Sunday 24 March 2013

Touno's Turn


Finally got to ski the big couloir above St. Luc. The 3018m Touno forms the southern edge of the domain, looming over the long piste descent to Prilet. There are several skiable couloirs but the obvious classic is west-north-west. The entry is not obvious from a distance and even less so once you've climbed up round the back. From the col there's a narrow snow-ridge with sharp roped descent into a notch, then down a snowy gully to the crux where it narrows and steepens. There's a fixed rope to help out on the scratchy rocky section though without Nick belaying us, we wouldn't have had a hope - one slip and you'd go a long way. After all that the couloir itself is wide and quite gentle, though we did manage to set off a small slide on the sunny side... Three people had got there before us but I guess they didn't have to serve breakfast to their guests first.

The ascent... 
The climb down...

The ski...
The end.