Ski Touring: A pulled tooth - 1,869 m. (6,132 ft)

Sat, 27 January 2018

Technical

Minimum altitude: 1,198 meters

Distance: 7.5 km

Slope Aspect: South-West

Vertical Climbed: 942 meters (3,091 feet)

Vertical Descended: 936 meters

Rating: 4.1

Avalanche Risk: 2

Snowline: 1,230

Description

After Chapp's report on skitour (Virgule) I had no intention of going to Pas d'Oeille today but the prairie below the Dent de Crolleswas tempting. 15cm of fresh snow on a hard base. I stopped at the foot of the cliffs. There was a track in the Pas but I was not tempted. It was hot, + 5C and the sun was strong. I was worried about purges that I'd seen before on this exposed and restricted climb.

The prairie was good, but I could still feel the frozen base with my skis but the fresh snow was fairly well consolidated. At the bottom of the slope, I thought a jet-fighter had flowin overhead at 300 meters but no, it was a purge at Pas d'Oeille, luckily no one was climbing at the time but it could have been fatal. My gut instincts were right.

I finished with a climb to the Pravouta summit. A little dessert. The south-east face had powder that was heavier than the Dent but it skied better as you no longer felt the frozen base A low 4/5 for the conditions.

Parking full at 10 am this morning. Lots of people.

Conditions

Fresh snow, more or less consolidated, on a frozen base.

Route


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