We're off. When I last left you we were preparing to leave the comfort of Hotel de' Larve in Chamonix and begin the backcountry portion of our trip. Well, we strapped on our packs and skis, hopped on the bus and took the tram ride up the Grand Montets ski area to 10,762' (3280 M), ducked the rope, and started the Haute Route. No turning back.
First objective was to ski across the Argentiere glacier and up a 2,500 foot climb through the Col du Passon. The more common route used to be the Col du Chardonnet, but recently (or at least this year), the avalanche danger has been to high for this pass so skiers have been choosing the Col du Passon. We spent most of the day skinning up and then had to do a few hundred feet boot pack up through the pass. There were a couple of groups ahead of us and they triggered two small avalanches. Let me just say, having never been in any sort of avy before and not knowing how large the slough was going to be, it TOTALLY freaked me out! There was a rock close to where our group was climbing up when the small avalanches were triggered so our guide had us huddle behind that until all the loose snow passed. It really was not a big deal or a lot of snow that came down but during that moment it was completely scary. I survived, and continued to climb up to the pass.
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| Heading out past the Argentiere Glacier |
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| Preparing to boot pack up the Col du Passon |
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| Looking down the Col du Passon |
After making it safely over the first Col, we had a long, relatively flat skin on the Saleina Glacier. We work our way over to the Fenetre de Saleina and climb up onto the Plateau du Trient. A traverse of the Plateau du Trient lead to a short skin up to the Trient Hut at 10,394' (3168 M). The day turned to zero viz for a bit and then the sky opened up when we were approaching the Trient Hut. It was the most beautiful and spectacular place when the sun was out. We ended our day with a nice meal and camaraderie at the hut before tucking into our bunks for the night.
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| Trient Hut |
Safe and sound after day one in the backcountry. Goodnight.
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