on tracked out !
Then it was ski back down to P1 with the traverse in the best condition I've known it, and whist my comrades took the lift back I opted to ski all the way as legs felt good, and sweet untracked spring snow on the field on skiers left.
So was a good day, but not classic, snow was not uber light and cold and like the last couple of times I've been there this season it's getting so busy now, but it is still an immense mountain and dramatic terrain and even with all the people you can still be on your own.
And after ski beer at the Castillian was sweet, and again I've never seen it so rammed.
Driving back over the Lautaret there was a delay as a heli was bombing suspect ridges above the old avi tunnels.
No sign of the forecast snow yet
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Weathercam, You looked like you were blowing a bit as you jogged back up the lauteret to your car
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?
@Matrski, I thought that too and was still thinking that this morning!
Do all this other stuff, touring, XC skating and a little jog has been blowing like that, maybe I went off to fast
Got very luck in La Grave with excursions to Serre Chevalier and Les Deux Alpes last week, conditions providing fresh day after day. Lift closed to P2 on several occasions and as @Weathercam, mentioned it was busy with pent up demand for the descents from the top.
Wednesday's snow was good but had been touched by the wind or heated up. Even though the fresh was sometimes challenging, I'd take the conditions over a week of hard pack.
Snow on the glacier Friday was up there with the best I've had the pleasure to ride, fresh tracks could still be found at the end of the day above 3200.
Descended both Trifides 1 & 2. No. 1 had a straight line section, after having had to jump in to it in January with the guidance of Grenoblois friends and no. 2 had rocks bearing their teeth after the passage of a few skiers, so required some delicate maneuvering.
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Poster: A snowHead
