 Poster: A snowHead
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A phone call from Ross & Al Saturday lunchtime saw me make a high-speed pack & dash drive to Chamonix. A 2 minute change from civvies to mountain gear in the Grands Montets car park and frantic run up the steps got me to the gate just in time to see the 'last bin' heading out of the station...
Fortunately the lovely lifty called ahead and I made the last lift to the very top with seconds to spare...
A bit of negotiation and we had a luxury 5* bivvy spot for the night, complete with central heating...
A 5.30 wake-up and by 7a.m. we were skinning up the Argentiere glacier, with our face finally coming into view, catching a few rays of morning sun:
Tucked away at the end of the Argentiere basin this face is a great warm-up for bigger & badder descents, with 4/500m of 50º above the bergschrund.
With a fair bit of fresh snow over the last few days we were certain conditions would be excellent...
Ross dragging his Sanouks up to the first bergschrund:
Climbing the face was an exercise in trench-digging, but with the skies staying slightly overcast and a reasonable forecast we were quite happy to be in the cool shade:
At about 3400m the weather suddenly took a dramatic turn, with a real foehn blast kicking in, cloud dropping, snow and lots of wind. About 2 minutes later the first spindrift avalanches started, so it was time to bail quick-sharp...interesting times getting into dynafits on 50º+ of powder, with spindrift trying to knock you off balance. Al making the most of a brief moment of respite:
Despite the poor visibility the face gave awesome skiing as expected, with the odd fluttery moment tryiing to spot the bergschrunds...Al on the bottom of the face:
Time for tea & cakes! Shame we didn't make the top - 1 more hour of clear weather would have got us up & down, and with visibility the ski down would probably have been one of the best runs of the last few years!! Ah well, we might just have to plod all the way up the glacier again at some point...
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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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Arno, 'Spanking paddles' (as they are commonly known in the biz)... only way to get up the steep & deep (short of a helicopter...)
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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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| offpisteskiing wrote: |
| Arno, 'Spanking paddles' (as they are commonly known in the biz)... only way to get up the steep & deep (short of a helicopter...) |
I used to think I was fairly well equipped ... I'm gonna have to get me some "Spanking Paddles" 
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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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offpisteskiing, so basically super-sized anti-bots?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Plastic snowshoes effectively.. (cheap & light)
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offpisteskiing, Nice, pity the weather crapped out.
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offpisteskiing, good effort... look forward to the next installment.
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