UKH

Seems to be a very funny winter in the Chamonix valley. We are flying out Tuesday and was hoping to do a couple of routes on top of some piste skiing. 

The Alpine Club  report seems very mixed. I assume the Couloir is tracked and is being climbed and don't see why we can't have a crack at Fil A Plomb? Neither seem to have any logged ascents in the last couple weeks which seems odd... Will snow shoes will help with the approach from the plan lift... we are not carrying skis! 

Weather looks bastard cold on Wednesday. Does anyone have any suggestions for alternative mixed/easy ice gully routes lower down which might be nice warm up routes and avoid the risk of frostbite? 

Goulotte style routes are generally in great condition compared to the last few years. Some ephemeral routes like Beyond Good and Evil and Birthright are in exceptional conditions.

Not seen the Chere as it’s tucked in round the side but I imagine it’s fine given that stuff like M6 Solar, Pelissier, Gabarrou Albinoni and Modica Noury is fine.

Fil a Plomb crux pitch is there alright, you can see it from the mid station. Issue is there’s no track and a fair bit of snow. Met a team a week ago who bailed as the approach had deep snow. I’ve been up there during both of the last two good weather spells and don’t think there was a track either time. You’d want a track and/or be well acclimatised, otherwise you’ll have a miserable night in the Midi. Or two nights if the lift isn’t open the following day due to the wind... One of those routes where most people wait for someone else to track it as it’s so heavy on the legs.

Wednesday weather looks crap. Argentiere Rive Gauche is probably ok or go to Cogne for the day or dry tooling. 

Cheers fella.

If you are going to rive gauche without skis would you be allowed on the bubble up? Or would you have to take skis and ski down the run to the lognan then skin up? Am guessing they wouldn't let you wander down the piste!

No idea if pedestrians are allowed. From the top of the Plan Joran you can traverse till you hit the relatively flat bit of the black piste (keep your height as much as possible). Note it’s a relatively technical traverse across some steep ground. Skin up the piste for a bit before breaking off left to hit the abseil points. Doing this first thing you will probably meet little or no descending traffic. Best to go up the Herse and then just ski down towards skier’s right. However if you don’t have a prepaid lift pass, it’s only €15 for a Plan Joran one way compared to about €30 for a Herse one way. I don’t mind a bit of skinning!

Also if you’re going for the Tequila area or lower, you don’t even need to skin, as long as you keep your height on the traverse. Just walk up the side of the piste for 100-200m, then skate along the track which ultimately goes to the hotel/bar building. Tequila is below the hydro building and the track splits, with one branch going there and the other to the hotel/bar. Not sure which branch is best to access the routes below Tequila as not been. The routes above Tequila are all above the hydro building. You can boot pack it from the hydro building but would be hopeless in deep snow. Better to just skin up - or ski down from the Herse. 

No access allowed onto the Plan Joran telecabine without skis I'm afraid. Without skis you either have to walk from the valley or wait for the new cable car to be built.

Cheers for the info chaps. Think we will head up the midi tomorrow. 

Fil a plomb has been getting done periodically this season based on instagram posts. Seems stuff may be drying out a bit though.

Report from the team who did the Chere was that it’s hard black ice and not recommended. Something like the Pellissier would be a better option, it’s got good neve, a bit of ok ice and some mixed, on the whole it’s in good condition and a more varied and interesting route (did it earlier this week). Generally, there’s still plenty to do but things are getting gradually hacked and may be some stuff is drying out. Weather is closing in for the next week or longer anyway. 

Seems much of the north facing stuff is in bad condition. Black ice in the Chere, OHM reporting Vent du Dragon and similar stuff above the Cunningham Couloir are also dry. Fil a plomb has been reported to have unconsolidated snow and thin (too thin for screws) ice. While Pellissier is good. This seems to suggest south facing routes are in good shape. Anybody know if this assessment is accurate or am I reading too much into individual reports?

I’ve heard the Chere is black ice. Guess it caught a lot of wind. FaP was done the other day. Wadefest approach and ridge traverse, didn’t hear anything about too thin but they will have had grades in hand. I imagine Pellissier would still be good (it faces E by the way). Had a look at the Droites today, not much change from two weeks ago, looks like you could stitch stuff together. Petit Viking and Madness too thin / not there apparently. Dangerously hollow ice on Birthright apparently, which suggests Beyond would be out as well (in fact with a big zoom I could see today that there’s now a gap in the placage on the first corner pitch, probably only a metre or so but hard to tell, would probably go with tricky dry tooling). 

Thanks Misha, also saw your fb post and picture. Since you have info on the Ginat, what about the Lagarde?

I didn’t see it today but it seemed ok two weeks ago so probably still ok. Expect thin ice though. When I did it three years ago, there was hardly any worthwhile gear on the first couple of pitches. The crux ice pitch was fatter and took some ok screws. So it’s probably doable but don’t fall off!

We were up below the Droites NF yesterday. Lagarde Direct looked good to go, but I expect the upper couloir will be very deep at the moment, so could be slow going. 

We did Fil a Plomb last week. Ice was very thin (bottoming out screws on the first half of the crux pitch) and the pitch above the crux didn't look very nice. We did an extremely fun mixed variation out left (maybe M4/M5). The crux was getting from the top of the route to the Midi in the vast amount of unconsolidated snow.  

Thanks for the info if i head over it’ll be in two weeks (only then off from work) so i’m also hoping for different snow conditions, we’ll see

I wouldn’t be entirely hopeful of being able to get here or the lifts being open in two weeks’ time but we shall see...

OHM put out a report on Sunday. You can find it here:

https://cmb.eliberty-insight.com/campaign/email/en/mirror/YToyOntzOjE1OiJlb...
 

For the time being they're keeping lifts open. I arrive Friday and will hopefully remember to post some updates as I find them. Feel free to DM me if I don't though and you're wondering about updates. I don't frequent UKC too much.

Did you get a look at the Swiss Route on Les Courtes at all? Wondering if that's any good atm. I imagine it would be a slog, but maybe it's steep enough to have shed a lot of the recent snow?

Didn’t look closely but it seems relatively dry so might not be that much of a slog. The descent would be another matter...