The Deepest Gnarliest Day on the Midi

[Idris]

The Deepest Gnarliest Day on the Midi

I woke at 7am to bluebird skies and deep fresh pow, rushing to get down the valley from Argentiere to Chamonix I cursed the lazy construction workers who’ve left their temporary lights up over the weekend. Pulling up to the Midi the clouds were starting to come in but nothing too threatening …its 7.50am, I’ll make the 8am tram…..Lazy Bastard Lift Co….No info till 9, no tram until after that….9.30, 30 or so skiers jostle with the Japanese tourists for first bin, the clouds are really rolling in, but its been snowing all week so we have to go up and see.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic23264.jpg

Its –18C, snowing and blowing 60kph or more….and the snow is deep, deeper than anyone expected, since Tuesday it’s snowed 2m (6feet)…w can’t see shit so we talk of possible routes, wait for it to clear, a few try walking down the ridge…they don’t really get anywhere.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic23266.jpg

We can’t see much more than a few tens of meters, but a few agree to follow, I make a turn or 2 on the ridge…it’s way deep

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic23267.jpg

The first part of the Grand Envers is down and up and takes 2 to 5 min depending on how much you straight-line….with 9 of us taking turns to brake trail it takes and hour or so of wandering around and cursing….but hey you try making headway in snow this deep….we were real glad the snowboarders didn’t try and follow, on foot or snowshoe you’d be over your head, sometimes your chest deep on skis….ski choice doesn’t make much difference here…Ok the guy on Silimon Verse sinks the most but the Spatulas are no quicker than Bandit XX, actually they are worse, not enough tip!….We make it to the first pitch, it’s slid already, so the middle is soft on windcrust and the edges are deep….2/3 of the way down it gets real deep….even Spatulas don’t give much of an advantage….not over the V explosives and Intuitive Bigs the rest of the group are riding…it’s just too deep, where we would normally make turns we straight-line, were we straight-line we slingshot past each other to make headway…the second pitch has also sloughed off, but from here down it is just perfect….speed is your friend, yes fatter skis are better, but misplaced balance causes cartwheels regardless of ride….down onto the flats and its 15cm of fresh and we have to pole most of the way, but its been well worth it…we couldn’t see more than a few turns, we took 4 hours to do a 45min run but it ain’t ever been that deep before…

Oh and this is what we called hardpack

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic23265.jpg

[verbier61]

they will close it on monday and I can not go tomorrow
hey... they'll open again on the 14th....or not?

[glademaster]

I posted over on Pmag too, but this is so amazing it deserves recognition on both boards.

-Ben

[Idris]

Originally posted by verbier61
they will close it on monday and I can not go tomorrow
hey... they'll open again on the 14th....or not?

open 15th...but I will be in Wales

[subtle plague]

Yesss.......


i answer with the farmer rule from today's tv weather forecast "the winter isnt over in may"
go get some.... maybe youll meet my friend gregor up there.

looks like good "spring" skiing

[CaddyDaddy77]

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic23266.jpg

Keep us posted, hopefully it tracks out a bit for you.

[edg]

Originally posted by Idris
open 15th...but I will be in Wales

You say that as if it's a bad thing... gimme 10 mins and I'll get the picture of me on Pen Y Fan this winter :-)

edg

[iskibc]

FKNA!! Way to go get after it Tom.

[splat]

Wow, talk about late season dumps.
Tom, you gonna be able to burn that French ski flick to CD when you get home?

[The AD]

I thought this was some kind of repost. Unbelievable! I'm in full-on summer mode and this shit's still going on in Cham.

[Ripzalot]

Originally posted by The AD
I thought this was some kind of repost. Unbelievable! I'm in full-on summer mode and this shit's still going on in Cham.

yeah, me too. i'm looking across lake geneva at a snowline at around 1500m or so....IN MAY! been waiting for a bluebird to arrive for a late season cham session but so far no luck. and i leave for florida (and some surfing) this week. ah well.

that's hardcore, tom! way ta get sum. are you going back to wales permanently or gonna be back for next season?

[ulty_guy]

[Endlessseason]

Simply awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sick.bird]

CAW! CAW! CAW!!!!!

[Dr. Crash]

Damn. And here I am skinning up for rewarmed mashed potatoes. Good snow, man! Looks like a ton of fun.

drC

[flingle]

So it looks like there will be some snow in Cham at the end of the month too - wicked.