Grand Paradiso

I just arrived back in Cham after a couple months of work in Stockholm. This time i´m here with a goal. In the beginning of May I will have the entry test for the Swedish mountain guide course. To be well prepared I decided to come a couple of weeks in advance.

Already before leaving I saw that the weather was great but windy. The first day in Cham me and some friends had the idea to have a look at Tour Ronde or Aiguille du Tacul. But it was very windy and the motivation in the group not high enough to push on so we decided to descend the Vallee Blanche and went bouldering instead. At the end of the day we went past Plum´s office a ski binding brand. We went there to sort out some binding issues but it ended with a fully guided tour in there factory. Very interesting to see and they are definitely passionate about their products. Maybe switch to plum next time I need a binding!?

me and Martina packing before the first 700 meters of ascent.

 I heard of Gabriel that he and 4 others we heading for Grand Paradiso in Italy. Being fun to catch up with friends and being quite a good mountain to acclimatize I asked if I could join.

We headed from Chamonix through the tunnel into Italy and went up the valley Valsavarenche until the road ends. From hear we put on our skis and had a 700 meter ascent to the hut Vittorio Emanuelle.  We had to carry our skis once in a while from snowpatch to snowpatch but the higher we got the better the snow. With loads of time and great weather we took it easy and arrived well in time to the hut to enjoy the sun some more before dinner.

Gabriel is avoiding the snow

I can see the powder!

Luke Jarmey, James Sleigh and Tim Oliver

First stop: Refugio Vittorio Emanuele

Summitday:
With cold temperatures we decided to take it easy and take the late breakfast at 7. After some packing and gear sorting we headed of. Our group had grown during the morning because another 3 friends had joined in early morning coming directly from Cham. Being such a big group and having save conditions we soon spread out and everyone was walking at it´s own paste meeting up every once in a while. Switching to and from ski crampons and normal crampons me and Tim Oliver soon arrived first of the group just below the summit. Here we left the skis and roped up for the final section of rock. This section is pretty spectacular from being on a big glacier/snowfield you´re all of a sudden on a ridge with quite a drop on one side. It was pretty crowded on the summit so after the summit picture we started to make or way down.

Me an Tim Oliver on the summit

Crowded on the summit ridge

The ski down was a lot of fun. On the upper part was still frozen solid but an even surface, so almost like a groomer. We had to put our crampons on for a part with pure ice. Further down the sun had done her job and softened the snow to perfect spring corn. Back at the hut we enjoyed some food and an Italian espresso in the sun waiting for the others.

James Sleigh enjoying spring corn

From the Hut we descended together and found some very interesting skiing. Al in al we managed to more or less ski all the way down to the car. We celebrated the summit with a great pizza in Courmayeur, and drove back to Chamonix.
Now the weather turned bad so all eyes are on the weather forecast, we will have to see where the next adventure will be.

Luke Jarmey on it´s way down.

Gabriel showing his determination of skiing al the way.