Another Sunday at church in les Ecrins/Cerces

COULOIRS WEST & NORTH OF THE GRAND GALIBIER (3228m) 

Looking across the way toward the Aiguilles d'Arves.

          Yesterday I headed up to the Lautaret Pass with Ian and Olivier for a day of "roadside cragging" (couenne),  as Olivier would call it. This definition included about 6000' feet of vertical spread out over two couloirs and featured hours of strenuous bootpacking, but I suppose it did all happen fairly close to the car. After ascending the W couloir, Ian opted for a two-hour a nap at 3000m rather than the trip down and up the northern couloir, which I thought was a very respectable choice. We then proceeded to the summit all together before heading down the W couloir just as the afternoon sun started to soften things up. All in all a great day out that confirmed two things I'm pretty sure I already knew: couloir skiing (not too steep and with good snow) is wicked fun and the Ecrins remain an endless playground...    

Serious bricolage through a small rockband midway down the couloir W, but the skis stayed on!

How are these men single?

Endless roadside cragging, 1h30 from Grenoble.