Aiguille Du Midi, Face Nord, Eugster Couloir 1st May
Posted: Fri May 01, 2009 9:56 am
A line I've been staring up at since first visiting Chamonix many moons ago. It's a little 1500m 55 degree line 
(small red dots)
Where everyone else puts their skis on to do the 'Vallee Blanche' we drop into the face
Looking back at the beginning
First few turns on the upper face
Rhiannon enjoying some steep turns
Jonno self portrait with Rhiannon behind and me in the background sidestepping an icy bit.
Guy and Jonno with the Telepherique close enough to see the tourists
Approaching the 'demi lune' where you decide 'Eugster or Mallory'
Jonno enjoying some of the softer snow
From the same vantage point as Jonno skis below me to enter the upper Couloir you get a sense of the exposure
Rhiannon standing on the 'demi lune' with the Aiguille du Plan behind
In the upper Couloir, a little ways above our first rappel
In the mid section of the couloir below the first rappel
Same place, looking down, it cliffs out about 40m below me.
The second rappel, we did this one skis on, not so good for the health of your skis
Looking down the final section, we had 2 short rappels in here to avoid the sections others choose to huck
At last standing on the cone of avie debris at the foot of the couloir, feeling exhausted
A great day out. Very scary, not such good snow conditions - probably 100+m of side stepping with an ice axe
But now when I look up at the Midi it looks different somehow
My Bouquetin prototypes worked well. I do have to round off my tails a bit. The completely flat completely square tails do tend to catch at the wrong moment. But they do stick in the snow well when you take them off.
(small red dots)Where everyone else puts their skis on to do the 'Vallee Blanche' we drop into the face
Looking back at the beginning
First few turns on the upper face
Rhiannon enjoying some steep turns
Jonno self portrait with Rhiannon behind and me in the background sidestepping an icy bit.
Guy and Jonno with the Telepherique close enough to see the tourists
Approaching the 'demi lune' where you decide 'Eugster or Mallory'
Jonno enjoying some of the softer snow
From the same vantage point as Jonno skis below me to enter the upper Couloir you get a sense of the exposure
Rhiannon standing on the 'demi lune' with the Aiguille du Plan behind
In the upper Couloir, a little ways above our first rappel
In the mid section of the couloir below the first rappel
Same place, looking down, it cliffs out about 40m below me.
The second rappel, we did this one skis on, not so good for the health of your skis
Looking down the final section, we had 2 short rappels in here to avoid the sections others choose to huck
At last standing on the cone of avie debris at the foot of the couloir, feeling exhausted
A great day out. Very scary, not such good snow conditions - probably 100+m of side stepping with an ice axe
But now when I look up at the Midi it looks different somehow
My Bouquetin prototypes worked well. I do have to round off my tails a bit. The completely flat completely square tails do tend to catch at the wrong moment. But they do stick in the snow well when you take them off.