On the way back from the Petit Som I decided to finish the day with a little climb to the summit of the Chamechaude, highest peak in the Chartreuse range. Rather than do the normal route I had my eye on the direct descent via a wide couloir
After a rapid climb to the summit taking just over an hour I scanned about for the descent. It was cold at the summit cross, a bitter wind was blowing and clouds were obscuring the sun. A small plaque and flower had been placed on the cross for Olivier Cordeuil who had died in an avalanche on the Charmant Som just opposite. I pulled up my collar, a chill ran down my spine. It is a beautiful spot but not somewhere to leave your life, not at 33 years old anyway.
The souls of fallen alpinists fly with the Choucas
The summit and couloir still had powder snow. Rare to even find snow on the summit which gets pummelled by each weather systems tracking over the Alps
The exit couloir was tricky, a couple of people had skied the route yesterday and scraped off most of the snow. Below the snow was crusty for a couple of hundred meters but the route exits onto the ski runs of the Col de Porte which were in good condition.
Route Card
Mountain Range
Start: Col de Porte (1326m)
Orientation Ouest
Summit: 2082m
Vertical: 750m
Topoguide rating: 4.2/E2
Climb by the normal route (blue 1. in the photo), descend by route 8. (in red)
eviter la barre qui bloque le fin du couloir par la gauche.
Précautions prevoir bout de corde (20-25m) pour assurer le fin de couloir
From the summit cross descend directly, the summit is convex so you’l have to trust me on this. You will arrive at a cliff band that blocks the entrance to the couloir. Take this on the left (Canyon side). At mid slope there is a small drop of 3 meters which you’ll have to negociate as best you can (a huck maybe?). This leads into the second half the couloir which is blocked by a 10 meter cliff. Before you reach this traverse to the left to find a small and very steep couloir which you can side slip down (there is no room to turn). At the exit traverse to the left (south) to rejoin the main route. A short 20 meter rope is a good idea.
