Miage Meander ESC Report

It’s a bit of a misnomer for this tour to be titled a “meander”. A meander implies wandering in a leisurely, unpremeditated fashion with no clear purpose. Well this most enjoyable tour was anything but that. It was well planned combining a heady mixture of energetic ascents and glorious descents and all with a very clear purpose - to extract the maximum amount of enjoyable skiing from a majestic mountain terrain. And mostly in sunny spring weather too. What more could you ask for?

Day One: The slopes around Les Contamines were pretty worn and soft in the mild weather so for our warm up day we headed off to Le Brevent near Chamonix, and a climb to the Col des Aiguilles Crochues and the Breche de Berard. The higher altitude (2,800m) paid dividends as we were treated to a good descent with some powder, some spring and some heavy snow skiing. A scenic route out – and near encounters with bushes, rocks and streams – led us eventually to Le Buet and several beers whilst waiting for the train back to Chamonix.

Day Two: This was the big one. A 1,400m climb out from the CAF Hut in Les Contamines to the Conscrits Hut. With back packs heavily laden with provisions for the next few days the climb started pleasantly through the cool pine forests above Le Cugnon culminating in a skin up to the half way stage at the Refuge Tre la Tete at 1,920m. An omelette and a cool drink reinforced us for the goat like scramble over the rocky Mauvais Pas to gain access to the glacier and the final ascent to the hut. After the seven-hour climb a quick supper and an early night were the order of the day.

Day Three: 7.30 saw us out in brilliantly sunny conditions skinning to the Col de la Berangere (3,425m) with a final roped and cramponed boot up tothe summit. We were well rewarded with a stunning view of the Mont Blanc massif and a long and enjoyable ski back to the hut. With still time to practice our prussic loops and retrievals using the drop off the balcony as a make believe crevasse.

Day Four was one of the highlights of the tour. A 6.30 we struck southwest from the hut across the glacier Tre la Tete to a point below the Glacier du Mont Tondu. Here we put on skins and couteaux and made our way, up towards the Col du Mont Tondu, coming into the first sunshine of the day at about 2800m where the slope levels out towards the col.
Our route lay south over the col where the "path" is suspended above a significant
cliff and there is a fixed metal cable for the security of the traveller. Unfortunately the first 100m of this was still under several feet of snow. So guide Andy rigged up a belay on the col, made out of 2 skis stuck one behind the other in the snow, from which he attached a rope to the first visible permanent fixings on the path. A sling between our harness and the rope made for a safe passage across the first half of the path. However given the steepness of the terrain, the uncertain conditions underfoot (soft snow alternating with ice and rock) and the packs and skis on our backs, we made slow progress. Once at the half way stage we roped onto the fixed cable for the lower half of the descent. This was over bare rock and not easy walking in crampons, especially as most of the path was between 1 and 2 inches wide and at an angle of 60 degrees. With some relief we finally gained the traverse, on forgiving spring snow, around a ridge into the next valley and the Refuge Robert Blanc; a private hut that has very well appointed but unmanned sleeping quarters (and apparently a fine – but padlocked – wine cellar). After a quick snack, and with time now against us, we pressed on skiing down to the Pointe des Lanchettes for an hour’s skin up the wonderfully named Glacier des Glaciers. About 2850m on the west side of the glacier we A-framed our skis, put on our crampons and roped up for the steep slope to the Col des Glaciers 3,083m. This was a steep hot climb which took about half an hour. So the eventual arrival at the col took the status of an event. The view was just fantastic as was the descent which beckoned. The ski down was a blast. The slope north from the Col des Glaciers is wide and long and fairly steep at the top. The snow was deep, soft in places and slabby in others, and it was challenging and exciting. The last couple of hundred metres are on the glacier so we had to pick our way carefully around potential crevasses before the final hike back to the hut.

It doesn’t get much better than that. And as a special reward the guardian treated the group to a shared bucket of warmed water to sluice away the day’s sweat. An energetic day. “What time are we off tomorrow Andy?” Silently he held up one hand. Was that really just one hand – five fingers – five o’clock? Ye Gods!

Day Five: Kitted up with head torches and picking our way through the gloom before dawn it was clear the forecasted front had come through earlier than expected. Three hours later we had called it a day, retreated to the hut and, in intermittent snow, started the long descent back down to the valley. Scrambling once again back over the Mauvais Pas, in the spring warmth the hills became alive with the sound of falling rock and sliding mud. We quickened our pace. Arriving exhausted at the CAF hut in Les Contamines we were treated to the welcoming smile of the guardian Olivier bearing joss sticks to mask our somewhat fruity odour, a superb meal of Salmon en croute and, most importantly, the promise of warm showers!

Day Six: We awoke on our final day to the sight of deep new snow. It had dumped overnight right down to 800m. Well we just had to go out and have one of the best days of the week skiing off piste in deep powder didn’t we?

Guide: Andy Perkins

Party:

Andrew Duncan

John Eales

Trevor Kirsop

Barry Lewis

John Stafford

Report by John Stafford and Andrew Duncan

Photos by John Stafford