Ski Decent of Gaversutti Colouir: A friend who is willing to wait.


At the last minute I was allowed a week off work and given the opportunity I decided to head to the
Alps, ideally to continue with my NorthBASE project, but the conditions were looking dubious. I kept on reading past reports of my new objective, the Schmid route on the Matterhorn. Reports such as: “Having nightmarish rock” didn’t give me much hope. My friend had bailed on the route in October and with shorter daylight hours maybe it was best I left it for another trip. But Charley had a few routes in mind to play on in Chamonix.

I needed a new pair of gloves; after climbing the Eiger had shredded my last ones, I went in Snell sports and came out with more then I had anticipated: a new ski setup. Straight on the credit card.

Our plan was to skin into the Rebbufet gully on the West face of La Tour Ronde. It had been an exceptionally dry season and not even a sign of an ice smear on the route. Our other backup routes were just as dry. Charley pointed out the Gaversutti colouir and we watched a team climb with their skis, my thoughts started to wonder, 45 degree slope; Can I ski this steep? What are the other options? And what are the consequences if I fall? It would be a good chance to test the skis out and began to calculate my decision.

Charley wasn’t keen for the ski decent and even less keen to climb the PD gully, just to come back down. So I gave him my down jacket and started the climb up. Crossing the bergashrund wasn’t to bad, but the pitch of ice above it, would be unski-able for me, so I made note of a reference point at which I would stop at to abseil down on the ski decent.

After the ice fall I experienced the worst hot aches I’ve ever had, my face was tingling due to the pain in my hands. I wonder how hot aches compare to bullet ants in the amazon rain-forest, noted for the most intense pain ever.

I carried on up the gully out of sight of Charley. Today was a steep learning curve for me, so many new variables, even little things like a new rucksack made the smallest tasks different, as well as taking my skis off my rucksack and putting them on while hanging from a precarious sling. Gearing up and putting my skis on wasn’t an easy process. The snow was rutted, crusted and steep. My right eye was failing me, going in and out of focus, I put that down to driving for 20 hours with my contact lenses, and then going straight to 3000 meters the day after.

This would be a good marker for what I’m able to achieve, a stepping stone for future descents and projects. I looked down the slope. Steep enough that I couldn’t see the bottom. I noted where I could make turns, and certain rocks on the slope to avoid. With every turn I felt my calves and quads burning, really having to dig my edges in on the hard snow.

My reference point came into view and I made myself safe on a sling, geared up to down-climb the ice fall and over the bergeschrund. Charley was waiting at the bottom, freezing, having waited for 2 hours. He told me he had to get moving to warm up being in the shadows for the duration, watching the sun going further and further from where he was waiting. He skied out of the shadow of La Tour Ronde and I looked back up at the route, thankful that Charley had waited in the bitter cold to give me this chance.