The Secret of Closed Lift Mountain

A snowHead

I've left the route and summits as an exercise for the experts on this forum.

Last week it dumped between 50cm and 100cm in the French Alps.

and some places still looked pretty snowbound despite the closed lifts (only the Aiguille du Midi in Chamonix is currently open). We wanted to climb to the highest peak on this ridgeline.

After a 3.30 am start from the self dubbed "capital of the Alps" we arrived on the road pass to find it blocked by an old avalanche and rockfalls. With the 35 hour week you just can't get the staff to clear the roads these days. Nothing else for it but a hike to find snow (typical this time of year in France).

We decided to hike up what would normally be a busy off piste. After 1000' we found some snow...

Stunning views back to somewhere famous :p

Gilles was in full flow skinning at 2500' / hour.

but finally had to remove his skis to climb the summit ridge

le Mont Blanc to the left

and some nice snow down this well known o/p

a couple of peaks

then time to go

The snow is great at the moment in the Northern Alps above 9000' which is probably why there are some fantastic descents being made (Austrian Route on the Courtes, Mallory, North face of the Col de l'Aiguille Verte). At mid altitudes 7000' - 9000' the alternating hot and hotter weather have played havoc with the snowpack.

x-posted from TGR.

A snowHead

Wow!

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

ditto

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

looks like you went up and down the Grand Sablat and had a peek down the Pyramide. Did you make it all the way to the summit of Pic Bayle? As they might say on TGR, looks boner! Very Happy

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just read your post properly - so you were going for L'Etendard. Did you make it? That's a long slog from the road!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

After all it is free

Hi Arno,

You must know this spot pretty well. Yes it was the Grand Sablat glacier (or what is left of it). You had better snow earlier in the year but I guess you take what you can get. In fact we were always heading for the Bayle (named after a 19th century priest who resided in l'alpe d'Huez for the history wonks) and I had to look twice at the map to confirm that it is higher than the Etendard (or Etendart) by 1 m (3465 as opposed to 3464). I'm not entirely convinced as it looks higher from the summit. The Etendard from Clavans is a long slog as you say... and even from the Col du Glandon (opening this week) it is a long slog but at least it will be on snow.

Arnos TR is well worth a look.. As I recall l'Impossible is skied off the slot to the left of the Pic Bayle (see photo above) but didn't you ski this recently?

[edit]
Ahhh Gilles my ski partner yesterday has just pm'd to say that the l'impossible must be reached after a traverse from the col de la Pyramide as there are cliffs below the slot in the photo.

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davidof, i'd always assumed the Etendard was the highest - probably because the lift map makes it look that way so not very scientific!

You can get into l'Impossible from that slot but it is a bit "chaud" and involves stepping over sharp bits of rock on your skis - not everyone's cup of tea. The alternative (the one I have done most recently) is to traverse into it from the Pyramide. Also a bit of rock-hopping but not so bad.

brian

So for non-Arno types, it's Alpe d'Huez looking back towards L2A and La Grave ?

snow reports

brian, bingo wink

the off-piste at Alpe d'Huez is rather over-looked IMO. Davidof refers to the Grand Sablat as a busy off-piste - not by most standards. I skied it twice on an Sunday in April with fresh powder and blue skies. We were the only people who went down there all day

Can't believe how much snow there still is out there! Very cool photos!! Very Happy

You know it makes sense.

I am green with jealousy. Nearly 8 weeks since I last skied and probably 8 months to go till I can again. However I might manage an Autumn long weekend with the excuse of visiting a friend and mentor nearby (since he has said he will write about me for a catalogue). Not sure if there is much open around then?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

snowball, Have you missed the PSB thread?

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

flicksta and brian, yes, some great off-piste at Alp d'H much of it in several valleys that have no piste. But you really have to be shown where it is by a guide or you wouldn't find most of it.
The SCGB off-piste holidays in La Grave usually do a day in Alp d'H.

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snowball, look here. No off-piste of any major significance - and you certainly shouldn't count on any - and nothing over to LG (although I'm not sure if you could have got over there on the glacial bits if you were willing to skin back). There was the "Snowheads Wall", of which there are a few pictures on snowMedia - which easiski reckons is a blue piste Shocked

(however unlikely that may seem - I would buy that for the route round the outside of it, but not down it), and a little 100m or so section between a couple of pistes to skiers far right - we were not supposed to be on it but you were OK as long as you steered clear of the main crevasse. There was also a little bit of snow allowing you to get down to the base of the funicular with only only taking the skis off once. I understand from easiski that last year was was about as bad as it gets, and there's normally a little bit of adventure skiing around the edge of the glacier - but it's still mainly a piste job.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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snowball, GrahamN, has answered most of your questions about the snow conditions etc. As the 2005 version was so successful, we're definitely going to do 2006 (first bookings are in), and I fully expect it to become an annual Snowheads get-together. The Mondial is on every year anyway, but dates for 2007 are unlikely to be out until around Feb/March of that year. However, you can be pretty sure that it'll be the last weekend of October/ first weekend of November. basically - All Saints Week. La Grave woukld be horribly dangerous at that time - all the snow bridges almost non-existent, but just enough to catch you out! If in doubt, check out their 360 deg webcam during the summer for a reminder of what's under the snow!!!! wink

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thanks, easiski, Only a relatively small part of La Grave is on glacier (the least steep part), but it would probably be the only part with enough snow, so I take your point.

After all it is free

snowball, Almost undoubtedly - needs an awful lot to snow to make LG skiable!!!

GrahamN, has the "Patrouille des Glaciers" been shortened? I seem to recall the Salamin Brothers' photos claiming about 100km (in just under 8 hours?), although my memory may well be faulty and I am probably wrong.

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I converted a GPS track to Google Earth KLM format and this is what it gave for the Pic Bayle

okay the resolution lacks a bit for the Alps but I thought it might provoke some ideas.

Help!!

The Secret of Closed Lift Mountain

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