Cosmiques Couloir TR

[Idris]

New Years Day has always been a day to go up the Aiguille.
No one but hungover tourists up at the top....not much sun but ok visability...we had been looking at the Glacier Rond for a while now and with flingle back in town I thought we might have a go....skied round to descover 5cm of windpack on ice.....not today thanks...but the Cosmiques couloir is right next to it and a lot more sheltered.

A bit of work getting in....2 rapels with skis on and one long one with skis on packs.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16539.jpg

Almost knee deep wind deposited powder....very nice...the central rock band that used to be just anoying is now 5m high in places, but if you walk on a few rocks you can still get through.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16540.jpg

Out onto the Bossosns Glacier is were the fun begins, weaving through the first seracs flingle finds a slot...about a meter wide and very deep, here he is crawling out of it...very lucky he just broke through.

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16541.jpg

Form here on down we roped up...sometimes using heavy anchors..behind you can see the widswept slopes of Mont Blanc Du Tacul

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16538.jpg

Some of the seracs were a bit of a pain to get round, this one the cover was a bit thin

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16552.jpg

The real mission began at the end of the glacier as we had to bootpack up about 200m vertical where noone had been since last season, brakable crush and shite, compounded by hangovers.....at long last we made it back to midstation

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16537.jpg

Skiing out to the tunnel next time...hopefully.

[GT40]

Man you guys like to live it large. I freak just looking at your path down. I really hate walking in ski boots on ice covered rocks!!

Hope you get some more snow soon. If not, I'm sure you guys will ski anything that's humanly possible.

[phUnk]

Serious Business.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Idris
Some of the seracs were a bit of a pain to get round, this one the cover was a bit thin

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic16552.jpg

phil-speak

We had a small gentle slope to contend with, nothing big. The slope was maybe 20 degrees.

/phil-speak

[splat]

I knew you guys would get it first, ahead of the ENSA guides.

Much love to you both and I'm counting the days!

[FreakofSnow]

epic, you going to be showing MT and LAD some of those good soon?

[G]

I'm jealous

[powstash]

Cham is where Idris shows why he's the man and we're the boys.

Nice work.

[iskibc]

Very cool T even with the low snowpack! Keep it up and be safe.

[truth]

Sick as always T...happy new year.

[flingle]

Nice pics Tom. It was a bit of an epic. probably due to being out drinking till about 4 hours before Tom called to wake me up. I managed to put him off by half an hour and then missed that bin (translation:tram) as well. I dont think I really sobered up till falling into that slot, which was a total rookie mistake and I'm totally embarrased about it. But I do remember the main section of the Cosmiques being SWEET. I reckon on looking at the rock band (second pic) from below it could be hucked as well. The boot pack out nearly killed me. I was heaving over and over but had nothing to come out, not having had time for anything to eat. by the time we got back to the midstation at about 4 I was shaking from cold and hunger and hungover, and just about ready to faint. Its wicked the way you can turn a average day out into an epic by getting fully hammered the night before. Oh on that 20 degree slope there was a hole about the size of a football just below us that swallowed up all the snow that we sent at it. interesting to know how deep it was underneath.
Time to go grab the 10:30 now

[bad_roo]

What's the arete looking like now? It looked completely different at the end of summer. Is it more recognisable at the moment?

[flingle]

Hi Roo
The arete is real easy now, its about as wide as a motorway (is that a freeway in US speak?) and you could race 2 or three people down it at a time. Nothing like the little sideslipping track that it has been in previous years.
Laters
Phil
My New Years Day TR

[Ripzalot]

As always, most excellent!

You guys got balls....