backcountry journal
col du passon - chamonix
Once again in Chamonix, this classic and easily accessible north facing descent gets plenty of traffic, I have done variants of it 3 times in two seasons and will likely do it a few more times next season. It is a fun tour that doesn't require a gruelling full day. Depending on the route you take, it also offers a good mix of glacier hiking, a steep ascent section, glaciated riding, rock scrambling and steep tree lines.
Starting at the highest lift point of Grand Monets ski resort (3200m) drop down the back side to the Argentier glacier. The run down to the glacier is long and consistent. If there is fresh untracked snow then it's a blast. But more commonly it is heavily tracked and hard snow, turning it into a muscle burning effort first thing in the morning. Not much fun on a snowboard at all.
Starting at the highest lift point of Grand Monets ski resort (3200m) drop down the back side to the Argentier glacier. The run down to the glacier is long and consistent. If there is fresh untracked snow then it's a blast. But more commonly it is heavily tracked and hard snow, turning it into a muscle burning effort first thing in the morning. Not much fun on a snowboard at all.
Climbing up the couloir to reach the col
Once down on the glacier, snowboarders donning snowshoes should do the right thing and rope up to cross the crevassed glacier. It is gentle and smooth but there spots where you travel over filled in crevasses. The walk across the glacier is a well beaten path on any clear weekend. On the other side you get ready for the short but increasingly steepening hike up the other side of the glacier valley. If you are unfit or not familiar with the hiking routine then you will suffer and grumble a bit, especially on a sunny day. But that is just drama. The hike up is a fun part of the tour and takes no more than 2-3 hours for very slow people. The views are good and there is a sense of objective as you rise from the glacier at approximately 2300m to the ridge at 3000m, with the last 150m of vertical being pretty steep, perhaps 45 degrees. Most people put on their crampons at the bottom of this couloir whilst having a break a break before the final climb. You don't need crampons yet it is understandable why some people prefer to wear them. At the top it is time for lunch and if it isn't too windy you can enjoy looking around the area and studying the map-to-ground.
At the col
The ride down is generally gentle, although there are several alternate routes that have differing degrees of steepness in certain sections. But ultimately, you start and end at the same place so no matter what route you take, it all has the same average angle of descent. You are on glacier for 90% of the ride down and will encounter crevasses and bare ice. There are also a few rocky outcrops. There is a steep roll towards the bottom of the line, just as you leave the glacier and before the flat run-out to the base station of Le Tour ski resort. Some lines through this roll over are easy, some are short and steep. Take your pick.
Via Bec Rouge Superior and then Bec Rouge Inferior: An alternate descent is to leave the lunch point by the normal route, but staying skiers left in the very big wide open 25 degree slope that can be full of soft snow or full of sastrugi. Part way down we headed further left and belayed each other down a 10m rocky face whilst still riding our boards. There was enough snow to avoid the rock, but a clumsy fall put you directly onto stone flowed by a short tumble over more rock. No big deal, but if you don't feel confident then set up a boot axe belay or something like that. When you unclip from the rope you are standing at the top of a very tempting looking northerly 35-40 degree bowl with a rounded rocky head wall at the top and the snow when I passed through was cold and shadowed. I have never dropped in here. I bet it would be good, but also looks just perfect for avalanches. We traversed around the top of the bowl further to skiers left, dropping down hill a bit as travelled a few hundred meters. From here we put in a short and steep boot pack up a ridge and yet again to skiers left. This leads to the entry point of the much less travelled descent route. The day we rode it was great with a foot of soft snow (not really powder). There are several sections that range from good bowl riding to undulating terrain. There are several alternate lines, some offering pretty good slide avoidance. Some also lead to flat dull sections.
Via Bec Rouge Superior and then Bec Rouge Inferior: An alternate descent is to leave the lunch point by the normal route, but staying skiers left in the very big wide open 25 degree slope that can be full of soft snow or full of sastrugi. Part way down we headed further left and belayed each other down a 10m rocky face whilst still riding our boards. There was enough snow to avoid the rock, but a clumsy fall put you directly onto stone flowed by a short tumble over more rock. No big deal, but if you don't feel confident then set up a boot axe belay or something like that. When you unclip from the rope you are standing at the top of a very tempting looking northerly 35-40 degree bowl with a rounded rocky head wall at the top and the snow when I passed through was cold and shadowed. I have never dropped in here. I bet it would be good, but also looks just perfect for avalanches. We traversed around the top of the bowl further to skiers left, dropping down hill a bit as travelled a few hundred meters. From here we put in a short and steep boot pack up a ridge and yet again to skiers left. This leads to the entry point of the much less travelled descent route. The day we rode it was great with a foot of soft snow (not really powder). There are several sections that range from good bowl riding to undulating terrain. There are several alternate lines, some offering pretty good slide avoidance. Some also lead to flat dull sections.
Le Tour Glacier on the left and part of the Bec Rouge descent on the right. There are many ways down from the col du Passon.
As you ride towards the tree line the terrain flatten out. From here you can look directly down to the le Tour base station. If you chose to cut hard left further up the slop then you can look down on Argentier. Either way, the last leg it a top quality steep tree run giving up to 700m of vertical descent into the valley. If the snow cover is poor then it is not much fun and full of rocks and tree stumps. If the snow cover is heavy then it is a blast, and also first class prime time avalanche terrain. Depending on where you drop in, the avalanche paths through the trees are quite obvious. Be careful.
Whether you took the final tree run down into Argentiere or down into le Tour, there is a very accessible beer waiting for you.
A popular and well known tour giving 1500m of vertical descent down a protected northerly aspect.
[Mont Blanc guide for skiers, reference #70]
Whether you took the final tree run down into Argentiere or down into le Tour, there is a very accessible beer waiting for you.
A popular and well known tour giving 1500m of vertical descent down a protected northerly aspect.
[Mont Blanc guide for skiers, reference #70]
A very short panoramic clip showing the hike from the glacier. At the top of the snow slope you enter a couloir and attain the ridge line. The descent is over the back side of the ridge.