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La Chamoniarde mountain conditions report for 22 March 2024.


Some summary information:

Conscrits

Two hours of portage before the Mauvais Pas. You can hear the water flowing from Tré la Grande, but for the moment it's fine. The north face of Lée Blanche was skied on 20/03 in quite good conditions (no ice). The Dômes de Miage has been done there and back via the Col des Dômes. A team also did the traverse with descent via the Bérangère (watch out for cornices on the ridge to climb back to the summit). The Bérangère there and back is ok.

Grands Mulets

Pending the opening of the refuge scheduled for Easter weekend, here are the first observations in the sector: the lower track on the Jonction is blocked by a crevasse (ok 50m below). The higher Jonction path is fine for the moment (keep your skins on for the way up, and keep your ropes on for the way down). Watch this space.

At the moment, the north ridge of the Goûter is ice, not snow. A bit of activity on the Plateaux: nothing to report apart from a few serac falls, one of which crossed the Plateaux. From the slope below the Vallot, conditions become more technical, requiring a good crampon technique (and good crampons!): ice and "bullet hard" snow. The north face has not yet been skied.

Cosmiques

The snow was very wind-affected, packed and covered with orange dust during Wednesday night's storm. 

The arête Laurence and the Cosmiques arête are being steadily retracked (snow not too deep on the approach). The traverse of the Pointes Lachenal had been tracked earlier in the week in decent conditions. 

As far as goulottes: the Chéré was climbed in " fossillised ice " conditions. Climbers on the Modica-Noury (see the cahier de course on the website), the Super Couloir. M6 Solar was climbed in rather dry conditions.

Torino

The refuge has been open since March 1, but there are still few people in the sector. Some activity on the mixed routes of Le Flambeau. The Tour Ronde normal route was climbed on 19/03 with a descent on the Brenva glacier. The Maudit gullies are still very snow-laden. 

There are still 4 equipped abseils at 30m on the left bank of the old Toule stairs (at present, you can descend without abseiling).

Argentière

Little has changed since our last update, as the faces are still very loaded (only short weather windows). The Col des Cristaux and the NE face of the Courtes (very dry at the top) have been skied. No recent activity on the Aiguille d'Argentière, but no noticeable change (still at least one 20m abseil when descending the Glacier du Milieu). The Y-shaped couloir narrows are ok. You will need to spend the night at the refuge, as things are heating up fast and furiously! The col du Passon moraine is starting to dry out (skis off twice to reach the village of Le Tour).

Albert 1er

Good snow conditions: the cols du Tour, Supérieur du Tour, Fenêtre de Saleinaz, Col du Pissoir, Col du Midi des Grands have all been tracked in good conditions. The Aiguille du Tour is in good condition on the normal route. The couloir de la Table has not been climbed (visually very beautiful, but the entrance is very loaded). 

The Chardonnet has not yet had a visit and the gullies are quite dry. Petite Fourche also looks dry.

Aiguilles Rouges

The traverse from the Col des Crochues to the Col de Bérard is very tricky and exposed due to hard snow and avalanche debris. The crossing of the small bridge before the Bérard buvette is increasingly narrow.

The Dards, Belvédère and Beugeant cols heading towards Le Buet have all been done.

 

Hiking conditions have hardly changed since our last update.

 

 

Translated with kind permission from an original report by La Chamoniarde.

Readers are reminded that conditions in mountain environments are prone to (sometimes rapid) change and that they should use their own best judgement when visiting them.