
Adventure Quest Day 6:
Split the group. Bruno`s team went over Col de Forclaz, a shorter route out.
I went with Jonny, Simon and Shane.
We cut around the the South of Pointe Percée, passing a good parapente take off and then traversing past some erratics and across some difficult landslide terrain.
We had lunch just short of the cascades and then climbed steeply past them reaching a kind of hidden valley where there remained a fair amount of snow.
Chatted with one local man who was v informative and talked about the changing winters and the increasing erosion of the mountains: whereas the snow used to come as early a Sep and stay, it now comes in Nov/Dec and then melts, putting more water into the rock, causing the mountains to fall down faster.
Some challenging route finding/nav on untracked scree in order to escape the valley at its head and drop down into Le Grand Combe de Forclaz.
We stopped on the ridge for a quick bite before getting a bit chilly and beginning the serious descent.
Managing Shane with his level of disability was a challenge and seeing how he coped, in spite of his spasticity was humbling and inspiring. It was a steep, loose descent and the expression on his face told me he was near the limit.
Once we got into the combe and hit snow all went well and we had some epic - and quick - glissading.
Seamless link up in the valley with the other team.