col de la brenva : voie tardivel. The wild side.

go up mont maudit make a left.
Dropping there is a very special moment. it is a very intense,unusual time. Everything looks huge and brutal . you know you are in for a very long ski in a very wild and beautiful place.
When we scoped the face from the tour ronde i thought it was going to be a lot easier: a nice ballad. the scale is so huge, from that far away i couldnt size things correctly. Like the gigantic serac and cornices we were skiing under , the rock bands which were a lot bigger and steeper , the overall lenght of the face. WE had a nice 20 cm of fresh snow on the top of nice edge-able crust. I could never find a safe spot or even anckor myself to my poles to set up and take pictures. Its never too steep but never a comfortable angle. At every turns, my partners would throw some wet heavy snow that could potentially take me off my edges. whilst Taking pictures of skiers under the serac i thought what if that thing goes, would I feel stupid for being here, will i get knocked off and slide down the abyss… I rapidly switched my mind back to enjoying the skiing , breath-in the outrageously beautiful and wild place i am in the middle of . I realize how privileged i am to be there. thanks to skiing and tardivel.
The route finding in the rock band was not hard but stressful knowing what is above you.
It is surely among the most beautiful face i have skied in the wildest place i have been to. also the most dangerous.
After skiing the face we went over the kuffner ridge and we skied down another steep couloir in hard condition with very tired legs. we then skied the valley blanche, we went up the montenver steps and rode the train down to cham. We Finished the day with a well deserved beer and burger at elevation.

this is the face, Brenden who took the first bin is on it , can you see him?

the previous evening

midi bivy

Ben is the only one to ski the ridge, in the dark with north wind and in really bad condition.

on the kuffner , the last steep couloir before the valley blanche and the beer.

May 18, 2012 | Categories: 2012, blogus, ski, steep and not so steep | 2 Comments