The winds were not as strong as forecast at the Aiguille du Midi this morning and many teams enjoyed the sunny weather and pleasant skiing in the tracked snow of the classic Vallee Blanche descent. We also ski toured up in to Combe Maudit and various other teams were touring up to the Col d’Entreves and over in to the Combe Vierge as well as skiing the Italian right hand passage of the Geant Icefall.
Sunny Off Piste Skiing In The Vallee Blanche
Unskied snow was often quite wind effected but the grippy snow in the tracked corridor was pleasant and easy to ski albeit fairly bumpy on the Chamonix left hand side of the Geant icefall. The Salle a Manger and lower Mer de Glace section have low snow volume / cover but still fun skiing in the well tracked route. The section below Montenvers, whilst possible(!) looks very lean and not recommended. There is a short walk to the steps of the Montenvers railway which is easy but slightly exposed and requires concentration.
Teams were climbing various dry ice / mixed routes on the Pt Lachenal and Tacul like Pellissier Gully, M6 solar and Modica Noury but conditions are generally very dry in terms of ice volume.
More snow on Friday will be welcome to help with conditions but a lot more is needed to bring the snow cover up to seasonal average. It looks like there is some more snow on the way next week.
