On Monday I met up with KenR who is over from the States for a few weeks touring. As it was both warm and very windy we decided just to tour up to the Charmant Som in the Chartreuse. We decided to take the more interesting Cottaves route. There was probably 70cm of snow in the village at 900 meters which is pretty good, even for February. It was warm in the valley but pretty soon got windy so we didn’t stop for long to take photos (ken’s camera froze up). You can see how the wind has scoured the snow leaving just the old ski tracks.

The summit was too windy even to remove skins so we descended a bit. The snow was heavy powder on a firmish base but it tended to sluff quite a bit. At the col de Maubouchet we descended via the secret Maubouchet valley after spending a few minutes contemplating the steep north face where local skier Olivier Cordeuil lost his life in an avalanche a couple of weeks previously.

The snow was much better in this sheltered north-west facing valley with some good powder, especially through the trees (or glades as Ken calls them). Luc had given us a tip to avoid a long skin at the end, this was to cut right as the valley enters the trees and we were surprised that this led to another glace then open east facing slopes that brought us down to just the other side of the Cottaves village without all the “ski sanglier” through the woods. Excellent.

http://pistehors.com/backcountry/wiki/Isere-Drome/Charmant-Som-From-Les-Cottaves