Sun, 8 March 2009
Vertical Climbed: 950 meters (3,117 feet)
Vertical Descended: 950 meters
Rating: 3.1
Avalanche Risk: 3
Snowline: 820
From the Combet parking, follow the road to the Château des Bois. Then take the path on the left towards the northwest which cuts the road. You will quickly reach the Mont Plat (chalet). Then the Raveyrot, no need to climb down to the col du Marquisat (60m of difference in altitude). The ascent to Crêt de Chalam is quite steep. Possibility to see people at the top, a parking is not far to the north. Take advantage of the nice south-east slope to go down to the beginning of the forest around 1250 meters (100m of D+). Go up to the Raveyrot and take the meadows to the southeast. Enter an obvious couloir (les Belly) which joins the forest road at about 1150 meters. If the snow allows it, try to go down directly to the Combet by an entrance of the forest (path indicated on the IGN map) Possibility to go on with the Reculet passing by the Miérette and the bridge (be careful, rocky bands in the forest).
Trip Report
This side of the valley gets skied but not regularly. The snow was heavy and stuck to my skins and there was no track made by other skiers. 800 meters of breaking trail in heavy powder. I climbed the steepest track through the forest as this gave the best ROI. I almost cracked when I realized I would have to ski down to a col before climbing the last slope to the Chalam. The last 200 meters to the summit is steep and when you get to the top don’t be surprised to see snowshoers, there is a car park about 1km away on the gentle north-west side. From the summit ski down the south-east slopes. These were in heavy powder which wasn’t sticking well to the base. Then a reskin before some gentle prairies then the steep “couloir des Bellys”. There is a step in the second half of this couloir which I skied around on steep slopes on the right bank. The snow was very poorly bonded to the base and each turned kicked off a sluff, not particuarly harmful in the woods but a reminder that conditions on open slopes could be sketchy. Tiring but a nice route with an attractive summit and quite skiable in the woods.
Fresh snow didn't stick well to the base between 1200-1400 - purges in the couloir on the descent but nothing nasty.
