A nice afternoon stroll.

A nice afternoon stroll.

Ok I did catch the 11 am lift but it was a late start. The Grand Montets is just and icy mess in the morning and a slushy mess in the afternoon, with no one to go touring with today I decided to go to Italy for a coffee. In the Tram there was one guided group off to do the Valley Blanche a few sight seers and one other ski bum in typical Chamonix attire, sporting beat up B4’s with missing edge, no breaks on his binders and we used mountaineering kit….As the guided group roped up to descend the Arête we boot slid down, gad that one of the ropes is still up….Chamonix looks so small 9000 feet below….Dave headed off down the Grand Envers and I took to the tourist route….Soft sun beaten snow and a few wisps of cloud…as the tourist rout heads left I bear right and put my skins on….Converters and too skinny skins today, I’m on my alpine gear.

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Jacket off tunes on and start walking….the popular BC routes here see more traffic than any run at Silverton!…a nice solid track to follow meandering through the seracs and the mist…towards the top the mist gets thicker.

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I pass the remains of the old T bars from when there was summer skiing up here. Then the mist gets much thicker…there is a lift station here somewhere

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The punta Hellbroner is an interesting place, a little tiny cabin that rises out of Italy an even smaller groups of three head over the glacier to France….

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This place sells mean Caffee Late’s for €1.5….I can’t eat my lunch in here so I head out on to the deck to chill out and sort my boots out….

Heading out to ski I come across the interesting signage

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Skiing down in the wind crust and slush is nice enough on my big planks…not long after rejoining the tourist route down the Vallee Blanche I notice there are lots of fresh crevasses, no wonder I keep hearing reports of tourist falling in them…

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Well that beats my afternoon coffee break on the banks of the Passaic. Thanks for sharing!

nice way to spend the afternoon.

Cham is definetly on the top of my next trip list

It's Italian for Caution: Breakdancers Ahead

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Tom - Sorry my cellphone cut out when you called today.
Shoot me an e so you're in my address book.
I lost all my Outlook addies.

The Hellbroner, huh? Next time.
A tourist fell in a crevasse?