I'm on Extremely Canadian's tour to La Grave. There are 6 of us, 2 Americans and 4 Brits, plus 2 EC coaches and 2 local guides. Local guides makes the calls on safety and conditions.
It last snowed here Feb. 6, so conditions are less than ideal; It's somewhat analogous to the situation in Chile 6 months ago, particularly at Arpa snowcat, which is similarly nearly all ungroomed terrain.
Of course the scale here is much bigger, as it would be comparing to nearly anything. The gondolas rise from the town at 4,700 to the P1 station at 5,600, the P2 station at 7,800 and the top station at 10,500. A poma on glacier goes up to 11,700.
The glacier and terrain in general down to about 9,000 is still winter snow, but a mix of chalk, wind sift and some irregularities, similar to high south exposures at Arpa last September.
Exposure is mostly north, and while it was -3C at 10,500 it had obviously been much warmer sometime in February, because everything below 8,500 had been through a melt/freeze and most of it remained firm. Tree line is about 7,000 and getting down to the P1 from there was mostly frozen granular traverses and bumps.
The main objective here is to ski the long couloirs that are much more abundant than in lift accessible North America. Sunday was mostly a warmup day while they assessed our skiing. Monday we did a couple of couloirs. The Patou was in the 35 degree range but the top had a ledge dropoff into a short section only one ski length wide. So the guides used this the opportunity to show us how step over and slide in with aid of a rope. The Bear Couloir was probably only 30 degrees, but it narrowed to a crux, and since it faced east and we skied it at 4PM snow conditions were the biggest challenge. Some of my Baldy lower chair experience came in handy here.
Monday was windy up top and some clouds moved in by 6-7PM. They are calling for 6 inches or so tomorrow. La Grave may not be an ideal place to ski in foul weather, so we might go somewhere else. Les Deux Alpes, Alp d'Huez and Serre Chevalier are all fairly close. The EC and local guides make the call each day where to ski, so as at Las Lenas in 2005 Extremely Canadian will adjust to circumstances on the fly to make the best of each situation.
We are provided free demos from a Rossignol shop in town, which EC strongly encourages since La Grave tends to be tough on equipment. I used my new Mantras Sunday and the Rossi demo B94 at 176cm Monday. The demos are close enough that I will probably spare the Mantras the hardpack and rocks the rest of the week.
The Hotel Edelweiss where we are staying is also the Euro test center for Black Diamond, so I might try the Verdict or Kilowatt later.
It last snowed here Feb. 6, so conditions are less than ideal; It's somewhat analogous to the situation in Chile 6 months ago, particularly at Arpa snowcat, which is similarly nearly all ungroomed terrain.
Of course the scale here is much bigger, as it would be comparing to nearly anything. The gondolas rise from the town at 4,700 to the P1 station at 5,600, the P2 station at 7,800 and the top station at 10,500. A poma on glacier goes up to 11,700.
The glacier and terrain in general down to about 9,000 is still winter snow, but a mix of chalk, wind sift and some irregularities, similar to high south exposures at Arpa last September.
Exposure is mostly north, and while it was -3C at 10,500 it had obviously been much warmer sometime in February, because everything below 8,500 had been through a melt/freeze and most of it remained firm. Tree line is about 7,000 and getting down to the P1 from there was mostly frozen granular traverses and bumps.
The main objective here is to ski the long couloirs that are much more abundant than in lift accessible North America. Sunday was mostly a warmup day while they assessed our skiing. Monday we did a couple of couloirs. The Patou was in the 35 degree range but the top had a ledge dropoff into a short section only one ski length wide. So the guides used this the opportunity to show us how step over and slide in with aid of a rope. The Bear Couloir was probably only 30 degrees, but it narrowed to a crux, and since it faced east and we skied it at 4PM snow conditions were the biggest challenge. Some of my Baldy lower chair experience came in handy here.
Monday was windy up top and some clouds moved in by 6-7PM. They are calling for 6 inches or so tomorrow. La Grave may not be an ideal place to ski in foul weather, so we might go somewhere else. Les Deux Alpes, Alp d'Huez and Serre Chevalier are all fairly close. The EC and local guides make the call each day where to ski, so as at Las Lenas in 2005 Extremely Canadian will adjust to circumstances on the fly to make the best of each situation.
We are provided free demos from a Rossignol shop in town, which EC strongly encourages since La Grave tends to be tough on equipment. I used my new Mantras Sunday and the Rossi demo B94 at 176cm Monday. The demos are close enough that I will probably spare the Mantras the hardpack and rocks the rest of the week.
The Hotel Edelweiss where we are staying is also the Euro test center for Black Diamond, so I might try the Verdict or Kilowatt later.
