Haute Route 2013 - Day 1

The Grand Combin (4134m) is the highest peak between Mont Blanc and The Matterhorn.  As I was soon to learn, the first obstacle was to some how get to the other side of this massive lump of rock and ice.

The track started easy enough with a side road leading out of the village of Bourg St. Pierre.  The day was heating up and I was hoping for an easy day to let my first day ski legs come to some sort of agreement with my jet lagged, altitude addled brain.

The group spread out as each person settled into their pace.  I tried to strike up a conversation with folks in the group but after my jaunty "bonjour!", I had little to back up my conversation skills.  Group members would happy talk to me until they came to the conclusion that I was either deaf or mute.

My heart sank about an hour in when the valley opened up and I got my first look at the big picture.  Like a massive 1/4 pipe, the valley curved up into a 1400m wall with the classic Valsorey Hut on top.  I realized that I had the equivalent of a valley floor to the top of the Treble Cone Six Seater climb ahead.

I held my own with the pace and reached the Hut just behind Baptiste.  I say held my own but what I really mean is that my dizzy spells were suppressed enough let me crawl to the hut.  After a 20min rest I gained some measure of dignity by skiing down and carrying up the pack of one of the stragglers.

Valsorey Hut (3037m)is a pretty standard hut for these parts, which is to say it is a picture perfect, chocolate box stone alpine hut.   I collapsed into a seat in the sun, this was the moment I came for, after 20 years of fending for myself in NZ alpine huts I was about to be waited on.  I steadied my hand as I reached for my first beer.

Aspiring Guides Stefan Sporli, now living in Chamonix was on the same itinerary and we had a great afternoon marvelling at both the luxuries and the challenges ahead.

We studied the route for the following day.  Over our heads the Grand Combin waited.  Wet snow avalanches swept down the face we were to climb in the morning after a good freeze.  The saddle in the centre of the photo below is the Plateau du Couloir (3645m) and our route for the next day.  The first photo of the blog gives a little different perspective than the wide angle one below. The hard snow that would stabilise the avalanche conditions would also mean the route was a one way trip back in a bag if one was to slip off.  Welcome to Haute Route ski guiding, 17 clients and over 500m of front pointing in the dark coming up.