 Poster: A snowHead
|
Not sure if this has been reported all ready so apologies if it has.
Second descent of the aiguille blanche de peuterey & it's taken 30 years since stefano de benedetti's original descent. Not sure of the exact details as I learned about it elsewhere & i don't speak italian so am unable to find out the specifics due to this but to give you an idea of how serious it is here's a picture of the nth face. Most serious impressive descent of the year? Certainly a contender.
& here's the video of the italians on it http://vimeo.com/12465276
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Kudos to those dudes.
It is a 5.3 descent and fairly steep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
That is some HUGE exposure!! Snow conditions look perfect though, you couldn't really hope for better. Any ideas how steep it is, 55/60 degrees? The bottom pitch (below the abseil) looks to be the steepest...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
frank4short, Cool, was wondering when someone would pull that out of the bag - there have been a few attempts in recent years - some French guys had a bit of an epic on there a few years back - can't remember if any of them skied it though.
Cordier route (or thereabouts) on the Courtes gets my vote for descent of the year, though the Blanche is right up there & certainly way more complex in terms of access & exit...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Impressive.
But let me get this straight, the first guy to ski that did it on his own?!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Wow!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
30 years since the last descent - you have to wonder what sort of gear it was originally done on.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Megamum wrote: |
| 30 years since the last descent - you have to wonder what sort of gear it was originally done on. |
and you could guarantee that snowheads would say it was the wrong gear 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
graeme, sure as hell wasn't ski boards 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm pretty sure the original descent is covered in the 'Steep' movie with an recent interview and original footage of the Italian chap. I looks steep in that !
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
david@mediacopy, same mountain, different line
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Arno, The line the Italian took in Steep, mostly rock to the left side on the still above ?
Just watched the video link above, def steep.
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Sun 13-06-10 20:57; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
First section looked fab.
Abseil not so much.
Kudos.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
david@mediacopy, that's it
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
Hardly any skiing in it, dont see the point other than to say you have done it
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
That was rad.
Go italia.
Interesting double pole plant jump turns.
| Quote: |
| Hardly any skiing in it, |
Only a few 1000m
| Quote: |
| dont see the point other than to say you have done it |
A bit like any form of mountaineering ?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Haggis_Trap,
| Quote: |
Interesting double pole plant jump turns.
|
"old skool stuff" more of a "paddle turn" as it was called way back
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
ChrisWo, de benidetti indeed did ski the NE face line alone, though he climbed it with someone else, who presumably downclimbed it...
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
geeo, 'extreme' ski mountaineering is certainly an acquired taste. But seeing a face or line in the distance and thinking 'wow, that looks amazing! I wonder if I can ski that?' for some triggers an urge to give it a go. The process of waiting for conditions and weather and the process of preparing physically and mentally for the descent is very motivating and focussing (and sometimes frustrating). And when the day comes to ski it, the sense of purpose, the focus required and the resulting feeling of being 'at one with the mountain' makes it a truly satisfying experience.
Making good precision turns on steep and exposed slopes is a real joy too - different to charging in deep pow, but they still feel great (often they feel much better than they look!)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| geeo wrote: |
| Hardly any skiing in it, dont see the point other than to say you have done it |
Jeez this is a tough crowd that video is awesome.
There seemed a reasonable ammount of skiing in it even if the technique is a bit ugly to watch at the top. This seems a hell of a lot more of a challenge than hopping in a copter and straight lining down.
As a non mountaineer/maggot if the second guy abseils down do they leave whatever anchored them at the top?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Pussy... Should have hucked the cliff!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
betterinblack, Most likely they dug down to the permanent ice under the snow and rapped off a V-thread.
A V-thread is when you use an ice screw to make 2 angled inwards bore-holes that meet at the back, and then you leave a short piece of thin rope threaded through the 'V'... (sorry if teaching to suck eggs!)
And yes, you are right, it is quite a different thing to do this sort of ski mountaineering to heli dropped stuff in AK. Both are awesome, just different IMO...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I guess the other thing about the video is that it was shot by the skiers themselves, and it is not easy to do that on 50+ degree slopes! So by no means will all the skiing on the face be included in the film - just short editted sections....
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
That is absolutely amazing. Kudos
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
the picture at the bottom of the blog post is the same face....
Looks like that blog is posted by the Jeremy Jones - a very good boarder!!
It's nice to see top freeriders like Seth Morrison and Jones thinking lines like NF tour ronde and aiguille blanche are 'gnarly' and freak them out a bit!
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
Just noticed that this blog was posted in 09....pretty sure he didn't do it in the end.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So maybe i was a little harsh... im sure they did get to ski plenty of vertical after the jump turns, just the video didn't impress me much  and my imagintaion was lacking when i watched it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
RESPECT!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
DB, Yep, that original line looks crazy. The line in the saddle looks easy in comparison.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
double pole plant jump turn on the real exposed steep stuff is classic Remy Lecluse, and as he's still alive that's sold it for me. Provides a stable safe (relative) platform when you really really dont want to fall.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
offpisteskiing, the debate about use of helmets also reminded me of somewhere 
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wow. I don't remember seeing the OP video when it came out. My bowels felt very free when watching the first turns on the descent
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
No helmets! Only a small chance of other skiers colliding with you I suppose. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
| AndAnotherThing.. wrote: |
Are there any other 1st descents by Stefano De Benedetti that have yet to be skied again ? |
Prob a good few, like the one to lookers left of the line skiied in the above video. I mean it looks like a rock cliff, but if you look at the photos at the start of the Italian's video you'll see one of them when there's a lot of snow on the face.
They say global warming has made it harder to do some of the lines done in the 70s and 80s as they're much more rarely in condition. I think a lot of the lines on the Italian side you also have to really climb to get to. Here's a video from Jeremy Jones 'Deeper' where they try to board the same line done by the Italians here and you get an impression of how hard it is even to get to the line. You really have to have a climbing ethic also. Its not like some of the other lines in that range which are closer to the Aiguille du Midi lift:
http://www.outsidetelevision.com/shows/jeremy-jones-deeper/blanche-de-peuterey-episode-6
Just to say that both that video and the Italian's video say that Benedetti was the only one to ski that line, but as per the video I posted above, Baud and Vallencant skied the face before him, I think Benedetti's was the second descent and the first to go down the spine in the middle (the Grivel route).
There have definitely been a couple of repetitions of some of his lines, like the Mont Blanc West Face Benedetti direct route, there's another video of that floating around, its a line that goes from the summit of Mont Blanc down somewhere to the right of the face here and has been done a few times as far as I know (look at Tobias Granath's site for some more madness - http://www.tobiasgranath.com/group.asp?catID=311).
Personally I think that face, the blanche de peuterey is the most daunting looking thing I've ever seen that's been skiied. It looks like death, a broad, gaping death. And the thought of those dudes going down them in the 80s, on crap gear, and in Benedetti's case, alone, is incredible. The guy is a hero!
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Sat 19-05-12 23:40; edited 1 time in total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
Haggis_Trap,
Quote:
Interesting double pole plant jump turns.
"old skool stuff" more of a "paddle turn" as it was called way back
|
sorry guys but at a 60% pitch would you want your skis down the fall line for very long?
Awesome video made me feel a bit sick to be honest.
Andy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
