Joffre Central Couloir - Re-Match

After last weeks encounter with Joffre's Central Couloir, putting a large amount of time into it, and having it not go kept me thinking about it all week.  We had to make it happen, and with such stable conditions, there was no way we weren't going to go for it.  So we met up really early Monday morning for an alpine start.  We took the same route as previous, heading up the Southeast Face Route, to the top of the Couloir.  This time the climb was a bit more difficult, as the faceted snow just above the rock slabs, shed every time it was weighted.  The rock was hidden under the snow just enough to surprise you every so often.  (Photo Left:  Paul Cordy digging out a platform to put his skis on)

With some short excavating of our tunnel from the week previous we had our snow bollard dug out, and were rapping in to the Central Couloir.  The 60m rope we brought this time, allowed us to skip the insane down climb and to get our skis on the 55 degree slope.  Skiing the first 120m on belay, as the snow was less the optimal, we reached the first rappel.  Skiing down to it was an interesting 60 degree gully that cliffed out over a 40m cliff or so.

(Photo Above Left:  Paul Cordy skiing the upper pitch.  Right:  Alex Wigley building a rappel anchor)

Digging an anchor out, and rapping down over the big cliff, we found our rope was a hair short, but with some traversing only 3m over we found our way onto the main section of the Couloir.  Rappelling just a few feet over would require a 70m rope or leaving your rope behind.  If one was climb the couloir to ski it, this would be a near impossible climb in boots, as it is vertical granite, covered in snow.  Either way going down, it was a great pitch to ski.  Although we were stoked to be through the main crux we continued down.
(Photo Left:  Paul Cordy on the second rappel)

The rest of the Couloir was fairly straightforward, with a few rockbands that held some snow, making things a bit more interesting.  However, although straightforward, this was no still a no fall zone.  (Photo Right:  Paul Cordy building a deadman)  We continued skiing down, and squeezed through the 2.2m wide choke at the bottom out into the lower glacier.  Stoked to be done we continued skiing through the icefall, for a long powder run all the way to the valley.  A great experience, and unbelievably long Couloir.

Please Note:  If you would like to try this couloir, do so with only with some alpine climbing, and anchor building, skills.  This couloir, if skied from the very top, is extremely technical, not only in skiing ability, but rope skills.  Not only that, even after skiing the line, you have to maneuver through a glacier, much of which is crevassed and poorly bridged.  The line can be climbed from the bottom, but will start at a lower position, and will not require a 30m rappel.

(Photo Below:  Paul Cordy skiing through the Icefall afterwards)

Photos by:  Alex Wigley & Paul Cordy