Ski mountaineering on the Béal with Pierre: fresh snow, an excellent couloir and a wild mountain atmosphere in the remote Pra-Reboul valley.
The first of three days of skiing with Pierre, who came straight from Auvergne and is super excited to get in some good skiing after a season that wasn't as good as he'd hoped! It works out perfectly—there's snow here; it just fell, and the nice weather is back!
I suggest to Pierre that we take a trip to a truly wild area, straddling Queyras and the Durance Valley: the Pra-Reboul valley. At this time of year, getting to the upper part of the valley is much easier than in the middle of winter, since we park at the end of the road, at 1,950 meters, just past the Clot du Villan—where the snow begins—without having to drive along kilometers of forest trails. Perfect!
Conditions are unusual for this time of year. There has been a good amount of fresh snow, along with strong winds, and the cold weather is keeping winter conditions in place... So please be careful!
We're making good time heading toward Le Béal under a flawless azure sky! Just another typical day in the Hautes-Alpes, really!
The Béal looms before us in all its majesty (yeah, that's how you say it!), like a giant monster ready to swallow us whole... Well, let's hope not, anyway!
First, we head up to the pass right next to Le Béal to take a look and see if there are any good runs to be had on the south face… and to get my Auvergnat back on track before the couloir! Good call. We enjoy 300 meters of one-time-use powder—still in great shape for us but probably crusty by the next day. It is spring, after all!
After that little appetizer, we head to our run of the day. The climb up the couloir is made much easier by the quality of the snow—a nice, compacted powder where our boots sink in effortlessly.
We walk the remaining 50 meters to the summit, and the view is well worth the effort!
A few beautiful turns on the suspended slope...
Then we move on to the couloir, where conditions are excellent.
For the rest of the descent, we alternate between great powder sections and areas that are a little trickier. That's where you really learn to ski!
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