Ski touring initiation to round off the year: a young and cheerful team discovers the joy of climbing on skins and making their first mountain descents.
What better way to wrap up the year than to come discover ski touring and glide down the mountain? That’s the plan for the young, friendly group I’m guiding on a two-day ski touring trip in the Queyras: Juliette, Perrine, and Anaïs—the three sisters I haven’t met yet—and Julie and Olivier, with whom we already had the chance to hike the peaks last summer at La Roche Faurio.
The backdrop for both days: white mountains against a azure sky… the classic high-alpine ordeal! On the first day, we head toward the Col Longet… The group sets out first joking around, then laughing, and gradually a sense of calm settles in. The magic of the place invites silence and few words... As a ruthless guide, I allow only very rare breaks and keep up a breakneck pace: we’re not on vacation—we’ve got a mountain to ski!!
Below the Longet Pass, I suggest we head up toward Traversier Peak. Everyone’s on board with the idea! Over these last 200 meters, the image of a sandwich starts to overlap with that of the mountains... We reach the summit. Chit-chat, a snack, taking in the view... Isn’t it nice here?
Since the big Christmas storm, the mountain has been somewhat battered, and skiers have to use all their skills on the descent to navigate from one type of snow to another!! If you look hard enough, you’ll always find a few square meters of powder—which often ends in a field of crusted snow! In short, don’t rest on your laurels—stay active and expect the worst: you’re bound to be pleasantly surprised!!
The next day, we’re back at Pic Cornivier. The day begins with a flurry of turns in the lower part of the Clausis valley. Great practice for future outings! Higher up, the slope levels off, the valley opens up, the sun shines brightly, the sky turns blue—it’s time to switch to transcendental meditation mode… The same scenario as the day before repeats itself. What a drag!
We console ourselves with a hearty snack near the Rouchon, that rocky outcrop jutting out of the snow. From there, we gaze out at hundreds of years of backcountry skiing possibilities... For a life like that, we’ll have to make some choices!
Even more so than the day before, the descent will require all our creativity to adapt to the sudden changes in snow conditions! Everyone has their own strategy: from going straight ahead, come what may, to the “turtle” technique—we have to be innovative at every moment! In short, even when the snow is tricky, the mountain remains beautiful...
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