Steeps in Powder!

A rare posting by me (Guy) to let you all know that it's not just the
ice that has been in great shape recently - but also some classic
lower altitude north faces and couloirs...
Over the new year period I had some great days out ski mountaineering
and touring seeking out fluffy powder in the Aiguilles Rouges and
hooking up with friends and family and soon to be family (that's
Steph, my fiance - she hates that word!).

With various combinations of Steph, Tom, Bairdy, Dicko and my
brothers Dom and Oli, I had some great skis. We found great snow and
sunny blue skies for descents of the Floria couloir (4.2, 40+
degrees) and both of the NW couloirs of Pt Alphonse Favre (4.3, max
45 degrees and narrow!) - all great lines leading into the shady
powder bowls of the Berard valley and perfect early season warm ups
for bigger steeper lines to come...

Saturday saw us bootpacking for an hour and a half to the top of
mountain X to one of my favorite spots for untracked soft powder
(location: Top Secret) for a 700m vert descent in completely
untracked above knee heaven. Could it get better??? Well on Sunday
Oli and I headed into the Chablais region west of Morzine to have a
go at the north face of the Roc d'Enfer. At 2250m it is not the
highest peak around, but its 350m vert north face is a great early
season steep.

Oli had to be back in Monaco early evening so the pressure was on and
some no-faff skinning and bootpacking got us up the 1100m ascent in
good time. Now the guidebooks give this face a grade of 5.2, E3 and
an angle of 50 degrees for 300m vert, which in english means pretty
steep and scary - and when we got to the top we decided the grade was
probably right , as it looked 'pretty steep and scary'. Luckily we
had judged it right and found the face covered in knee deep powder
and our fear was replaced with excitement as turn after turn was in
forgiving deep snow.

An initial traverse over rock and grass saw us into the entrance
couloir and then out onto the exposed middle ramp. A quick detour
round a second couloir filled with water-ice and it was 80s style
powder 8s to the bottom...phew! What a start to the season.

Next time i will take a camera that works!

See you out there,
Guy