An interview with Epic TV about the ski descents on Pilatus and Dent Favre.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Grand Muveran west face ski descent
Seb wrote this text (which I translated to English) about our ski descent last Saturday:
Grand Muveran west face 1600m, 5.2/5.3 E4
The Grand Muveran Journey – Sébastien de Sainte Marie
As the name suggests, the Grand Muveran is big, but also a very complex mountain. Gilles Bornet had to make several trips up to the col des Pauvres to scout out a skiable path through the massive west face. Last summer he even went up and climbed the grassy exit ramp using ice axes.
1st Attempt, 2nd January: Traversing the west face
Gilles and I make a first attempt, but due to bad snow conditions and a thick fog we traverse the west face and exit on to the Frête de Saille.
2nd Attempt, 16th February: Snow plodding
Following a big snowfall we try again, and our team is reinforced by Wim Pasquier. After 7 hours of breaking trail up waist deep snow we’ve made good progress, but are tired. The sun is strong and is increasingly becoming a matter of concern. At 15:00, so close to the top we decide that it is too dangerous to continue. The ski descent is marvelous but we have to be very careful of snow purging from the rock walls above.
Back at the restaurant we are told that we have been observed in the face. A week later Wim receives a phone call from someone urgently asking for information about our attempt.
3rd Attempt, 2nd March: The big surprise
Wim unfortunately cannot join, but we invite Olov Isaksson to come along. This time we decide to climb the north face and hope to drop in on the right branch of the top Y-couloir. The 2000 meter climb turns out to be more arduous than expected, but at 11:30 we have found the entry and start skiing.
After a while we get a big surprise—ski tracks! Someone has used our old tracks up the face and has followed our exact itinerary. The tracks continue up the left branch. Somewhat astonished we continue the descent, but the conditions have greatly deteriorated compared to last time. We carefully continue in “survival ski mode”. We have a bad feeling about the exposed exit ramp and decide to avoid it by doing a rappel down to the ground. While setting up the ropes the ramp gets bombarded with ice and rocks—intuition was right.
Down on the ground I’m happy about the great adventure the three of us have had, but I’m disappointed that we’ve skied this beautiful face in such bad conditions. In the end, it was still a great and memorable day in the mountains and I’m happy to have spent it in the company of two good friends.
Pictures at:
http://seblefou74.com/2013/03/03/face-ouest-du-grand-muveran-5-25-3-e4-1600m-rappels/
Grand Muveran west face 1600m, 5.2/5.3 E4
The Grand Muveran Journey – Sébastien de Sainte Marie
As the name suggests, the Grand Muveran is big, but also a very complex mountain. Gilles Bornet had to make several trips up to the col des Pauvres to scout out a skiable path through the massive west face. Last summer he even went up and climbed the grassy exit ramp using ice axes.
1st Attempt, 2nd January: Traversing the west face
Gilles and I make a first attempt, but due to bad snow conditions and a thick fog we traverse the west face and exit on to the Frête de Saille.
2nd Attempt, 16th February: Snow plodding
Following a big snowfall we try again, and our team is reinforced by Wim Pasquier. After 7 hours of breaking trail up waist deep snow we’ve made good progress, but are tired. The sun is strong and is increasingly becoming a matter of concern. At 15:00, so close to the top we decide that it is too dangerous to continue. The ski descent is marvelous but we have to be very careful of snow purging from the rock walls above.
Back at the restaurant we are told that we have been observed in the face. A week later Wim receives a phone call from someone urgently asking for information about our attempt.
3rd Attempt, 2nd March: The big surprise
Wim unfortunately cannot join, but we invite Olov Isaksson to come along. This time we decide to climb the north face and hope to drop in on the right branch of the top Y-couloir. The 2000 meter climb turns out to be more arduous than expected, but at 11:30 we have found the entry and start skiing.
After a while we get a big surprise—ski tracks! Someone has used our old tracks up the face and has followed our exact itinerary. The tracks continue up the left branch. Somewhat astonished we continue the descent, but the conditions have greatly deteriorated compared to last time. We carefully continue in “survival ski mode”. We have a bad feeling about the exposed exit ramp and decide to avoid it by doing a rappel down to the ground. While setting up the ropes the ramp gets bombarded with ice and rocks—intuition was right.
Down on the ground I’m happy about the great adventure the three of us have had, but I’m disappointed that we’ve skied this beautiful face in such bad conditions. In the end, it was still a great and memorable day in the mountains and I’m happy to have spent it in the company of two good friends.
Pictures at:
http://seblefou74.com/2013/03/03/face-ouest-du-grand-muveran-5-25-3-e4-1600m-rappels/
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Vanil Carré
A "pure plaisir" outing the day after the Grand Muveran Journey (which I will write about some other time). The snow was surprisingly good, considering it hasn't snowed in a weeks. Thanks for the tip Miguel! We ended the day at the thermal baths in Charmey.
Jean made a nice video:
http://vimeo.com/61000877
Jean made a nice video:
http://vimeo.com/61000877
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Pilatus north face ski descent
In November, while having a coffee down by the harbour in Lucerne, I noticed a nice looking
line on the north face of Pilatus. Could it be skied?
Recently, Seb and I went
to have a look. It was very foggy so the pictures are unfortunately not that great.
Given that the line
is visible from Lucerne---a town with a lot of talented skiers---it
wouldn't surprise me if it has been skied before.
More text and pics by Seb:
Seb, happy to have found the start. It was not that obvious, given the visibility
The key to the face was an exposed traverse along a narrow ledge
A rocky section right before the final slopes (we had to put on the crampons here for the descent)
Right
before topping out at the top-restaurant we got hit by some of the weirdest and
worst spindrift I have ever encountered. It turned out to be from the snow
blower on the tourist viewpoint. The worker was kind enough to take a break so
we could ski down safely.
Not quite as steep as it looks...
Thanks for another great day out Seb!
Dent Favre north face ski descent
Seb has a great eye for finding new lines to ski and he invited me along to try the north face of Dent Favre.
Still on the sunny side
Traverse
The couloir
We started the day with a 250 meter skin from the lifts in Ovrannaz and then dropped in on the other side. The line starts with a long exposed traverse and then joins a "hidden" couloir. We had to do one short rappel to get in and one short rappel to get out of the couloir. From below we saw that at least the first one could have been circumvented.
More about it on Seb's website:
Still on the sunny side
Traverse
The couloir
Monday, February 11, 2013
Mach 3
Two years ago, Niko, Sam and I we went to Kandersteg to climb Mach 3, but bailed under the huge roof on the last pitch. I guess we were a bit intimidated and we had no idea how to get down. On Saturday, Niko and I went back up and climbed it to the top. With still no better idea for the rappels, we fixed a rope before the roof so we could pull ourselves back in.
Pitch 1
The crux pitch---pretty pumpy business. We still need to go back and free it. Niko had to spend 5 minutes chopping a hole in the ice curtain to climb through
Pitch 1
The crux pitch---pretty pumpy business. We still need to go back and free it. Niko had to spend 5 minutes chopping a hole in the ice curtain to climb through
Monday, February 4, 2013
Canada ice trip part 3
A final post about the Canada trip with pictures from the last days.
Day 12 - Bow Lake Headwall
Two short, but nice lines and a very cold day out (-27 celcius).
Bow Lake Headwall
With or Without You
U2
Day 13 - Lake Louise Falls
Day 14 & 15 - Skiing at Mosquito Creek and Roger's Pass
Day 16 - Weeping Wall
Day 17 - Polar Circus
After having soloed the approach pitches together I decided to continue to the top alone and wait for Sam and Niko up there--a pretty stupid decision in hindsight. I got completely soaked on the last pitch, but luckily it was a sunny day and I managed to stay warm while waiting
Day 18 - Cineplex
A nice display of force by Niko on Musashi. Apparently a big block had recently fallen off the route making it more difficult. On his second go he clipped the last draw but dropped his ice-axe and couldn't finish the climb up the ice.
Cineplex
Sam on Musahi
Me trying to fight my illogical fear of overhanging sport climbs
Day 19 - Stairway to Heaven
Day 20 - Haffner Cave
Our last day and we were pretty tired after 9 days of consecutive climbing and skiing.
Caveman? (we didn't have a topo)
Day 12 - Bow Lake Headwall
Two short, but nice lines and a very cold day out (-27 celcius).
Bow Lake Headwall
With or Without You
U2
Day 13 - Lake Louise Falls
Day 14 & 15 - Skiing at Mosquito Creek and Roger's Pass
Day 16 - Weeping Wall
Day 17 - Polar Circus
After having soloed the approach pitches together I decided to continue to the top alone and wait for Sam and Niko up there--a pretty stupid decision in hindsight. I got completely soaked on the last pitch, but luckily it was a sunny day and I managed to stay warm while waiting
Day 18 - Cineplex
A nice display of force by Niko on Musashi. Apparently a big block had recently fallen off the route making it more difficult. On his second go he clipped the last draw but dropped his ice-axe and couldn't finish the climb up the ice.
Cineplex
Sam on Musahi
Me trying to fight my illogical fear of overhanging sport climbs
Day 19 - Stairway to Heaven
Day 20 - Haffner Cave
Our last day and we were pretty tired after 9 days of consecutive climbing and skiing.
Caveman? (we didn't have a topo)
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