 Poster: A snowHead
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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
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@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?
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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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@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.
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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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Missed that too. No more KenR posts then  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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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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