Haute Route 2003
European Alps - April 16-24
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| In April, Larry Goldie and Canadian guide Grant Statham teamed
up to lead a trip on the fabled European Haute route from Chamonix,
France to Zermatt, Switzerland. It was a strong group of friends
mostly from the Seattle area, with the addition of one Canadian,
Andrea Petzold. Nat Brace organized the group, recruiting his
sister Sarah, and friends Louis Gordon, Bill Pope and Ted Lawrence
who is currently living in London. The trip was very successful
with almost perfect weather and great conditions on the route.
This is a trip that we are likely to offer annually. |
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| We met in Chamonix at the Hotel L’arve, right on
the banks of the river L’arve. We spent 2 nights
here, the first with a pretrip meeting, and the next getting
ready to leave for 8 more days! |
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| The first day is a shakedown day skiing the Valle Blanche
out of Chamonix. After riding a gondola up nearly 9000
vertical feet, we hike down onto the glacier du geant for
some skills training. This photo is taken from the top
of the Augille du Midi (top station of Gondola) looking
down at the other skiers descending toward the glacier.
The descent is quite exposed and we chose to wear crampons
to increase security. |
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| Another photo from the Augille du midi,
this shot shows the terrain the route travels through
on the way to Zermatt. Several landmarks can be seen including
the Grand Combin (large peak in middle distance) and the
Matterhorn (just right of Grand Combin in far distance). |
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| One of the early technical difficulties on the trip involves
descending from the Col du Chardoney. We used the ropes
here to belay/ lower each skier down a well worn trench
in the very steep slope. Here Sarah starts the descent. |
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| Here we sit outside the Trient hut, our first mountain
hut along the way. Luxuries include cold beer, hut slippers,
wine with dinner and warm soft bunks to sleep in. |
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| The next day we descend the Val d’ arpette. Over
4000 vertical feet of downhill from the hut into the charming
little town of Champex. Here Ted enjoys some great spring
snow low on the decent. We came through the col in the
ridge behind him earlier that morning. |
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| This is the morning of day 6 and the crux
of the classic route. We are leaving the Valsorey hut and
preparing to
climb up and over the Plateau du coliour, a shoulder of
the Grand Combin. Here you can see several skiers packing
up to leave with skis on their packs and crampons on their
feet. In the background is Mount Velan, a great ski objective.
We had a great tour on its slopes 2 days prior. |
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| The following day we are climbing up a
seldom climbed variation of the route called les Portons.
A spectacular
high plateau surrounded by huge peaks, yet with relatively
gentle terrain. Here Bill climbs up with the Grand Combin
in the background. |
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| Most of us would agree that our lunch stop on day 7 was
about as spectacular a place to have a break as anywhere
we had ever been. Here Larry waves to the approaching skiers. |
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| The following morning we left early to
take advantage of the best snow conditions for the more
than 25 km we had to go to Zermatt. We cross 3 high passes
that morning, then enjoy 7500 vertical feet and about
14 km of downhill into Zermatt. |
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| With a bonus day in Zermatt since we
never used our extra weather day we went for a day tour.
After riding a chairlift to the top of the Zermatt ski
area, we climbed the Briethorn (4164m) and skied down
the Shwartxor glacier. This was certainly one of the wildest
ski descents any of us had done. Our route down included
skiing through a good sized icefall and across several
“no fall zones”. Here Sarah and Andrea tour
up to our lunch spot with the icefall we just skied though
behind them on the left. |
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| The route ended at the snout of the glacier with a tarzan
style downclimb of a fixed rope to get over a small icy
cliff. Here Larry tests the rope. |
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| The Matterhorn as seen from Zermatt. While many think
of Zermatt as a one mountain town for this view, there
are a number of large peaks in the area offering many great
skiing and climbing opportunities. |
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