Blog
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
Col des Droites – Good skiing beside a sleeping tiger
Today was another steep skiing day in Chamonix. I went in to the Argentiere basin together with Maxime Turgeon and photographer Daniel Rönnbäck with the idea of skiing something that was not skied to pieces. The first thing we came over was Col des Droites, a very aesthetic line between Les Courtes and Les Droites. It’s facing east, which meant that it should be good skiing, but there is always a but… Above the whole line there is a gigantic hanging glacier threatening you for most of the time on the face, a sleeping tiger that you don’t want to meet when she wakes up. But we couldn’t se much recent activity down at the bottom as well as we knew the conditions for hiking where super fast meaning we wouldn’t spend much time at all on the face. Said and done, we climbed up as fast as we could, found really good snow, turned around right below the hanging glacier, enjoyed good skiing on the way down and had a calm lunch at Chambre neuf at the end. That makes for another good day on the mountain.
The approach
Daniel on his way to a good shooting spot
walking, walking
Me and Max climbing from Daniels point of view (Photo: Daniel Rönnbäck)
Just before taking of
Max enjoying
Col des Droites to the right
Check out Daniel Rönnbäcks angle of Chamonix on his photoblog at danielronnback.blogspot.com
Monday, January 24th, 2011
In Powder Magazine and Backcountry Magazine
Finnish photographer Tero Repo got these two photos of me published in Powder Magazine and Backcountry Magazine.
To see more of his great photos and what he is up to check www.terorepo.com
Powder mag
Backcountry mag
Monday, January 24th, 2011
The life of a young photographer…
Swedish upcoming photographer Daniel Rönnbäck is in town shooting for a week. Check out his angle of Chamonix on his blog danielronnback.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Aiguille de L’Encrenaz, North-east couloir – Really good skiing in a time of powder depression.
In a time that people soon will call the great powder depression of the season its still possible to find really good snow. Eastern aspects has been good even in Aiguilles Rouges and on this side of the valley its warm and cosy even in cold times like these. I took a chance together with Max Turgeon, Adam George and photographer Daniel Rönnbäck – that it would be good snow on the east side of aiguille Encrenaz and that not to many skiers hadn’t ruined the run, Chamonix style, by side slipping.
The approach from Flegere went easy by a massive track and then the south face itself had just got warmed up by the sun making for easy tracking. It felt like spring bootpacking the couloir, and it was only when reaching the col that we felt the cold.
Looking down the couloir from the top one could see some old faint ski tracks, but dropping in you could not really feel them. The first bit before the rappel had soft chalky snow and was easy to ski. Then, below the cliff and the obligatory rappel, started the really good skiing. The wind had filled in the couloir erasing all the old tracks and the cold had recycled the snow creating knee-deep powder skiing. Not bad for a day filled with hope but not to high expectations.
Even the skiing down to Le Buet was alright and the timing of the train precise.
The approach
The boys love hiking!
The run
The rappel
Maxime Turgeon and Adam George
Max skiing
Adam skiing
The face
Adam cruising
Skiing back to the train
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Some people do not need climbing partners…
Its good having climbing partners that are not to dependent of you, is it not? The other day I talked to my friend Max Turgeon about going climbing something together, but I had been up in the mountains for several days straight and he was feeling sharp wanting to do something big. I ended up taking a rest day and he went up by him self to check what where in condition. Talking with him a few days later I got to know he climbed Ginat on Les Droites solo with skis on his pack. Good work buddy!
If you want to check out who this great climber is, click here.
If you want to check out who this great climber is, click here.
Saturday, January 22nd, 2011
Ice climbing in the sun
What can you do when you are tired of being cold and of trying to find the last good snow patches in the mountains? Well, one good idea is to go ice climbing in Trient on the Swiss side of the Mt Blanc massif. I went there to day with my friend Carl Granlund to climb a few falls and it was good ice conditions and really warm in the sun. Good climbing in good company makes a good day!
One of the ice falls
Carl Granlund climbing
Ice climbing in the sun, warm enough to be cosy, cold enough to be safe
Walking back to the car
Friday, January 21st, 2011
Couloir Jager, Mt Blanc du Tacul – A fun but very cold adventure…
With the high pressure and the cold holding Chamonix in a steady grip its not to easy to find things to do in the mountains. The cold and the wind are transforming the snow fast and even though ice conditions up high are great its not to fun sitting shaking on a belay waiting for your climbing partner to rock n roll. I decided with my friend Morgan to try something fun we can do fast (he had to work at 3 and it was supposed to be cold) that looks in shape before the cold have changed back the spring conditions to raging winter again. We knew that whatever we choose to do would include a bit of suffering, but we thought it was better than staying down in the valley doing nothing.
So we went for the Jager couloir on Mt Blanc du Tacul. The staff at Midi told us it was around -30C in the morning plus a bit of wind. Skiing to the base of the couloir from the lift station went fast, but we must have looked pretty funny trying our best to cover our faces from the cold. Once there we skinned up for ten minutes before we put our skis on the backpacks and roped up for the massive bergschrund. We found two old ski tracks in the couloir showing us that others already had fun here this season. I’m guessing they had a bit better conditions than us.
The climb up went alright, but not as fast as I had hoped. I climbed with three layers and a down jacket as fast as I could but still couldn’t get warm. I regularly had to stop to warm up my hands, definitely slowing down the ascent. But it was soon over. We skipped the mixed climbing at the top and put on our skis to get back to the sun and the warmth.
The snow was fairly hard, obviously cold and chalky creating lot of friction on the skis making it quiet tricky to ski. But the Jager couloir is not very steep making it a pleasant ski even in not so great conditions.
Morgan came back to work in good time and we had a fun day together on the mountain.
On the way up
Me skiing (Photo: Bjarne Sahlén)
Taking pics
Morgan Sahlén rocking
Getting back over the bergschrund (Photo: Bjarne Sahlén)
Couloir Jager with our tracks
