Day off at the chalet so teamed up with David and Asa who run a chalet at the top of the road to go ski touring. Destination – Les Contamines and Col des Chasseurs. We have toured over the Col de la many times and looked up to the Chasseurs but never been before.
We met at the cafe at the lift station and headed up to the top ridge to start from the top of the chairlift de la Buche Croisee. The touring up to the Col de la Cicle is all fairly gentle but the climb up to access the ridge over to the Chasseurs was a different matter. The rock had not been frozen solid and so it was all a little loose and fragile. Then on the traverse we encountered sugar snow on a steep gradient. Our touring skins may have been gripping the top sugar but that was sliding rapidly down hill on the rest of it. A backtrack to find a better ascent was required.
Lunch at the top of the col and then a shaded descent on 40 degrees of breakable crust with patches of soft wind blown snow – Lovely.
All in all a great adventure day out of the valley.
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- At the top of the Col des Chasseurs
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- Breezy putting the first turn in
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- Skins on
