Feeling the love. 7:45 battle plans, finally decide to head over to Brevent with a vague plan to avoid the crowds and traverse over to Flegere. Not sure what to expect, with the Aiguille du Midi like a crystal palace, plastered in snow - beautiful, but could high winds have ruined our powder day?
One look at the snow at Planpraz and I knew we were in for a good time. Brevent cablecar not yet opened - interesting. Cut some corners heading down to Col Cornu - holy hell is it good. Light, completely unaffected by wind, knee deep goodness. And ho-ho - Col Cornu chairs are running with nobody on them. So we rock up just as it opens on chair #5. Three or four runs that could only be described as awe-inspiring. Interruped, annoyingly, by a call from The Boss telling me he really really needs me to fix a few bugs before his meeting this afternoon. Watching people carve fresh turns trailing long tails of pow, attempting to wrangle my way out of it. In the end agree recluctantly to be there at three. So the clock is ticking.
A few more fantastic, best ever runs poking around Col Cornu - we open up the tight couloir on the right under the lift lines, then watch eighteen people follow our tracks down. Pure bliss. Sneaky steal a completely fresh track top to bottom on skier's right linking up slopes that people should have already thought of already, in between what is now becoming moguls.
Catch up with JC who has ridden the first Brevent cablecar and gotten top to bottom face shots on the piste. Up to the summit where the Mont Blanc panorama never fails to render me momentarily speechless. Find a tasty little face to write our names on on the high traverse, meet up with Lorrie and head up again for the main event of the day.
The ENSA Couloir
I'd heard a lot about this one and wasn't sure what to expect. Nobody had bothered to point it out to me, but once you see it, it's such an obvious and elegant line, and appears very gnarly. It's just to the looker's left, under the cables. 40-50 degrees for 200 meters, says Anselme Baud.
Turns out to be a great laugh - steep enough to be really fun, but way less scary and exposed than the Cosmiques, Glacier Rond, etc. We could relax, take a lot of photos, make great turns, and not worry about my girlfriend too much. In icy conditions the very beginning would probably be somewhat dicey, but with powder, powder, everywhere on a day like today it was just a nonstop fun-fest. Switch. All the way to the road - some rocks and avalanche debris as we neared Chamonix (1500 meters below!) but the transition from untracked deep light powder to lovely untracked deep spring snow was instantaneous. "Off the hook," as Greg would say...
Thanks to JC (for the amazing photos!), Lorrie, and Agnes for making it one of the best days of the season.
