A ski mountaineering trip to the Ecrins National Park, French Alps. Part 1

Many years ago I almost skied La Grave but conditions were awful.  Since then, as my passion for ski mountaineering has developed I have always had the Ecrins on my list of places to explore.  Steep skiing, gnarly mountains, glaciers and changeable weather, it is not the place for the novice ski tourer!  However, all of these factors have a huge draw to the ambitious and slightly too enthusiastic ski mountaineer (i.e. me!).

 

This season there was an unguided Eagle Ski Club meet in the Ecrins, and having read the tour description of 'daily climbs of 1500m, abseils and narrow couloirs' I applied to join the trip.  The peaks themselves did not particularly appeal, but rather the scenery and the chance to ski there (this would turn out to be fortunate as the conditions we had were challenging to say the least!).

Crossing the Bergschrund on the way to Col de la Girose

Saturday 28th March

Upon arrival at La Grave, we knew the plan would have to change, fresh snow, a bad weather forecast, high winds and avalanche risk forced us to be extremely flexible all week.

Checking out the other side of the Col

Sunday 29th March

Sunday was a shake down day.  We rode one of the first lifts up La Grave to the top station, just before it broke down - 5 minutes later and we would have had no skiing; and skinned up to head to Col de la Girose at 3514m.  Initially approaching it from the North, we came across a big bergschrund on steeper terrain that had been boot-packed previously, so instead we skied down and made easier progress from the western side, where a steep skin was all that was needed.  Looking down the col, it was steep, equipped with bolts for abseiling, but also looked like a fun ski (with cliffs far below, so not one for falling down!).  By now the fog was rising and it was difficult to work out conditions, so we headed back down to the button lift on the glacier.  From the top of this we had a great ski down the Glacier de la Girose and the Clot de la Cala to the mid station.  Compasses and GPS out, it was a good test of our navigation and route-finding in the fog, luckily the glacier wasn't super crevassed!

Let the navigating begin...

Yogi tea (free from the lift station) accompanied transceiver search practise and crevasse rescue techniques before much discussion on what we should do for the rest of the week.

What a way to start, in the rain!

Monday 30th March

We opted to spend one more night in La Grave and do a day tour from Les Boussardes near Le Lauzet, East of La Grave.  Cold weather meant a later start and after 15 minutes of walking we reached the snow line and started skinning up the Vallon du Fontenil towards Pointe de L'Etendard.  Despite the recent strong NW winds as we turned up towards the peak (around 2300m) the slopes looked loaded and steep.  Instead we skinned to around 2450m towards the Crete de Roche Bernard, and made the long ski back down.  Initially in breakable slab, latterly on hard snow dodging trees, grass and small rocks!  Spring touring at it's finest.

Making the best of a bad weather day, ok skiing and not too foggy

Tuesday 31st March

Luckily our first few nights in huts were winter rooms, so no bookings had been cancelled, and initially only the start of the plan was altered.  Today we drove down the road to the car park at Arsine, Villar D'Arene to head into the Refuge de L'Alpe de Villar-d'Arene.  A long slog in the sun and strong winds up the valley ensued, including some exciting skinning beside running water along the last of the snow (the ski home was not going to be something to look forward to!)  Upon arrival at the hut we dumped extra gear and headed back out into the wind South towards Pic de Chamoissiere, hoping to get as far as we could safely, knowing we probably would not summit.  Turning round at 2500m gave us a great ski back, filled the afternoon and stretched the legs a bit too.

It's not every day you get to hike up the snow alongside running water!

Finally some sun on the approach to the Alpe hut

Wednesday 1st April
Cold and windy weather again meant we had a more relaxed start at around 8:30am for the Refuge Adele Planchard.  An initial descent followed by a long valley skin at a gentle gradient let our legs warm up so much so that we continued on steadily to do the Grand Ruine, 3765m, too!  Many parties were heading up towards the Col Emile Pic, which sadly later avalanched killing three people and catching several others that afternoon.  We were due to cross it today, but the extremely high winds had put us off, not only from fears of being blow over, but from an avalanche point of view too.

What a way to start the day, crossing old debris

In the valley we met a friendly guide who recommended passing over the Col des Neiges on our way to the hut as it was more scenic, and seeing as it was not much further we took his advice and had a great journey up the Glacier de la Casse Deserte.  Crossing the col on foot with crampons and axe gave us a short mountaineering passage, which was exposed and great fun.  Our legs refreshed we continued onto the peak in very high winds.  A ski depot was made just above the Bergshrund and we booted up the face, plastered in snow and pleased to be moving to keep warm.  Surprisingly, the summit ridge was calmer, with amazing views across the range.

Now it gets more exciting...!

Col des Neiges

Upon arrival at the ski depot three of our skis were missing, including one of mine, S**t... thoughts of skiing down on one ski, not to mention the short skin we would need to do to escape, came to mind and I was hoping that someone else had found it further down the glacier.  Half of the group on varying numbers of skis descended to look for them, while the other half were still descending to the depot.  After ten thigh burning minutes I found my ski (slabby powder snow is hard work even with two skis on!).  And, luckily further down we found the other two.  Phew!  What a way to end an 1800m day!

You can just make out the slab that has gone in the photo

Later that evening we found out about the avalanche on the Col, and we subsequently decided not to pass it the following day.  An avalanche was also set off above the hut by one person who arrived late, minus one ski.  We had skied the slope earlier in the day along with several other parties, and it was a sobering experience.

I should mention here that all of the huts were amazing at changing our reservations and updating us on conditions between various huts, as well as advice.  Most huts are friendly, but in the Ecrins they went the extra mile.

To be continued in part two... the following morning

to be continued in part 2...