Being a local goes a long way when it comes to ticking off seldomly shreddable lines, especially when you live in Chamonix. This past winter was no exception for Chamonix mountain guide and Jones Snowboards rider Julien Herry. The born and raised Cham loc ticked off several new lines around the Mont Blanc massif having spied a few of them from the comforts of his house with binoculars. Here’s a trip report from Herry on some of the rowdy descents he rode this past winter:
Avoiding the crowds in the Mont Blanc range
The Mont Blanc range is an amazing place for steep skiing and snowboarding, hundreds of possible lines are easily accessible from the lifts. Reliable weather forecasts and snow reports on the internet have meant more and more riders come to ride in Chamonix however, so it is getting complicated to stay away from the crowd. All the fast and easy access runs are now very popular.
I grew up here in Chamonix and spent the last 15 years climbing the mountains. Now I have more fun riding them and knowing the area well is a good advantage for finding new lines…
South West couloir of Col des Pelerins
After a lot of fresh snow and forest riding at the beginning of the winter, we started to look a bit higher in the mountains. On the 13th of January, Davide Capozzi and I decided to have a go to the South West couloir of Col des Pelerins. Easily visible from the Aiguille du Midi lift, it seems that nobody ever had a go with skis or snowboard. After a little ice climbing on the way up we have to stop 50m under the pass because it is getting too steep and rocky. We enjoy nice conditions riding down, cold snow skiers left of the couloir and spring snow on the other side. Two short rappels and we are back in the big snowfield, 10 minutes from the lift…
South Face of the Aiguille du Moine
South faces were really snowy this winter and it seemed that the Aiguille du Moine was skiable. Famous because of a movie about Jean Marc Boivin, this rocky summit has been skied or snowboarded two times in 25 years – both times with a helicopter drop. On the 21st of February, Luca Rolli, Davide and I started early from the Requin refuge in direction of the Moine. On the way up we join Francesco and Stefano who slept in the Couvercle hut, After 3 hours climbing up frozen snow we ridge the summit around 10 am. To wait or not to wait…we decide to go before it gets too warm. Most of the way down is hard snow, which makes each turn we dare to do a bit more exposed on a snowboard than skis. The middle third was nice spring snow and we enjoyed safer and softer turns. It was a first descent by fair means.
Chardonnet
In the middle of March, Davide, Luca and I went to check out a nice couloir just below Chardonnet that you can see from Grand Montets. I had seen it for the first time two days before, riding at Grand Montets with my girlfriend Jess Venables on a powder day. It seems that nobody has skied it yet, even if it has one of the shortest approach you can find in Chamonix…
Dropping in on the Chardonnet couloir
We climbed to the top of the couloir quiet fast, in an amazing landscape, so close from the ski slopes. The snow is pretty good on the way down, a bit hard on top and getting more and more melted as we go down… another nice day away from the crowd.
Les Drus and the Flammes de Pierres
What better place to check out a line than from home? You can watch a line with binoculars everyday with the different lights of the day. I was lucky to ride the North face of Aiguille du Plan last year, after one month spying the line from home. This winter, discussions with Davide brought up a couloir in the Flammes de Pierres. Back home one afternoon, Jess talked to me about the same couloir – just right of Les Drus as seen from the valley. After a few weeks watching the couloir from home, we decided to have a go with Davide. It was not as snowy as we would like so we prepared for some snowboard alpinism.
Dropping in on the Flammes Des Pierres – Jess Couloir
On the 25th of March, we warmed up in the icy couloir Rectiligne and then got over to our couloir quite fast and easily. The climbing crux was not as steep as we thought but it took us one hour for a sixty meters pitch of mixed climbing. The rest was easier with a few mixed steps and a couloir filled with deep snow. On the way down we rode 40cm of cold sugary snow, perfect conditions… but it took us awhile to install 2 rappels and belay ourselves on a short section. Let’s call it snowboard alpinism. We will come back next year to find more snowy conditions hopefully. I know where to check the line from…
– Julien Herry
Images courtesy of Davide Capozzi, Julien Herry and Luca Rolli
Want to ride with Julien? Check him out at www.picaguide.com
