Mount Blanc from the cabane Valsorey
 A 5:OOAM awakening led to a 6:00AM start, our first before sunrise.
We would have liked to have started earlier, but we stored our skies at
the gas station and it didn’t open until 6:00AM. Just like a Swiss
watch, the station attendant opened up at exactly 6:OOAM not a minute
before or a minute after.

We had reconnoitered the entrance to the path as the guide suggest the
night before. It was just across the street from the hotel. The first
several hours of the morning were an uneventful hike up dirt roads and
paths on a rocky hillside. We passed the derelict farm chalet (which is
below the bridge that the guide mentions and didn’t see the Chalet
d’Amont until we were above it.

At this point there was enough snow to put on the skies with the climbing skins. We hiked up a snow field, still in the shade, but the sun was hitting the mountains around us and it was going to be another beautiful day. We were completely alone, so far.

We passed through a narrow gorge where we had to remove our skies to scramble over some rocks. A steep slope exited the gully and the climbing became more reasonable. I was using my crampons on the skies, but Brad managed on skins alone. We continued to rise until we could see the cabane de Valsorey on our left (to the North). The guide book talks about three routes to this refuge. It looked like both the left and right route had been used before us. We chose the right route.

This last climb was really a slog. The final slope was 600 vertical meters on an increasing steeper grade. We kept our skies on all the way to the cabane making multiple kick turns on many switch backs.

Brad had a particularly hard time making the kick turns with his longer skies and fell in one of the turns. He ended up in such a precarious position, that he was afraid to move. I had to remove his skies for him in order for him to get up without loosing the little purchase he had and sliding back down the slope.

Brad also had a difficult time with one of his ski crampons. He accidentally dropped it and it quickly accelerated down slope. Just when we thought we’d have to hike all the way down to get it, the crampon lodged in a ski track on one of the lower traverses. Very lucky!

The last traverses took us under some rocks where we were showered by small ice particles. It was getting much warmer and we needed to get off the slope and out of the way of avalanches.

We were the first to arrive at the cabane de Valsorey right at noon. Near the top of the slope we looked back down and saw the next group just beginning the last 600 meter climb.

In a surprisingly short period of time this next group arrived at the cabane. It was a pair of German’s – Roland and his partner, whose name I forgot. They seemed very fit, but to our surprise the first thing that Roland did when he arrived at the cabane was to pull out a cigarette and light it.

It turned out that not only were Roland and his partner very fast going up, but they were phenomenal on the descents. Roland skied breakable crust like it was perfect powder.

The cabane de Valsorev. like all the refuges we stayed at, sat in a spectacular spot. It is located on the south side of the Grand Combin (4141m) on a rock outcropping. It faces south and has excellent views of Mount Blanc, the Grand Jorasses, and Mount Velan.

It was a warm afternoon, which made for excellent sun bathing. Although I brought a book to read, I had a difficult time concentrating because of the beauty of the surrounding mountains and the roar of the afternoon wet snow avalanches. These avalanches came down about every 15 minutes. Even so, people continued to arrive at the cabane, some must have cut the safety margin very thin.

We watched a large group of skiers come down from Mont Velan. It took them quit some time. They came down the left side of the summit, then crossed to the right side to miss some ice falls and seracs, then back to the left side down a shoot that had already avalanched. It looked like they must have a guide, because they appeared to know exactly how to avoid the treacherous sections of the slope.

Mont Velan adds two interesting alternatives to the route. The group that we saw coming down did the Fouley variation, which takes two extra days, but eliminates the bus ride. A second alternative would be to ascend to the cabane de Velan on the second day instead of staying in Bourg St. Pierre. We would have arrived at the Cabane de Velan at about 6pm. Then on day three Mont Velan could be added in without much trouble.

Some clouds came in, in the afternoon obscuring the sun and mountains. The temperature dropped so Brad and I went into the cabane and secured the desirable spots close to the wood stove.

As I read, I vaguely recognized an American accent coming from somewhere else in the cabane. Although English is pretty common in the cabanes, an American accent was a little unusual. This was only the second group containing Americans that we had met. As we exchanged "where are froms" it turns out that one of the Americans, Bruce, and I had a common friend and that we had raced bikes together a few years earlier. Now talk about a small world!

The guided group that Bruce was part of was the large guided group we had seen descend Mont Velan.

We ate dinner with Bernard and Yves, two French men that we would spend the next three days skiing with. We were finally recognizing and meeting the other skiers doing the traditional Haute Route.