Skiers: Punx/Lil Punk
Date: January 5th 2005
Route: Point Du Chardonnet
Aspect: North
Vertical Drop: 300m
The Les Couloirs Du Chardonnet is a 300m, 40 degree shelterd north
facing couloir on the point of chardonnet. With it been easy assemble
from the top of the grattalu chairlift. It has to be the most skied
lines in the espace killy.
On January 5th, lil punk and i decided to ski the les couloirs du
chardonnet. We woke up to flat light and zero visibility, with 15 to 25
mph winds. The temperature at 2100 meters was -15 in the morning,
slowly rising to -10. Then dropping, back down to -20 later in the day.
Fast Forward To 11.00am
After a slow start, we finally reached the bottom of the the col at
11.00am and with no great change in the weather by this time. We
decided to wait it out for 15 minutes, to see if the mist would clear
enough. The weather didn’t improve much. So, we made the decision to
hike up the col, to have a look any way.
Fast Forward To 11.10am
Standing at the top of the couloir. Watching a group of 4 people
setting up an anchor, so they could rappel in, was a joke. Now we were
seriously thinking about turning around, but we waited it out. In the
end lil punk decided he didn’t want to ski the les couloirs du
chardonnet, so i was left to ski it solo in rubbish weather. Not a big
deal.
Fast Forward To 12.00pm
One turn, two turns. I thought fuck it. I may as well side step
down the top section, like every one else did. After i got past the top
section. The snow got a wee bit better. It was still chopped up powder
from the heavy traffic, but still ok to ski. From the exit of the
couloir, i traversed to the right and crossed old avalanche debris.
After a short traverse, i found some fresh powder all the way back to
the trail.