Chamonix 2.0 - Ski Touring Aiguille du Plan 3.673m - France

Alpinism in Chamonix again, only with this time with skis!

The arrival of a heavy snowstorm to Chamonix late in the 2019 season allowed me to make my second visit to this amazing place, where history of skiing and alpinism was (and is being) made.

During this Cham-adventure, we decided to summit Aiguille du Plan, 3.673m. Instead of doing the classical Midi-Plan traverse, we chose the skitouring route versant Sud, via l'Envers du Plan glacier.

We took the last cablecar up to the Aiguille du Midi (3.842m), from which we took the breathtaking descent towards Col du midi and skied towards Refuge des Cosmiques. Here we enjoyed a nice dinner and beautiful views of the sun setting against the ice of Mont Blanc du Tacul. The night was tough on me due to the altitude, as I felt a little dizzy and without appetite.

The next morning we woke up to a dark and moody sky, which turned into a giant softbox as the sun started to rise, gifting us with amazingly soft light (although this did make navigating through the glaciers of the Vallée Blanche trickier).

We continued skiing until we reached Gros Rognon, the signalling point from which we had to skin up. We regained altitude quickly up to where the rocky section towards the summit starts, where we left our skis and went into full alpinism mode, placing active and passive protection along the route.

We summited Aiguille du Plan with very windy and cold conditions, although enjoying the magnificent vista towards Mont Blanc. However, it was taking longer than expected, meaning we were short on time. This issue was only reinforced when, after the second rappel, our rope got stuck in the rock, meaning we had to leave it there... At this point, all cameras froze and batteries were dead due to cold, so I can't show you any footage of this nor of the descent to the Requin Hut.

To be honest, the descent was anything but pretty, refrozen crust with the worst snow conditions I have ever encountered.The positive of this was that I didn't feel as scared of the glacier looming underneath, as the snowbridges should hold us with the cold temperatures. When we reached Refuge du Requi, I was really exhausted.

The next morning, having seen how bad the snow was on the previous day and considering that it was extraordinarily windy, we cancelled our plans to reattempt Pointe Isabella, a summit that remained untouched by us on our last trip together (see previous video on my channel, "Mountain Climbing in Chamonix"). Hence, we did sleep in, had a nice breakfast and took the remaining part of the Vallée Blanche descent towards Mer de Glace and the Montenvers Station.

I cannot put into words how much I enjoyed this trip. I only keep falling more and more in love with this place.

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All shot between 19th and 21st of April 2019 in Chamonix Mont Blanc, France.

My Photo Backpack:
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Alpinists
Irene Nehrkorn-Kayn
Dieter Klein
Philipp Klein Herrero

Gear used:
Sony a6500 with Samyang 12mm f2.0
GoPro Hero 7 Black
iPhone 8

Music
Gramatik - Muy Tranquilo
Gramatik - Tranquilo
Gramatik - On the Run
Asher Fulero - Aurora Presents
No copyright infringement intended

#Chamonix #Skiing #Adventure

Chamonix-Mont Blanc
Cham
Ski
Skiing
France
2019
Aig du Midi
Mountain
Climbing
Alpine
Alpinism
Skimountaineering Mountaineering
Backcountry
Snow
Winter
Montebianco
Shift Binding
Holy Shift
Cosmiques Refuge
Freeskiing
Camera
Cinematic Vlog
Skitour Skitouring
Scialpinismo Skialper
Skitouren Sci Randonnée travesía

My GoPro: https://prf.hn/l/7AvkMj8

My Photo Backpack:
https://douchebags.com/?utm_source=yo...
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