Saturday, March 12th, 2011

Aiguille Verte – Another good day in the mountains, but with a bitter aftertaste

Yesterday I went up climbing Aiguille Verte with my friend Will Sim. The plan was to do a fast ascent via the route Vivagel on the northeast face. But a slow party where camping on the route. By the time we had climbed 600m, they had done 30m, and lots of ice where coming down so we decided to keep on going to the Bettembourg-Thivierge gully. A Chamonix rule of thumb; no solo climbing underneath happy campers.
Arriving to the gully we discovered that it was not in very good conditions with hard dark ice covering the whole thing. But we still thought it was much more fun than just doing the Couturier so we kept on going. With this brittle hard ice soloing together was no longer an option so we pitched the steep section and then run up the ridge to the top of Aiguille Verte.
It was a great day to hang out on the top of this beautiful mountain. Almost no wind and it were really warm in the sun. We had planned to down climb Couturier to get back, but lots of black ice made it much more logical to go down by rappel. I think we did over ten abalakov anchors on the way down and then replaced slings on some more so one could now say that the decent is properly equipped for anyone interested in climbing Verte in the next couple of days.
Everything went perfectly well for us this day, but I still came home with distaste from the day. I don’t know if it’s only me, but it seems like the objective dangers have become much bigger in the mountains this season. When we got down to the bergschrund at the end the day, the whole thing had collapsed. Skiing down the glacier also feels like walking around on a minefield in the midst of a war with black bottomless holes everywhere covered with brittle bridges. And coming home to town we get to know that one of the parties doing the traverse under Cordier after us got hit by a serac fall; one dead.
It’s a weird year up there right now with a lot of good people getting in trouble.
Its on thing to take risks depending on ones own skills in skiing and climbing or just being in the mountains, but playing the game of Russian roulette with a clip full of bullets in the world of objective dangers. That really sucks!
Now awaits a vacation from the big stuff to recharge the batteries…
Thanks Will for a good day out…
Will Sim is a really good British alpinist, only twenty years old, but still climbing like the best in the world with a maturity way beyond his years. Follow all the cool things he’s up to on his blog; willsim.blogspot.comLe Dauphine wrote about the accident under Cordier here:
http://www.ledauphine.com/haute-savoie/2011/03/11/avalanche-de-seracs-dans-le-couloir-cordier?image=890F812C-1CAA-40F9-B177-82BA8F6EA6AF#galery (French only)

Will Sim getting ready to rock
Will climbing
On a cold belay
Will climbing
And again
Summit ridge
Looking down the Whymper
Will taking it easy on the summit of Aiguille Verte
Rapping
One of many abalakovs
Getting over the bergschrund
Mt Dolent in the sunset
And Chardonnay and Aiguille Argentiere
Will skiing skinny skis english style, really fast though
Droites and Verte in the twilight zone
Headlamp skiing
and again
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Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Friends in Patagonia…

Friends Jonathan Griffith and Will Sim where hanging out in Patagonia climbing at the end of last year. Here is a little edit from their adventure made by Jonathan.

For more info of these guys, check them out on:

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Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Memories from a day last summer…

My friend Carl Granlund posted some photos from one of our climbing days on the south face of Aiguille du Midi at the end of last summer. It was my first day climbing in the Chamonix mountains after my accident in the spring – it was a really nice feeling being back.  

Carl is a really talented climber from the south of Sweden that lives in Chamonix. Check out the photos from this little adventure and all the other cool things he is up to on his blog; carlgranlund.blogspot.com (Swedish only, but there are lots of cool photos). 


Another beautiful line on the south face of Aiguille du Midi (Photo: Carl Granlund)
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Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Carli-Chassagne Gully, Aiguille du Midi – A half day training session

It’s interesting how perceptions change with time. A few years ago I used to look up at the north face of Aiguille du Midi thinking how big it felt and how I much rather ski it than climb it. I used to not train too much and it felt like it would have been a challenge to just do it bin to bin.

Today I went up there to climb one of the classic gullies together with my friend Andrew Lanham. We went up with the first bin and walked over to the Eugster couloir and followed this for a couple of hundred meters before we traversed right to Carli-Chassagne gully a bit further lookers right. 

The conditions where easy and the most of the track was already in making the snow sections go really fast. In the gully we passed some French folks and at the end of it our friends Ben O’Connor Croft and Jonathan Griffith, who came up a bin behind us and where out on a soloing mission, joined us.

So for the last half of the route our climbing became more of a social affair than “hard core alpine climbing”. We topped out just after 13 pm and where down in town just after 14 pm in perfect time for lunch.

Thanks boys for a fun day out!

Jonathan Griffith is also a kick ass photographer; check out his stuff on: www.alpineexposures.com/blogs/chamonix-conditions

Andrew Lanham walking towards the north face of Aiguille du Midi
Walking up towards the Eugster couloir
Andrew climbing
Ben O’Connor Croft in action
Jonathan Griffith 
Happy boys from the island
Getting closer
Topping out… 
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Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Fettisdag

Yesterday was officially the semeldag! Of course we had to bake some! For you guys not from Scandinavia, to read more about them, click here!

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Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Couloir Angelique, Les Courtes – Perfect spring skiing in one of the most beautiful couloirs in the massif

Two days ago I went over to the Argentière basin, with my friend Magnus Karstengren, to climb the northeast face of Les Courtes with the objective to hopefully get some good spring skiing on the other side.
Couloir Angelique 
Everything went easy and according to plans and we got to the top of the face at around 13 pm. The weather was stellar and it was warm making the snow on the south side perfect for skiing. We did two short rappels and a few meters of down climbing to get in to the couloir and then the race was on. We where there in perfect time for the good skiing, but that also meant that if we would hang around for too long it would become dangerous with higher risks for stone fall and avalanches.

But the couloir was easily skied and it didn’t take long before we had passed the bergschrund and stood at the bottom looking back up this beautiful line.

Pierre Tardivel opened it up in 1999 and apparently named it after his daughter, proving that this couloir is something special. I would say that according to me it’s the best ski in the Talèfre basin. 

And the day is by no means over when one is out of the couloir. No, from here awaits a long, seldom tracked, ski all the way down to Montenvers.

Thanks Magnus for a great ski!

To get more info of Pierre Tardivel, probably the man with most first descents in the world, check out his blog at: pierretardivel.aliceblogs.fr (French only)

Magnus waiting for the bus
Skins on
The approach
Check out the north east face of Les Courtes, not really in good ski conditions. Note the bootpack…
Almost at the top
The view
Me about to start skiing
Magnus skiing some corn
And then even more… 
Its crazy how little snow there are on some places…
Guides working hard… 


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Sunday, March 6th, 2011

A ski touring nightmare

A friend sent me this link and it must truly be a ski mountaineers nightmare. And… This can happen to anyone hanging around in exposed terrain. Hope he is alright. 


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