I lived there for 20 years, and did all the variations over the years. On a deep powder day, I was skiing the Grand Envers du plan with my friend Francois Burnier (author of the Vamos guides) and we came across 4 Austrians looking down a very deep crevasse which contained their guide (20 meters down) , their guide had the rope , so not much use to them. Fortunately we were well equipped and pulled him out and then got him a Heli rescue, he was badly banged up. We then had to guide the Austrians down, after which they bought us a nice lunch at Montenvers. Epic day :)
Thanks for providing your experience! This is really a great testament to how dangerous this glacier is….if a guide can fall into a crevasse it can definitely happen to anyone, (no matter your skiing level). Very glad you were there to provide the crevasse rescue to the guide (that he didn’t provide rope to his clients is another story) thanks again and hope you have a great winter season!!
Been there since the late 80s. It is fantastic almost every time, although ice cover shrinks for each passing year. But so many iconic descents to choose from. And I really like you did the old-school 8 pattern. In fact it is quite an optimal way to express yourself individually while stying on an assigned line. Keep rippin!
Wonderful Video! Nostalgic since I hiked up the Mer De Glace from Montenvers up to the Aiguille de Midi in the summertime some years aga, spending a night at the Requin Refuge! Amazing Glacier Scenery & Icefall at anytime of year! Thanks for Sharing! Merci!
So cool that you were part of the professional snow community, and glad this brought back some good memories! I absolutely love the Eastern Sierras……not the Alps, but amazing in their own way!! 🤙
It's incredible RU-vid algo recommended this video to me. I have no digital evidence of my 1986 Vallee Blanche run and didn't think to search for videos on it. Immediately brought flashes of memory of that all day ski run.
Mate, thanks for the great run down a true classic! Brought back some fun memories of the 7-8 times I've done the run as a 'kid' in the early '80s. So lucky as lots of snow that season, less glacier loss to climate change and each time we managed to ski ALL the way down to the Les Plannards / Chamonix through the forest. No need for the cable car / train from Montenvers. Truly wonderful. Your video captured it really well!
Glad you enjoyed the ride down memory lane. You are the first person that I have spoken to who skied to the bottom, that is so awesome!! I always get a bit bummed when I see the glacier receding, hopefully that trend can be slowed a bit. In the meantime, let’s go ski as much POW as we can ⛷️😊🤙
@@kurtschmid , a little follow up, I made it to the bottom twice skiing down switch back and down past the little ski area on the left, fairly long walk to the car park.
Thanks,Great video, I always enjoy the Aiguille ski videos, I been lucky to have skied it 3 times, one low snow year with scary crevasses everywhere. Keep up the great turns. I spend my winters in Whistler now.
Glad you enjoyed the vid and cool that you have skied that zone. It is always a treat to ride the midi and ski off it. The snow level was really high this year so we couldn’t ski the James Bond Run, sounds like you’ve seen a low tide year there too. Enjoy Whistler, great mountain! 🏔️👍
Nice video! I skied down there twice. My first was with a guide, and then on the following year I did it alone. I think it was not smart for doing alone. I was lucky for ski down without troubles. There are sections you will be skiing next to crevasses. If you ski alone and fell into a crevasse, nobody would find you!
Thanks 🙏 you are right, pretty straightforward skiing but the crevasses are abundant and even guides occasionally fall in them and need a partner for rescue. Glad you made it through without any problems! 👍
Skied it in 95, I'm sure like some other commenters we skied all the way down back into Chamonix, and amazing experience. Massive "cajones" for skiing the ridge at the start . "Respect"💪💪💪
lol.. you got me watching hardcore after the third sentence" such a rad scene here", " fuking stoke level is super high". ....man wow super vibe with this video! cheers from Canada!
Thanks 🙏 I am generally pretty stoked to ski any mountain but when I get to the Midi I redline, such an amazing mountain zone, cast of characters and history there. Glad you enjoyed the vid and hope you have a banger season in Canada!! 🤙
Highly recmended tour. But: Do NOT ski where no one else has skied whitout guide unless you are knowing exactly what you are doing. Do NOT follow local skiers who uses crevases as small half pipes (I tried that, managed to fix it by a huge amount of luck). Nice ride - have respect for the mountians. Also: Half way down there is a nice hut with a good resturant a few 100 meters away from the main track! Don't miss that one!
I've skied the Vallee Blance back in the 1990s. I don't remember the first bit along the ridge. Not sure I would have the guts to do it now. I remember the scenery being spectacular but I was mainly concerned with staying upright and keeping by skis on and not dehydrating. Getting all the way down in one piece was an achievement of sorts.
Beautiful! Skied this in 81 with my bro, no guide and we were nowhere near expert, but we just followed everyone else. A bit nervous about the icefall, but all went well. Had wine and bread and cheese after the crevasses…. 😎🍷
Glad you had the opportunity to descend this beauty! Depending on conditions, snow drifts etc, crevasses can be covered. I never follow tracks at Cham unless I know where I’m going, but glad you guys had a safe and awesome passage on it!! 🤙
Beautiful fresh powder to ski on. What a glorious run. When I skied it 30 years ago, the route was very icy with crevasses very visible - not so much fun!
is it400m elevation? how long is the walk? is there any chance to ski out and down to Chamonix in this century, in optimal condtions, or is it gone forever?😢😢
@martink3089 definitely possible to ski down to town on the infamous and awesome James Bond Run but it is a shorter window each year. If you climb the stairs then take the short gondy you can ski the James Bond down provided there is snow, aim for February and you will get it most likely and it is a blast with banks, berms, people and chaos!!🫣😂
Aspects of that are amazing and I’m sure the video doesn’t even do it justice. That said . . . and hate me if you . . . that descent is something like 9200’ vertical feet and I think I counted fewer than 100 legitimate turns. For alpine skiers, this equates to what is essentially the longest traverse in the world. I suppose I have to appreciate it for what it is, but when I’m in skis I want to make turns.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The whole point of the VB is that it is part tour, part skiing, part adventure. Any big mountain descent is going to require route finding, dodging crevasses, etc….trust me, there are lots of good turns if you hit it right. 🤙
Thanks 🙏 “the 9000 vertical feet” is a famous reference from a scene in the Greg Stump ski film called Blizzard of Ahhhs, best ski movie of all time!!!
Great video, thanks Kurt. Heading there in a couple of weeks and super stoked about it. Dig that headband you’re wearing, what brand is that, where’d you get it? Cheers, Russell.
Thanks man! 🙏 that is so awesome you are heading there! looks like a really good start to the season. I will probably be there the end of January too 🤙 have a great trip and check Mammut store in Cham for that headband.
Thanks!🙏I have been to so many restaurants and a few bars/pubs but I don’t remember the names. My recommendation is to bear away from most of the tourist spots on the main strip and hit the restaurants a bit off the beaten path. So many fun places to get a drink, have fun exploring them!! 🤙
I almost tried this last season but was enjoying Vebier too much so stayed there an extra day instead. I will head to VB someday soon though. Hoping the Alps get more snow this season.
Verbier is awesome and I understand not wanting to leave great riding to find great riding; never want to break that rule! 😆. I was supposed to do the Haute Route last year but weather wouldn’t open for us…..one of these days!!
I Did VB in 2019 decent conditions, 2022 terrible snow but both times the scenery made it worth it. I will keep trying to get lucky and get a day like this!
I wouldn't splash for a guide personally. As long as you can do crevasse rescue and its got tracks already you can see from the video its pretty easy to see where to go.
@SocietyMods totally beautiful and savage mountain and I always approach with much respect. Feel bad for your friend and dad, another black crow in the sky now.
Great run! I am curious, what would you do if you accidentally ski to the left on 2:30. Is it a large slope cliff or can you ski down there too? Or is it dangerous, you should only follow the middle track?
Thanks 🙏 so taking a left at the top means you are going to ski the north face of the midi, this is a very very serious decision that will require several rappels and skiing above extremely exposed terrain, definitely not the cruisy pow run we took on the Vallee Blanche.
@@kurtschmid I mean, it looks so close, it almost feels like you can slide to the left at any moment. Must be risky, but you guys definitely know what you are doing.
@@kurtschmid yup .......basically skiing and anything.......always wanted to ski Cham...the run looks good unlike the fall and die shit under the tram :)
Yeah, it’s not a super steep run, some nice powder skiing pitches but variable snow and some crevasse and glacial features make it a bit more than intermediate, but if you take it easy and make turn for turn then most will find it doable…..and super fun!!
Thank you, I will see how my first day on the groomed slopes go, then I MIGHT try it. I skied Val-D'Isere years ago and was OK on most runs there. (Huge Moguls there I handled it but was not a fan, LOL). Thank you again, kindest regards. @@kurtschmid
It is not a super challenging run but since it is such big vert you are bound to run into varied conditions. I know a lot of guides there and they can help you avoid the gnarly stuff👍
I had to go back and do a double take😁. I think that crane might be for maintenance on the stairs, I didn’t show this part but the shrinking glacier requires you to climb a lot of stairs (few decades ago glacier was 300 feet higher). Glad you were digging the Rasta tunes!!
looks like a lot of fun specially with the fresh pow! is it mandatory to hire a guide? I wanted to do it 2 years ago but my wife wasn't much into skiing and paying over 400 bucks for a guide was way out of my budget... had to do Brevent-flegere instead
It is one run that you absolutely have to do in your ski lifetime as it’s that special, and yes, definitely need a guide (crevasses). Trust me it will be money well spent 👍
@jonathanshuker1672 what we do in the mountains is a personal choice but I’m not skiing the Valle Blanche without a guide until I am damn sure where crevasses are and I’ll be with a partner who understands crevasse rescue.
Fair enough we were a group of six and we carried avalanche transceivers,shovel and probe also harnesses,crevasse rescue kit , with lots of jinglely jangly bits and an ice axe just to look cool . But practice using the kit setting up anchors ,pulleys etc , and we carried two kits one at the front and one at the back . @@kurtschmid
The first lap (the one I filmed) was about 30 minutes as we had to stop and assess crevasse zones, etc…the second lap was pretty non-stop and took 15 minutes.
I've loved skiing since childhood. My late father, born in Finland, started our local ski area in the 1940's. We never used such language, surfer language if you will, to describe what we did for fun. We also did not have to swear. Such a sad ambassador for such a wonderful activity.
Haha! Glad you love the sport of skiing as much as I do👍. I am also a surfer and windsurfer and use language which is evocative of the passion I have for the sport, so sorry it doesn’t correlate with your language standards but that’s the beautiful thing about skiing and life; everyone has their own style 🤙
It was swearing out of passion, not swearing out of hooliganism. Isolating those who describe their passion via swearing is ultimately what will kill skiing for future generations - I doubt you could find 1 skier in 100 skiers these days who don't swear at least once a day during their runs out of excitement and thrill. Embrace passion and let others exercise their passion in their own way.
@@kurtschmid wow thats incredible, Skiing and windsurfing are my 2 best sports by a mile - windsurfing especially. Would love to see some windsurfing content somewhere in Australia
@all-caps3927 Exactly mate, I am generally excited to get after it and speak accordingly, love it when people share the same passion for the mountains!!
So cool! Windsurfing one of the coolest sport; so technical but so fun and endless possibilities! Check out Paul Van Bellen on RU-vid for super funny and rad windsurfing, AUS based 🤙
This took us about 30 minutes as we had to stop several time to check out and navigate snow bridges and crevasses, our second run of this day was pretty much a nonstopper and took just over 15 minutes.
What I didn’t show in my vid is a long climb upstairs and then gondola ride. If there is decent snow you then ski down the James Bond run to town, if snow thin like last year you take a train back into town.
@@kurtschmid Ski-ing in Scotland does not have long runs of lovely powder snow. There is much more ice, it is more like cutting an edge on a formica table top. In fact you can quickly find yourself on an unsettling mixture of rock and wet grass.
i was meant to do this a few years ago and the day before going to do it, covid regulations came in and said we couldnt go to france. whats even sorse is that we werent even going to fly, it was a 1:30 drive
Bummer! You have to get back over and tick this classic off! It’s some fun skiing and just a really sweet lap with the hike out …..and when the James Bond Run is in that’s the best!! Go get it👍
Funny when punks think they invented "stoked". Funny when young guys sound so ignorant. Dude, When you grow up you'll meet people who aren't like your parents dummy. Get a clue.
