 Poster: A snowHead
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I mentioned this experience in another thread: I had it published in the Daily Mail Ski Magazine but they hacked it about a bit, and I'm keen to put it out in its original form:
Victoria Fall
“Qualunque errore e fatale” said the off-piste guide book: “Any mistake and you’re dead”. “Extremely difficult. Entry at 60º, slope 50º ... frequent cornices”
We had been taken to it on our first day and shuffled as close to the edge as we dared and peered over into the abyss. Days later, after a helicopter drop (the only way to ski the far side of this area) we had looked across at a rock wall over half a kilometre high and had pointed out to us a flat point on the ridge from which a little ribbon of snow traced a hesitant diagonal to the broad snow fields below. This was Victoria. It didn’t look skiable.
And now here we were, on our last day, preparing to be roped down into it.
Far below us huge, shattered seracs and magnificent snow fields spread out towards a distant valley, and beyond, under a brilliant blue sky, the hazy ranks of mountains marched off down the Val Grande and Val Gressoney into the heart of north Italy. Down there, we were told, would be the best snow in the area, and this was the only way down.
We were a party of six skiing at Alagna with our guide, Andrea Enzio, and two new friends we had invited to join us for the day.
We had donned our harnesses at the top of the cable car and, after a couple of drag lifts and a small, rocky scramble, had traversed a wide bowl to the edge.
Andrea belayed a rope to his skis stuck in the snow while some of us peered down again or had a nervous pee. Would it be better to let others go first or go early and get it over ?
The first person had the rope attached to his harness and stepped over the edge. I occupied myself with my camera: Andrea's legs in the foreground and, from almost directly above, the little figures of my friends.
Three down and it was my turn. I was shown how to release the karabiner and stepped to the edge. The start was a vertical broken cornice. Lean out, and don’t hold on to the rope... But I felt an instinctive need to hang on.
20 or 30 metres later I had to release myself from the security of the rope and stand waiting on the precipitous slope for the others to arrive. I am told that Andrea skied down (on Telemarks!), using an ice-axe merely to steady his initial entry, but I missed it. I was much too busy starting my descent.
Down below us the chute narrowed and dropped over an edge: a rocky plunge three or four hundred metres down to the glacier.
The snow was firm but soft enough to grip well. I’d like to say that we skied it but actually we side-slipped very, very carefully.
A little way down a turn was necessary to pass left above some rocks. It was too steep for a kick-turn so one by one we nerved ourselves and jump-turned.
Things were going well. I managed, precariously, to get out my camera and photographed the first two starting down the next pitch. (Below, Andrea took off his skis to help them out of the main couloir: an awkward few steps around a rocky ridge.)
The new chute rejoined the first further down. The entry was tricky. I thought I could let myself go a little and then catch myself again. The snow was suddenly icy... I hadn’t meant... my tips caught and I slewed around, looking for a moment straight up the slope as I fell backwards.
Both skis came off as I tumbled... Stop quickly or I’m dead. Feet below me, facing the slope... it was immediately obvious I couldn’t stop. Everything seemed to happen quite slowly. There were rocks below and part of my mind wondered if I was going to hit them. I pushed myself off the slope with my hands, putting my weight on my boot tips: the Giles Green self-arrest... They dug into the snow. Too much... I was flipped over, somersaulting backwards... Get feet below again: push slightly, this time only just off the snow... My boots bit: I just avoided another somersault, slowed and came to rest.
Held by the very tips of my boots I didn’t dare move.
Very carefully, I kicked a foothold.
I had fallen about 50 metres, tumbling over two broad rocks. I was 30 metres from the drop-off. I didn’t have a scratch.
Below me, when I dared look round, was Andrea holding my ski.
The others had seen him actually leaping down and across the slope - it was a race: who would get to our intersection point first, him or me? He did. Would he have stopped me? Perhaps, but I doubt it. It was a very steep slope.
As it was my pack had come open and my camera fallen out. Andrea was faced with two falling objects and wisely chose to stop my ski. My camera is now at the bottom of the cliff. Andrea looked when we got there but there was no sign.
Pentax are solidly built. If anyone finds it I hope they send me the film.
I think, though, it is set on a new course: carried in the frozen time-scale of the glacier as it grinds its slow passage; bearing unknowingly into the future its cargo of rocks, rubbish and old corpses.
That evening at dinner my friends toasted my escape from death and I thought of Giles Green, the Alpine Experience guide who taught me his method of self-arrest and made me practice it. He died two years ago from a brain tumour. I’m sorry I can’t write and tell him it worked.
Andrea, by the way, is a very good guide. I gave him a nasty moment but he gave us some great skiing. I’ll be back; after all, I haven’t skied all of the Victoria couloir yet.
I wrote all that some time ago. Later I realised that Andrea's race had been heroic. He could have been going to his death. I have never told him so, till now.
I don’t know if he has taken any clients down the face since. (I gather only one other guide had ever done so before). He had, himself, made the first snowboard descent, and that day may well have been the first on Telemarks. If so he didn’t tell us. Most extreme skiers die young, but I’m not one. I’ve never been back. Yet.
Recently I talked with someone Andrea guided last year. He too had looked across at Punta Victoria, and he told me about an Englishman who fell.
It seems I am one of Andrea’s stories, as he is one of mine.
David Johnson
http://www.skicardiff.com/photos/pictures/Pic_26_1.jpg
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 19-09-06 14:04; edited 5 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Nice ,very nice. Thanks.
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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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A techno-booby writes:
I want to add a photo to this. I've opened a file on skicardiff but can't quite see how to transfer a picture file off my computer onto it. Can anyone help
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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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Does skicardiff have an FTP file transfer option? Can you access directly that server?
If neither is true your best option is to contactthe sysadmin there and ask him/her
if he'd host your picture.
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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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Alan Craggs in the systemadmin - drop him a PM and I'm sure he'll help.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Here it is:
(Press)
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Mon 11-02-08 14:59; edited 1 time in total
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I tried to register there to see how their albums are done...
I see you tried to create an album (Victoria couloir...) but no pic in there, somewhere in the process to create a new album you probably missed the option to upload the picture(s)...try again (ossry, very lousy advice, I know)
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OK, yes, I missed it. Its done now (see above).
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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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Sorry guys - just read this thread. I see you've sorted it snowball, any other problems drop me a line 
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OT, snowball, when first I readthe topic's title I thought it was referring to
-ex spice Victoria and then, having discounted that
-The Victoria's secrets lingerie line...
Never thouthgt about connceting the title to Alagna....this shows how our mind
(s) work(s). not! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Well, Matteo, it was a semi-pun on the Victoria Falls. I probably shouldn't have used the magazine article title for the thread title. Thread titles need to be a hook.
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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.
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Right, I forgot that one!
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I immediately thought of "Victoria" by The Fall (though of course, that was a cover of the Kinks(I think) song).
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You know it makes sense.
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Very nicely written snowball, I wouldn;t have changed a word. Worthy of Whymper, which I hope you will take as a compliment!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Thank you. I've heard of Whymper, of course, but didn't know he wrote about his experiences, far less was still worth reading. (I had to google to check it was the same person  ). Which is the best of his 3 books - anyone know?
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Poster: A snowHead
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snowball, I have Scrambles Amongst the Alps on my "to read" list. I think this famous quote comes from it:
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| "There have been joys too great to be described in words, and there have been griefs upon which I have not dared to dwell, and with these in mind I say, climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are naught without prudence, and that a momentary negligence may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing in haste, look well to each step, and from the beginning think what may be the end." |
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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Yoda, I lost the files when my computer was stolen recently. I still have the slides but would have to have them re-scanned. But having lost the camera in the fall, all I had was an earlier distant view, one bit of which happened to be that rock wall, as seen from the bottom of the valley. (And I think I added an arrow). However, if you have the time it would be great
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Tue 19-09-06 13:07; edited 1 time in total
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brian
brian
Guest
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snowball, missed that first time round, a great read, thanks.
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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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snowball, I also missed it first time round. Wonderful.
Was I the only one that had hairs standing up on the back of their neck as they read it?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowball, Superb story, thanks for sharing your experience.
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snowball, Wow ! Another one of those humbling moments that make be realise I am but dust on the floor here. ( Really exciting to read though - Thanks)
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snowball, thanks made good lunch time reading. I wonder what other gems are in the archive
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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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snowball, very fine. And a lucky escape?
You may be amused that the only open web reference I could find to Punta Victoria is as the jumping off point for a parapente descent...
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Thanks folks.
eEvans, dust? Big dust! (You'd better not see me ski, I might not live up to my own hype!).
By the way, I needed to keep the story moving so couldn't mention an important reason why I fell. When I tried to check myself I hadn't realised that the backs of my skis would be on a more precipitous bit of slope than the fronts, so the fronts gripped OK but the backs kept sliding.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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snowball, I've uploaded some pics here http://www.snowmediazone.com/the_zone/showgallery.php?cat=634 I know some of them are yours but not sure about all. There are also some I haven't uploaded yet.
If you don't mind having a look and letting me know which ones (if any) you want to leave on the media zone we can move them into one of your albums or wherever you prefer 
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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.
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Sorry - as a new boy I hadn't reaslised I had gate-crashed a thread that had been archived for more than 2 years! Still, it seems to have got to a wider audience now!
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I mentioned a public thread and you read it... and commented (gahhh!). In consequence millions of innocent people were forced to re-read the thread, even if they didn't want to, and others who hadn't seen it before were scarred for life. What a wicked person you are, jacksonhole,
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You know it makes sense.
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I love the Italian language even though I don't speak it. Was googling for a picture of the slope and found a website offering a description (but no pic) as follows:
"MOLTO impegnativo"
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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snowball,
Re-reading this, but can't access any pics apart from the thumb above.
I'd thought I'd bump it in these barren summer times...
Any other pics?
I have some from the Col du Lys... might make up a TR, time permitting
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Poster: A snowHead
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I've read this amazing account several times over the years, and persuaded Snowball to put it on TGR too.
The Giles Green self arrest method is one that really works, it could save your life or limbs (it obviously did for Snowball).
I've used it once in tricky circumstances where I would have not wanted to continue sliding, and was very glad for Snowball's account.
As my kids go faster and further I have drummed it into them too. I hope they never have to use it, but I really hope they remember it if they do have to use it.
Thanks snowball....
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FAQ
). I'll see if I can find them, unless you have the originals and can put them on the mediaZone 