Aiguille de Tacul, Couloir Capucin 2010-04-16

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jumpturn
from Chamonix/Franconia, NH
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Aiguille de Tacul, Couloir Capucin 2010-04-16

Post by jumpturn »

After a side trip for work, I skied the Capucin Couloir with Dan, Olivier and Martin. After a 900m skin up from the Salle a Manger, we had to wait for party in front to conduct rappel lessons! :rolleyes: After a 60m rap, Martin and I side slipped some steep hard pack while the other two did another 60m rap. The upper skiing was irregular hard pack even though the line faces North. Afterwards, there was fun pow down to the glacier. We straight lined back to Monentvers just in time to catch the last gondola and the train down.

The Triangle du Tacul and a fresh 15cm on the Vallée Blanche.
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The Gervasutti and Jager Couloirs.
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Mont Blanc du Tacul in the early morning sun.
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The Couloir du Diable and the Super Couloir.
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Dan and Martin off route on some flat terrain on the Vallée Noire. The approach to the Capucin takes this route in order to traverse in and avoid 150m of skinning.
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Olivier with Mont Blanc du Tacul in the background. He is Dan's upstairs neighbor who works as a ski instructor in Winter and a golf pro in Summer.
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900m of skinning up to the Col du Capucin.
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The Glacier de la Noire (right of the Dent du Géant) was in nice shape and some skiers had already tracked it.
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Looking back down the approach as some clouds build on the higher summits.
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Afternoon clouds close in on Mont Blanc and Mont Blanc du Tacul.
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The Aiguille de la Noire takes the hanging glacier on the right and skis the sky line down to the rocks, where it drops over to the other side. Radder variations ski this side.
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Olivier enjoys the north facing pow as Martin and Dan deal with the irregular 45º hard pack above. Both took falls! :eek:
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The line raps 60m from the 1st col left of the rock spire.
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Looking back up the line as Dan skis down to the glacier.
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skykilo
olikyks
from Santa Fe
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Re: Aiguille de Tacul, Couloir Capucin 2010-04-16

Post by skykilo »

Glad to see you're having a good time over there. I'm trying to temporarily forget about skiing while I'm stuck in Vancouver.

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DonJuanPakistan
Trippin' travellin'.
from Seattle, Washington
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Re: Aiguille de Tacul, Couloir Capucin 2010-04-16

Post by DonJuanPakistan »

Awesome pics, thanks Jumpturn!

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