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In memory of Kenr 2019-2020 inconnu Alpes sorties

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
So for those that have not read the Savoie inconnu 2018 thread, dear Ken's luck finally ran out, or he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

No matter what you thought about him, both he and Sharon loved the mountains and made the most of them exploring many different areas, and at 65 he was not showing any signs of slowing down.

So prompted to start this thread after Polo put his sortie in that tread today as he said there was nowhere else.

Today after the snow of yesterday and early morning we waited for glimpses of sunshine as per forecast and opted for the Galibier sector.

There must have been around ten cars at our usual parking spot and as usual, most were heading up the M25 that is the classic route Pic Blanc Galibier.

We opted for heading to the Col du Galibier, which was fine for the first 300m vertical, and then I was breaking trail in heavy sun affected Serrement it seemed, OH was behind me and her heart rate was a mild 125 whilst I was in the mid 150's which just goes to show the increased effort of breaking trail.

We also didn't take the dogs as we thought it might be too tough for them.

There were so many small gulleys from the numerous torrents which had not filled in with snow and some much larger ones made navigating a route more demanding, which was novel as I've never been up there that early in the season.

I reckon at most that there's 50cm max at 2,500 bearing in mind it is S Facing hence the many gulleys with water not frozen as we have not as yet had temps well below zero, but that looks to change

About 150m vertical from the Col a band of cloud rolled in and being quite fecked I used that as the excuse to transition.

Ski back down was fun, dodging obvious rocks and trying to find a snow-sure way over some of the gulleys.





Looking up towards the Col and the Cafe by the tunnel


OH having some fun


Lower down


Strava Track
https://www.strava.com/activities/2850033299
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@Weathercam, nice idea....and how do you get so much sunshine?.....we might finally get a clear day in the NW this weekend too.
I've got a few 'off the beaten track' places to visit this season, but not likely for a few weeks, and then it's snow depending again.
Would be nice to learn of other small resorts and back country trails during the season, from all corners.
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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?
Went back up the Lautaret today with KenX, minus the dogs and minus the OH.

There was me thinking that all the Grenoblois would be in their own part of the world, I could not have been more wrong with ski tourers on nearly all the major routes and some where I'd never seen people tour before. After we finished we drove up to the Lautaret and the parking area was rammed!

That said there's more than enough area to soon be on your own and I was actually quite relieved after an hour or so breaking trail to find a skin track going up from the Galibier road (see Strava track log at the end) to an area we know well, Crête de Côte Plaine, but usually take a different route as that gives us other options, but today was about powder and we were after N facing aspects.

I came across a guy who lives in Les Deux Alpes and he said that the snowpack was way better than there, and likewise when transitioning speaking to a woman from Grenoble who said all the buzz was about how good it would be here today.

What was quite handy was that the group of six or so in front of us carried along the ridge leaving us a good area of untracked, plus we were faster to transition.

The first-line was really good until a shark got me at speed and I went over pretty quick with a resultant big hole to the base in the ski.

All in all a good morning and again no complaints bearing in mind the time of year!

Though I am feeling quite knackered with an av HR of 141 over two hours!

Pics

The hordes on the ridge, and that is actually quite steep as ever camera flattens it out Laughing








Strava Track Log
https://www.strava.com/activities/2852219305
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
KenR on the Col de la Vallette


http://youtube.com/v/GUjOSgjSsNc
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@davidof, he certainly was a character, and the power of some of those old school jump turns with a 50lt pack!
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
I've missed this - how sad

Even not very extreme activities in the mountains often expose you to objective risks that can be reduced but not eliminated. If you are out in the mountains a lot then the risk goes from tiny to small and some enthusiasts will get unlucky. Doesn't make it less sad when it happens.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Missed that too. No more KenR posts then Sad He did seem quite an eccentric character who didn't play by the normal rules. I guess his luck ran out. I'll miss those "what's he been up to now" moments! RIP.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I didn't realize it's the same Ken Roberts who lived in my neck of woods. (until I saw the news propagating back to our local community)

Here in the lower Hudson Valley, he's quite a well known character. He maintained a website with some listing of bike and ski routes. (maybe climbing routes too, but I'm not a climber).

I had some contact with him when I offered updates on his bike routes, shared ideas on them too.

Met him on xc ski trails once or twice (there aren't that many trails around here, so you eventually run into every single person who owns a pair of xc skis). But he's quite a bit faster than me so we didn't exactly ski together. He's well respected in the xc circle. sad to hear he's no longer with us.

RIP
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