Blog
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
Glacier Rond, Felix’s pictures…
Here are the photos from Helix Hentz’s point of view today… To check this cool guy, skier and adventurer out, visit him at www.felixhentz.com!
Traversing over to Glacier Rond
Me and Max on the ridge
Me on the ridge
Me skiing
And again
Max doing some glorified side slipping to avoid the big slab
Me setting of
…
…
…
Max skiing
Max again
Me in the exit couloir
And again
Max sorting the anchor out…
Me prepping
And then skiing
…
Felix and Max found a hole
Skiing roped up
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
Glacier Rond, Aiguille du Midi – Serious mountain skiing with wonderful snow
Today was the first skiing day since I came back from Sweden and I wanted to go up high and check the conditions in the mountains after the last week’s heavy snowfalls and hard wind.
Glacier Rond have not really been in condition since the very first days of the season, but it have gathered lots of snow lately and no one have put the tracks in, so it seemed like a nice and easy day out on the mountain.
Aiguille du Midi. Glacier Rond is the big snow field out on the lookers right!
The rumour has also said that there is a big crevasse on the way back from the west face making the outing much more complicated than normal, specially for keen skiers with not to much alpine experience.
I went out on my mission together with my good friends Felix Hentz and Maxime Turgeon and we went up to the tunnel to stack a car making the ending of the day lots easier. Then we went over to Aiguille du Midi and got chocked on arrival how much people there where waiting to go up the mountain. They even had introduced bin numbers for the first time of the season, but it all went fine and we got a low number and got going in just a few minutes.
Traversing around the mountain towards the west face one could really see how the wind had affected the snow and everything that had been facing it was blown in to pieces. But The Wind had been coming mostly from the east making for lots of snow on west facing slopes – and not really soft powder but big slabs making for really high avalanche danger.
But the big face on the Rond is pretty straight forward with lots of safe spots and for most of it a possibility of skiing around the big slabs. So this is what we did. We skied around the big wind collected slab and found our way trough the rocks till we where about one third down the face. From there one have to point it to the next safe spot that is the ridge between the face and the exit couloir. It’s a wonderful feeling skiing the face with the sluff chasing you and then get up on the ridge that cuts the sluff in two halves roaring down the mountain.
The exit couloir was a bit wind effected but still really good skiing and getting down on the glacier we arrived at the big crevasse that people have been talking about. In the end it was not to complicated getting over it. We built a belay with two stoppers and then left a fixed rope for the rappel down the crevasse. Then we put in 5 minutes with a shovel and now anyone can do it with skis on without having to take the rope out. We are hoping that this will pay back from happy skiers using it and maybe paying us back with a few snus and a beer! J
But as always in the mountains, don’t trust a fixed belay with your life before checking it thoroughly.
The snow was super good and we hadn’t had enough of adventures for the day so we kept on going straight down the glacier des Bossons to the tunnel. The skiing was excellent but the glaciers are serious at the moment so we did most of the route-finding roped up. The last bit we walked on foot, but it still felt much better ending up there than have to traverse over to the paraface or the mid station.
The day ended with a classic après ski at Chambre 9, it feels fun being back in town.
Thanks Felix and Max for a fun day!
Aiguille du Midi in the morning
One have to start mountain skiing early!
Black bin number cards!! Felix and Jeff Banks are not happy!
Dropping in on a totally untouched Glacier Rond, probably not skied since December…
Felix and Max on the ridge
Avoiding the big slab
Felix charging
And again!
Max enjoying the good skiing
Its deep
Felix in the exit couloir
Max rapping in to a crevasse
Skiing again
Max rocking
Skiing roped up
Great skiing with Chamonix in the background – Max Turgeon putting the turns in
And Felix is not late in joining
Walking down to the forest
Down at the tunnel
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Wille goes Triffide 3
My friend Wille Lindberg helped keeping Swedish freeride tradition alive in La Grave the other day. Jesper Rönnbäcks jump in the first Free Radicals move a long time a go is a classic and now Wille have repeated this feat. Wille is probably Swedens n1 hucker that always goes for a stomp and I remember the poster we had in our locker room in Riksgränsen a few years back. The poster featured Jesper Rönnbäck jumping this massive dead end with the comment; “The landing was hard and nice, so it was all good”. Good work Wille!
To follow this talented skier, check his blog at willelindberg.blogspot.com
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Bionnassay – Perfect winter rock climbing
Coming back to Chamonix I went straight up in to the mountains. But this time I didn’t go skiing even though the conditions are pretty good. After a week in ski boots I was pretty keen on getting a good work out, move one rock and to rest my feet. So I tagged along with my friends Carl, Bjarne and Will for a day at Bionnassay (the crag) for some sport climbing.
It was a fun and chilly day, but with perfect conditions for rock climbing. There where quiet lot of snow on the approach, but the rock face is facing south making it a perfect rock climbing alternative late winter, spring before it gets to warm!
Thanks boys for a good day!
The approach
Getting snowy
Carl rocking lose
And again…
Bjarne en route
Time to go home
Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011
Björkliden – Haglöfs Arctic Weekend – good times in the north…
I spent the last weekend up in the very north of Sweden, in a ski resort called Björkliden, to participate in a cosy mountain event called Haglöfs Arctic Weekend.
It’s a mountain event with emphasis on ambience and good spirit for people loving the mountains, skiing, ski touring or just being outside. Normal ski enthusiasts, staff and clients to Haglöfs and sponsored athletes from Haglöfs and Björkliden meet up and hang out together in the small ski resort of Björkliden high above the arctic circle.
Björkliden is probably one of the most genuine ski resorts in Sweden with good skiing, cosy atmosphere a view over the famous Swedish landmark; Lapporten (sort of “the gate to Lappland” in English) and with a location just on the doorstep to some of the best ski mountains in Sweden.
I’m always happy to spend time up there in the north and its probably one of the spots where I feel most at home in the world. I used to live and work up in the neighbourhood for many years before and I have still lots of friends working here and great adventure memories from the mountains.
During the weekend I was guiding some offpiste skiing, did some cat skiing from Låktatjåkka and held a small presentation. I also got the chance to attend lectures by adventure photographer Fredrik Schenholm and Swedish adventurer Ola Skinnarmo.
After the event I had by purpose booked my flight so I would get an extra day to maybe go and ski one of the great couloirs one can find on the Norwegian side of the border, but a storm gave me instead time to check out the friend status in Riksgränsen.
It’s great to travel the world, but it’s also wonderful to come back home and enjoy the food, semlor and tobacco that you can’t really find elsewhere, and of course speak ones owns language. I can’t wait to go back again, but first I like to enjoy the Chamonix mountains and people for a while.
To get more info about the event, the ski resort and some of the people who where there – check:
Björkliden – www.bjorkliden.se
Haglöfs – www.haglofs.com
Fredrik Schenholm, Swedish adventure photographer – www.schenholm.com
Per Jonsson, Swedens n1 telemarker – www.per-jonsson.com
Ola Skinnarmo, Swedish adventurer – www.skinnarmo.com
Sara Orrensjö, One of Swedens top freeride girls – www.orrensjo.com
Lapporten – One of the symbols for the Swedish wilderness
Skiing around in the resort with cool people, most of them working for Haglöfs as one can see…
Fredrik and Emilia combining work and pleasure
A worthy Swedish breakfast, note semlan and the cloud-berry jam!
Adventure briefing
Cat skiing
Niklas the driver!
Famous Låktatjåkka waffles
Hang time at Låktatjåkka mountainstation
Leaving the hut in a snowstorm, compass and altimeter are handy in times like these…
Viktor skiing
Half way down Kopparåsen
Magnus likes adventures
Two hunters checking us out
Fredrik teaching us how to takes those cool photos…
Sara Orrensjö, krya på dig!
Fredrik and Per Jonsson working…
Kent with the Riksgränsen ski area in the background
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
The film from the Jager couloir – a very cold adventure
To see more of Bjarne Sahléns cool films, check his video blog on endlessflow.posterous.com
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
Haglöfs Arctic Weekend
Tomorrow I’m flying up to the north of Sweden to participate in a cool event with friends and one of my main sponsors, Haglöfs. It’s always a fun happening and I’m looking forward to get back to my home mountains if just for a couple of days!
