Chamonix - Skiing the Vallee Blanche

I've always wanted to ski the Vallee Blanche - a 9000 foot descent from the top of the Aiguille du Midi back to the town of Chamonix.  We were here for the Piolet d'Or (more on that in my next post) and had a couple of days to play.

Warning upon exiting the tunnel from the top of Aiguille du Midi

The Telepherique to the top of the Aiguille du Midi

The aerial tramway system (they call it a telephierique) that goes to the top of the Aigulle du Midi mountain is in two stages.  You take one car From Chamonix at around 3,000 feet to a midstation and then get off.  There you board a different telepherique that carries you in a single cable span (no towers) to the top at 12,000 feet.

Skiers descending the ridge on the Aiguille dy\u Midi

The summit of the Aiguille du Midi has been tunnelled out so you walk through the mountain and out onto a ridge.  You must then walk down the ridge to where you can put on your skis and descend the glacier on the backside.

Skiing the top portion of the glacier

You are skiing on an active glacier so the main concern is falling into a crevasse.  We had a local guide with us who is familiar with the terrain and knows where the crevasses are and always went first. 

Open slopes with little crevasse danger

We were instructed to always ski to the guide and not beyond in case there were crevasses.  Where there were open slopes without crevasses we could pick our own path through untracked snow.

Our guide - Christian Trommsdorff who also was an organizer for the Piolet d'Or

In other locations there were narrow sections between crevasses and we had to follow the exact same path behind Christian.

Michael and Julie Kennedy

It was a beautiful day with a fun group.

Climbing up using skins

We descended most of the upper glacier and then put on our climbing skins (fuzzy fabric strips that stick to the bottom of our skis) to ski uphill on the glacier below another mountain called the Dent du Geant (giants tooth).  We wanted to climb high on this glacier to get another ski run down.

From the top of Aiguille du Midi in center we skied down and left and then right of the big icefall

Skiing the good snow below the Dent du Geant

Our group on the Mer de Glace near the finish 

 

Paris

We were nominated for a Piolet d'Or for our climb on Saser Kangri II last year (more on this award in a future post) so the organizing committee flew us to Chamonix for the event the end of last month.  On the way Ann and I spent nearly a week in Paris.  It just happened to be our 20th wedding anniversary so it was a great place to celebrate that event!

In front of the Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower was designed and built by Gustave Eiffel in 1889 as the entrance arch to that years World's Fair.   It is the tallest building in Paris and stands 1,063 ft tall.  For about 40 years it was the tallest building in the world. 

View of Paris from the top

The Arc de Triomphe  honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was completed by 1836.   The names of all French victories and generals are inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces and beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.

Arc De Triomphe

A live figure in one of the ponds near the Louvre

The Seine

Figures on the side of the Notre Dame cathedral

 Palace of Versailles was the royal chateau outside of Paris and was the centre of political power in France from 1682, when Louis XIV moved from Paris, until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in October 1789 after the beginning of the French Revolution. It is very lavish so Versailles is famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the excesses of the monarchy at the time.

Palace Versailles - The Royal Chateau

Chapel inside the palace

Typical ceiling inside the palace

The Kings bed

Overlooking the Grand Canal

Ann catching up on her rowing in the Grand Canal

Paris is a great place to view some of the most famous works of art in the world.  In addition to visiting the work of the Impressionists at the Musee d' Orsay we visited the Musee Rodin named after the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin (pronounced Rodan).  Here are some photos of his sculptures in the garden of the museum.


The Burghers of Calais

In 1346 Edward III of England defeated the French in the Battle of Crecy.  Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender to him - with the reasonable assumption that they would be executed.  Edward had them walk out - with little clothing and nooses around their necks - and carrying the keys to the castle. Though the burghers thought they would be killed, their lives were spared by the Queen of England, who felt their deaths would be bad luck for her unborn child.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica is located on a hill in north Paris.  It was built fairly recently compared to structures like the Notre Dame Cathedral that was built in stages between 1160 and 1345.  Construction of Sacre Coeur began in 1875 and was finished in 1914 and was consecrated after the end of World War I in 1919.


Sacre Coeur



View from the Dome looking south towards the Eiffel Tower

And the French will be...............the French?

Billboard in a Paris subway



End of Season Winter Ice

Winter ice is over for me for this year.  I'm heading to France today for spend some quality time with Ann in Paris and then onto Chamonix.  We were nominated for this year's Piolet d'Or for the Sasser Kangri II climb in India last year - but more on that later.  Here is a summary of some great ice climbs in the Canadian Rockies this winter.

Steve Holeczi leading first pitch of Fang and Fist

Blessed Rage

Looking up at the crux of Blessed Rage

J Mills pulling around the crux

J Mills leading final bit on Blessed Rage

Hydrophobia

Dylan Johnson following second pitch on Hydrophobia

We traversed on the ridge top over to the Sorcerer

Castle Mtn at dawn heading up to the T-Wall

Juan following second pitch of the Replicant

Juan again

Rapelling off the Replicant

Mark Kroese following His in Grotto Canyon

Hiking out from Grotto Canyon

The Pencil pitch on Polar Circus

Leading the Pencil

Near the top of the steep bit

Upper pitches on Polar Circus

The Pencil - Notice the Crack

Whiteman Falls

Lynx along Evan Thomas Creek

Last pitchs of the season!













































Dry Tooling

Dry tooling is when you use your ice tools and crampons to climb on rock usually (but not always) as part of an ascent that includes getting onto ice as well.  When the climb involves both rock and ice in this way it is called mixed climbing.  Here are some photos of me, and then Josh Wharton doing some dry tooling at a crag outside of Banff called Bear Spirit. 

Steve on a climb rated M6

same climb

Josh on a much harder climb rated M9 or M10