A couple weeks ago I returned from skiing in Chamonix. It was great, though quite stormy with about 2 meters of new snow during the 18 days I was there. I only spent a couple nights down in town, opting instead to camp out up in the Valle Blanche, Alaska style. I met up with Greg Collins, who had been there awhile already.
Below is Greg skiing the Jeager couloir on the E. Face of Mt. Tacul after about a meter of new snow. 100kph wind and continuous spindrift preveted us from going to the tippie top. Great skiing though, about 55 degrees in one section but mostly less.
Below is Greg rappelling in to the Cosmiques Couloir on our second good day. This is a very popular run, and sees hundreds of people per day since it's easily accessed from the Aiguille du Midi. Again, it had snowed another couple feet the night before, and we were the first ones in it that day. Unfortunately, Greg took a hard fall and a tumble while skiing, pulling a calf muscle...so he was done skiing for the trip. 
Greg skiing out the Glacier after the Cosmiques.
The East face of Mt. Tacul. I focused my energy on some of these couloirs. The Jeager is the furthest right couloir , and looks like it doesn't top out on the ridge (but it does). I ended up skiing the Diablo Couloir, just below the sun .
Greg had left so I took to taking photos of my stuff in various places. Finally it got nice and I skied the Giravasutti Couloir on Tour Ronde on a perfect sunny and windless day. 
The next day was overcast and very windy, but I managed to ski the Macho Couloir from Col du Diablo. It was very steep and rocky, and the snow was pretty crusty and bad. A lot of work for crappy skiing. 
The next day was sunny, but again windy. I climbed the Diablo Couloir on Tacul, which required climbing a couple water ice steps down low, then rappelling them on the way down. This photo is taken from the top, looking down about 1000m of 55 degree pencil hard snow.
Finally my last day and it's again tolerable weather. I'm tired, but I force myself out of the tent late and take off to ski Mt. Blanc. I end up doing the Mt. Blanc Traverse, which involves climbing Tacul, then Maudit, then Blanc. This photo is taken from the top of Mt. Tacul, with Madit in the foreground and the big Blanc behind. The line up Maudit is right up the sun/shade line, and ended up being really good skiing on the way back. It was a long day which made for an awesome end to my trip!
Below is Greg skiing the Jeager couloir on the E. Face of Mt. Tacul after about a meter of new snow. 100kph wind and continuous spindrift preveted us from going to the tippie top. Great skiing though, about 55 degrees in one section but mostly less.
Below is Greg rappelling in to the Cosmiques Couloir on our second good day. This is a very popular run, and sees hundreds of people per day since it's easily accessed from the Aiguille du Midi. Again, it had snowed another couple feet the night before, and we were the first ones in it that day. Unfortunately, Greg took a hard fall and a tumble while skiing, pulling a calf muscle...so he was done skiing for the trip. 
Greg skiing out the Glacier after the Cosmiques.
The East face of Mt. Tacul. I focused my energy on some of these couloirs. The Jeager is the furthest right couloir , and looks like it doesn't top out on the ridge (but it does). I ended up skiing the Diablo Couloir, just below the sun .
Greg had left so I took to taking photos of my stuff in various places. Finally it got nice and I skied the Giravasutti Couloir on Tour Ronde on a perfect sunny and windless day. 
The next day was overcast and very windy, but I managed to ski the Macho Couloir from Col du Diablo. It was very steep and rocky, and the snow was pretty crusty and bad. A lot of work for crappy skiing. 
The next day was sunny, but again windy. I climbed the Diablo Couloir on Tacul, which required climbing a couple water ice steps down low, then rappelling them on the way down. This photo is taken from the top, looking down about 1000m of 55 degree pencil hard snow.
Finally my last day and it's again tolerable weather. I'm tired, but I force myself out of the tent late and take off to ski Mt. Blanc. I end up doing the Mt. Blanc Traverse, which involves climbing Tacul, then Maudit, then Blanc. This photo is taken from the top of Mt. Tacul, with Madit in the foreground and the big Blanc behind. The line up Maudit is right up the sun/shade line, and ended up being really good skiing on the way back. It was a long day which made for an awesome end to my trip!
