Chamonix Wrap-up; Skiing

Augille du Midi

I've wondered what it would be like to live in Chamonix over the years. The town is host to one of the biggest outdoor tourism locations on the face of the planet since there is any activity to be had within about an hour from the town square. Not to mention that the best cheeses, meats and tasty beverages of all types support the gnostic experience.

A view from the Augille du Tacul

Chamonix is perhaps best known for its skiing first, and then its climbing. If funny that Gordon and I didn't even have Chamonix on our radar when planning our tour for the UIAA International World Ice Climbing Competitions in 2011. The chain of events that happened bring about a cancellation of the competition in Val Daone, Italy spurred us on to find other places to go and other things to do.

Since Stephanie was so gracious to show us around we gained far more than we ever could have form competing in Val Daone. L'Usine and the Zoo were two of the highlights, but having a chance to shoehorn in some skiing in Chamonix was great. Here's a great clip of some of the skiing we did by that Lukasz Warzecha put together:

Behind the Scenes - Skiing in Chamonix from Lukasz Warzecha - LWimages.co.uk on Vimeo.

Behind the Scenes - Skiing in Chamonix

I would have embedded the video here, but Austria won't let me do it.

Unfortunately, I also heard from Margaret Wheeler, President of the AMGA, that all Aspirant Guiding for 2011 is prohibited in France due to a major overhaul of the French program. I have heard from locals in Europe that this has to do in large part to the fact that aspirant guides were trying so hard to push the limits to prove themselves that there was a high mortality rate of aspirant guides. I can fully appreciate this since I have been there, done that, in the AMGA program. It's an unspoken peer pressure imposed by an adrenergic system fueled with one-upmanship that contributes to aspiring guides to push it too hard, too fast to reach a standard that may or may not be tenable objectively or subjectively. I lost a few friends last year to this exact issue. I'm glad they are looking at this problem.

1/24/2010 -1/25/2010
Monster skiing in Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee to Saas-Almagel and more…
The last two days have been amazing in the ski department. Skiing off-piste terrain within a ski area on glaciers is super fun. I was able to log 7100m of downhill skiing with the Swiss Guides and we had some high-end clients from the good-old USA. They were from Backcountry Magazine and doing a photo shoot, so we were able to ski some good steep terrain and through a load of complex glaciated terrain.
We did a series of descents including skiing to another town…again. This route is part of the Haute Route that goes to Chamonix, France. Justin and I skied some of this the other day when we toured to Zermatt. Once we arrived on the main road in Saas-Amagel we were able to call for a taxi ride back to Saas-Fee. Easy.
I got a great workout in and am looking forward to one more day of skiing.
Meanwhile, Justin and I are trying to put the plans together for our egress from Saas-Fee and onto Rabenstein for yet another ice climbing competition. As competitors from the USA, we’ve been well received to a “locals” competition and we are really excited about it.
I think my hair is getting longer as the weeks go on. There’s too much going on and there’s hardly time to spend on the loads of things that usually hang over my head.
Gordon McArthur from Canada has already come and gone and should be getting home sometime tomorrow. The time is flying and our World Ice Climbing competition circuit has taken on a life of its own. It’s nothing like competing in Ouray where there is only one long weekend. Our circuit is a serious road trip.