Postcard from La Grave (Hardwear Sessions)

By Dawn Glanc

February 15, 2008

After an easy flight and a short bus ride I arrived in La Grave, France on February 9. The purpose of the trip is to ski and climb the amazing terrain here in the La Grave area. I traveled here with my friend Dylan Taylor, who is a guide and a photographer. We plan to team up with some of the locals and a few American guides working here at the skiers lodge for our adventures. We have been here just under a week now. Every day has been filled with fun and exploration. Our week began with a day of skiing at La Meije. This is the local ski area. The entire area is high mountain, meaning only two small groomed piste runs exist. The total mountain has 7000 vertical feet of terrain to ski. We teamed up with a fellow American guide, Tim Connelly, for our day of skiing. Tim lead us down some amazing runs. This was a perfect way to work through the jet lag that Dylan and I were experiencing.

The next few days Dylan and I went ice climbing on the ice flows in the La Grave valley. The climbs are right in town, and have a very short approach. The ice is in great shape, so the climbs were amazing. The climbs were nice moderate multi-pitch ice. This was a great introduction to the local ice. We were even greeted by a type of mountain goat, known as a chamois, at the top one of the climbs. What a welcome, and what a sight to see.

One day we hiked past the the village of Les Hieres, which is above La Grave, to climb a great two pitch back country climb. That day we headed back with a local named Petor and our American guide friend, Tim Connelly. We hiked for about an hour on boot packed snow, then wind blown breakable crust to reach the avalanche gully that the climb lies in. Two gullies poured into the avalanche shoot. The right gully was choked with ice, the second had ice but was spitting large rocks and spin drift throughout the day. We proceeded to climb the right gully. As I lead up spin drift came down constantly, nearly blinding me, making tool placements difficult. The ice was very brittle and cold. The virgin ice dinner plated with almost every tool placement. We worked our way up the climb and finished the final pitch by belaying in the sun. It was a great climb. We rappelled down off of V-threads and hiked back down the avalanche shoot. The hike down the shoot went fast, as we all hustled to avoid being hit by the large rocks still coming out of the left gully. We made it back to the car as the alpine glow lit up the surrounding ridge tops.

Yesterday, Valentines day, Dylan and I went skiing at an area on the border of France and Italy known as Montgenevre. We headed over to the area with my boyfriend Farmer and his ski clients. Farmer was guiding a group of people for the day. We all rode the lifts to the top of the ridge, then boot packed to the high point known as the eagle's summit. We skied amazing powder runs on the north face of the ridge that lies on the border of the two countries. We all stopped for lunch in Italy at a great restaurant with good authentic italian cuisine. After a lunch of lasagna and cappuccino we headed back out for one more long powder run. I could not have asked for better Valentine's day.

So after five days of playing hard, today we are resting. I am researching more of the local climbs and scouting what I can here in the local area. The weather is meant to be very warm and sunny for the next week. This stable high pressure system will allow us to climb high in the mountains. We are planning to climb the north face of La Meije and over in the Saint Christophe valley. As long as the nights remain cold and clear, north facing climbs will remain in good condition. I am looking forward to what lies ahead on this French adventure. Until next time.. take care and have fun!