Tue, 26 January 2021
Minimum altitude: 600 meters
Distance: 9.3 km
Slope Aspect: East
Vertical Climbed: 600 meters (1,969 feet)
Vertical Descended: 600 meters
Rating: 3.3
Avalanche Risk: 3
Snowline: 610
First off I beached my car on deep snow, trying to turn for the parking. I should have immediately parked when I saw the road was white. The issue was I was very close to a cliff and every time I tried to move forwards or backwards the car slid closer to the edge. Then I thought, "I've got a plan". I got my avalanche shovel out and cleared the road from under the front wheels back about 5 meters, down to the verge and tarmac. I was able to reverse back to safety and return to the car park but made good the ski touring track before I left.
The climb is a bit long on a series of traverses where you don't gain much height. I saw a track that climbs directly up the hill on the map later and maybe this would be a good idea, at least for the start. Because of the car shenanigans I didn't have time to reach the summit, I'll have to come back when it snows next. Instead I skied down the Couloir des Chênaies until it joined a large forest trail then took this and the road, which I knew had skiable snow, rather than risk the forest below 1000m which really didn't look that skiable.
50cm of fresh snow in the couloir. Already a few tracks from early birds but generally good skiing although one or two logs.
