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Corbassiere Ski Tour Trip...
Ski beneath the mighty Grand Combin with an experienced IFMGA mountain guide...
The Grand Combin is an imposing mountain that sits apart from the Mont Blanc and Zermatt group of mountains. It's a quiet area to ski in, with big glaciers coming off it's flanks.
Ou five day trip combines two days of touring from Chamonix followed by a three day trip to the Grand Combin area. Suitable for intermediate ski tourers with previous glacial skiing experience.
We stay in two different alpine huts, the Cabane Brunet and Panossiere. This gives us plenty of ski touring options and routes depending on weather and conditions. By starting off at the Brunet at 2103m and then the Panossiere at 2641m we shouldn't have any trouble acclimatising to the altitude.
Ski Tour Itinerary:
This five day itinerary is designed to be flexible and it’s possible to shorten or lengthen the days in case of different weather or conditions.
Days One and Two
Our first two days of skiing in Chamonix are super flexible, and we aim to ski and tour on a high glacial area such as the Argentiere basin or Valley Blanche as well as getting a ski tour done in the Aiguille Rouge.
That might sound a bit vague, but by being very flexible we can pick and choose the best venue for conditions and for what the team has skied before.
Day Three
After an early start we drive around to Loutier for the skin up to the Cabana Brunet. This is along forest tracks and is a good climb of 800m. After a coffee/lunch at the Cabane (and having dropped some gear off) we head out for an afternoon ski tour above the hut, climbing one of the small peaks such as les Capucin.
Day Four
This is where we drop into the wild and impressive glacial valley below the Grand Combin. The climb to the col des Avouillons is around 500m and can involve some steep ground to reach the glacier. After a ski across the glacier, we skin up the moraine slopes to reach the Panissoire hut.
Day Five
This is our big mountain day, and we have a choice of routes to choose from depending on the weather, conditions and our motivation! The Tournelon Blanc is a good ski peak, with around 1000m height gain from the hut. The petit Combin would be a great peak, and is again around a 1000m climb from the hut.
After climbing our peak, a long ski of around 2000m down to Fionney. We can then transfer back to the car, and onwards to Martigny and Chamonix.
How good a skier I do I need to join this trip?
You should have several years of off piste skiing experience and be confident skiing various snow conditions off piste, including the tricky stuff! Having previous experience of hut to hut touring is desirable, but not essential.
We will be ascending at a rate of around 350-400m/hr, with some inevitable tricky skinning conditions including steep kick turns and icy skinning tracks. A very good level of fitness is important as each day involves quite a lot of ascent and you will need some energy for the downhills as well.
If your not sure about your current ability or fitness level, please do contact us for some advice. We also run ski touring skills weekends if you need to brush up your skills
What equipment will I need for this trip?
We will provide each member for the group with avalanche safety gear such as a transceiver, shovel and probe. You will need mountaineering equipment such as a harness, helmet, axe and crampons, which can be hired from us. Details here.
You will need your normal ski touring equipment such as skis, boots, skins, ski crampons which can be hired in Chamonix if required. Skiing on a light setup with a streamlined rucksack is a very good idea. Skis around 85 – 95 wide are about right, anything skinner will struggle in deep snow and anything wider is hard work on icy skinning tracks. We are working on our online equipment list and will send out a pdf version when you book.
Why ski Tour with Vertical Frontiers?
All of our guides are fully certified IFMGA Mountain guides with years of experience of off piste skiing and ski touring. We know the Haute route well and all of our trips are led with a strong emphasis on safety and conservative decision making in the mountains. We also love our skiing, and ski touring especially!
What are the mountain huts like?
A good way of thinking of the mountains huts/refuge’s are as mountain hostels. All involve mixed shared rooms or dormitories, all are plenty warm enough and all feature some pretty impressive views!
Most of the huts have to melt snow for water, so there are limited facilities for washing/showers.
We book into the huts on a half board basis, so dinner and breakfast are on a set menu basis, there is always plenty of food. It’s possible to buy lunch and snacks when we get to the huts in the afternoon, as well as cups of tea/beer/wine etc.
At the bottom of this page there are links to the huts we use so you can click through and see what they look like.
2018 Corbassiere Ski Touring dates and prices:
Monday 9th – Friday 13th April 2017. This is a five day trip based on the above itinerary.
You will need to book Chamonix nights on Sunday 8th, Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th April. Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th are spent in high mountain huts.
2018 prices;
Contact us here to enquire or book.
A maximum ratio of six skiers to one guide. Our trips are run on a guiding only basis, you will need to cover expenses as the trip progresses for you and your guide, which are split between the group.
Our prices includes:
Expenses to consider:
Ski Touring links and resources:
Swiss Topo 1:50 000 Maps;
Martigny 282 S
Internet maps: www.geo.admin.ch
Hut Map: Link
Mountain refuge websites;