Back to Italia - Chamonix day 8
Tuesday, March 18, 2014 at 04:42PM 
Yep. That's the Matterhorn.I had another early morning rendezvous with my French friends and headed back to Italy for a traverse of Becca d'Epicoune. It's a popular peak on the other side of the valley from my first Italian objective last week. We were able to drive and then skin past some dairy farms on a nice road until we were in the alpine and headed straight for the peak.
The skin felt long and I wasn't moving that well. Not sure why. Just an off day, I guess. But we skinned for a few hours on a hard spring crust. Some of us used ski crampons, some didn't but we all made steady progress on the 4.5 hour approach and about 2,000 meters of climbing.
Christophe leading the way
The final few hundred feet of the climb involved actual 4th and 5th class rock climbing which was sweet.
The summit was sweet with perfect views again. We had a nice view of Becca d' Luseney from last week. I marked out our route below.
Becca d' Luseney
The ski down involved some crappy downclimbing on loose rock and some decent skiing below that. We cliffed out before the glacier and did a short half rope rappel. Following that we had a nice gentle skin back to a col and then the full g-ride to the car. Great day.
Spying the way down
Fred enjoying some "almost" powder
Jean negotiating the cliff band
Looking back. Our summit just right of center
After a couple of days up high in the Vallee Blanche getting some acclimatization, Nate is here and we're off to Areches-Beaufort and the start of the Pierra Menta. Get ready for the beat down!
Chamonix, Italian Alps in Chamonix 2014
Reader Comments (6)
Randoism! Seems like you could have saved some bills on that multi-area ski pass...
Good luck @ the race!
Don't be fooled, Lover. True, I spent 3 days in Italy but I rode the tram all the other days, exploring and just riding the Vallee Blanche. The pass is sweet because I can go anywhere and ski anything in the valley without thinking about it. Pretty handy. Nate took one ride up the Midi yesterday and it cost 45 Euro one way. It's 55 if you want to ride round trip. That adds up fast. And if we stopped short on the way down at Montenvers? Yep, another 24 Euro. For me it's included in the pass. Sweet!
Brian, first off thanks for all the good and fun info you have, 2nd, seeking some more. Looking for a different spring ski, wasatch spring decents, moderate Teton stuff, etc. Cho Oyu and La Sportiva GTR both candidates, given your experience with both, any strong opinions either way?
Thanks
Hey Dave,
Thanks for checking in. As you can tell, I usually have opinions so here's a few more, for what they're worth.
First of all, I'm a big fan of light skis, obviously. There is no way to get around the performance benefit of less weight. On the other hand, if the ski skis like shit, then the weight savings in irrelevant and maybe even detrimental in steep, critical terrain. So, that said, the GTR is a decent ski, nothing exciting, not particularly light, but not heavy either. I like the width and the slight early rise might be more forgiving in spring weirdness. But it's not that exciting, either. Definitely an option.
The Cho is freaking light. That's exciting. It skis hard pack surprising well. And the fat tip is good in powder. For lapping powder it's a great ski. But for spring stuff, you probably don't need that much ski. The Nanga Parbat is the skinnier version and it may be the call.
But I have the creeping suspicion that my early affection for early rise is misplaced for technical harder snow, the typical spring mix. The early rise makes it harder to really pressure the tip and this is important when trying to hold and edge or make a secure turn when it matters.
So, this means that I likely prefer a more traditional ski for this sort of thing. The Broad Peak is a great example of this class of ski. Around 75mm underfoot and lot's of side cut. Really sweet ski. Tight radius, likely less than 20 meters.
In this vein, Europe is where you'll find skis like this. Movement Logic series are the best of both worlds with narrower traditional shapes and super light construction. Hagan makes some of these, too, although I've not skied them. I really like the Hagan Race ski, however.
The ski that I've been seeing here in Chamonix and am becoming really interested in are the skimo boards from Dynastar. Nate Brown (wilsonalpine.com) loves his Altitrails. They rip like the Broad Peaks but are a tad wider. Best of all, the versions coming out next year are lighter. I might just leave France with a pair. Of course, I say all this having only seen and fondled them, not skied them.
But I think you get the idea. Traditional shape, side cut, baby, and between 75 and 80mm underfoot. No longer than 175cm and shoot for something around 1,300 grams or less. Hope that helps.
Hey Brian,
Thanks for the quick response and feedback, good stuff as always. Your thoughts on the Cho for spring conditions was sort of what I expected/was thinking myself from other things I have read (i.e., handles hardpack well, but not something I would take along specifically for spring conditions). GTR feedback is good to know, sometimes a non exciting ski can be a good thing for me if dependable, but not entirely sold on it either.
Have not completely sorted out my early rise thoughts when it comes to spring conditions. For softer snow, won't even consider a ski without it anymore (though don't want too much rocker, been having a lot of fun on the grand tetons this winter in soft snow). For spring, my ski last year was DF Mustagh Ata, which although fun in variable conditions due to its width and early rise tip, had too much early rise/a bit wide for harder snow and felt like it only had about 100 cm of effective edge. Warranty issues with that ski sent me looking for a replacement anyway (and may get something like the Cho or NP as a replacement next season, but replacement isn't happening this late in the season). So short story, I hear you on lack of rocker early rise/rocker in a spring ski, at least of the excessive variety, but still like the idea of a little for dealing with some of the variability spring conditions have. So, still looking a bit for that perfect balance, which may still lead me to a traditional camber ski as suggested.
Thanks again,
Dave
Dave,
The other thing I forgot to mention which I think is key in any mountaineering ski is a flat tail. That seems to be an endangered species in the states but, thankfully, pretty common over here in the models I've seen. LS has it, which is nice to see. Dynastar...yep, Movement...yep. I might go to the shop and do a survey on that topic. Might be a good post.
Disappointingly, the DF Grand Teton does not have a flat tail and I'm sure Steve would be disappointed. So, while DF claims that the ski is designed with him in mind, it lacks a couple of crucial features that I think Rando would want. The flat tail is one and more side cut would be the other.
I like the GT well enough to finish the season out on it but it's not that light and it's pretty boring. It simply doesn't do anything particularly well. In consistent powder it's fine but starts getting a little grabby at speed and anytime the density gets variable. Compare that to my DPS 112 Pure which are absolutely flawless in powder. Now, I wouldn't want to ski a firmish steep cooler on them and the GT would be fine there. Again, compromises...