Talèfre-Leschaux - Mont Blanc and the Aiguilles Rouges - a Guide for Skiers

Book excerpt: Discover the skiing downhills of the Talèfre-Leschaux Mountain in this very detailed and documented book, written by one of the most talented skiers of his generation. Located at the very heart of the highest mountains of Europe, the majestic Talèfre-Leschaux massif stands as a reference among the most sacred skiing places in the world. When winter comes, this snow-addict heaven offers a unique range of dream slopes, from the easiest to the most breathtakingly high ones. Anselme Baud is an extreme skiing leading head and one of the best experts of this mountain. From classic skiing hikes to mountaineering competitions, this guide book presents a precise description of all the biggest slopes this mythic area could offer. In this volume you can find all the information about Talèfre-Leschaux. Thanks to his charming accounts and instructive advice, Anselme Baud shares with us his precious and wide experience as a high mountain guide and an exceptional skier. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Born in Morzine in 1948, Anselme Baud left his mark on the Alps skiing steep slopes history. As a high mountain guide in 1973, he was one the first to ski on extreme downhills in the Alps, the Andes, in Antarctica or in the Himalayas. As an ENSA professor, he supervised during several years the mountain guides trainings in Bolivia and Nepal. EXCERPT We are now on the south side of the huge and austere rocky walls that make up the north faces of the Aiguille Verte, the Droites and the Courtes. We leave behind us the vertiginous ice slopes that fall straight down to the Argentière Glacier. But don’t for a minute think that things are going to be easier on this side, because that certainly isn’t the case! Whichever side you are on, the slopes here are just steep. Neverthless, the history of extreme skiing has made light work of these south and west faces. Whether it’s the Charpoua cirque, where Jean-Marc Boivin and others pioneered routes, or the south faces of the Droites and the Courtes, nothing is as it seems. These routes are consistently exposed, and so to the risks of the routes themselves you should add those that their orientation brings (rock fall, avalanches...). Although accessing these routes was made a little bit easier by the construction of the Aiguille du Midi cable-car and the Montenvers railway, few of them can be done in a day. Moreover, some of these areas, such as the Courtes Glacier, are very broken up and crevassed which makes accessing them quite a hit and miss affair... The Talèfre Glacier has receded so far since 2000 that you can now avoid the dangerous and tiresome trudge up the Leschaux Glacier moraine. This convenient gap in the glacier means that, on the climb up, you can easily get to the foot of the Pierre à Béranger via the west face of the old line of moraine. The descent, down the right bank, is even easier still. Don’t let this picture of ease and comfort fool you, the skiing is hard here and these are ‘real’ mountains! To ski here you have to be an experienced mountaineer as well as skier. All that said, this area has great routes to ski, to dream about and to remember for a long time to come...