This is an updated version of the Dave Butcher photo diary of a ski mountaineering course and 3 day tour from Argentiere to Trient in 1992 with International Mountain Guide Peter Cliff. The original web page just had a few photographs of darkroom prints but this enlarged post has 36 scans from the original film negatives in much better quality to better illustrate the tour.
In 1992 I booked on a ski mountaineering course with Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms. Unfortunately, It was cancelled due to lack of snow so, having built up to doing such a course I looked elsewhere for one.
I booked with Peter Cliff, who had written a book on ski mountaineering so I thought he would be a good person to go with as I didn’t know of anyone else. It was a 6 day course based in Argentiere near Chamonix in France, ending with a 3 day tour from Argentiere to Trient in Switzerland.
Sunday 3rd May 1992
I drove with my wife Jan to Harpenden in Hertfordshire on Saturday afternoon to stay with Jan’s parents. This gave us a short drive to London Heathrow Airport Sunday morning. I was at the airport before 6am as I knew it would take longer to check in my rucksack and ski bag with all the metal equipment they contained.
I was fortunate that the flights didn’t cost me anything as I had vouchers from British Airways to buy the tickets. This was because of appalling customer service at Heathrow Terminal 5 in December 1990 after my flight from New York to Manchester was diverted there because of bad weather. The only slight disadvantage was that there was no voucher seat available from Manchester for the outward journey, only for the homeward one. Hence we travelled down to stay with my in-laws.
The British Airways flight left at 8.30am and arrived at Geneva Airport at 11am. I then caught the 12.10pm train along Lake Geneva to Martigny station where I met Kieran and Sheila who were also on the Peter Cliff course. From their rucksacks and ski bags which had BA luggage labels I could tell they were probably on a similar journey to me. After introductions we caught the mountain railway to Argentiere, it left at 1.55pm and arrived at Argentiere at 4pm after a beautiful but slow journey through the mountains.
We walked from the station to the Hotel Le Dahu, checked in and then found our rooms – I shared a twin room with Kieran. Then we went down to the bar for a beer.
Late afternoon Peter Cliff came into the bar and introduced himself, as well as Tony Brindle his assistant for the trip.
We were still 2 short but we went upstairs for kit checks in our rooms and just emptied our rucksacks on the bed. Peter did a bit of weeding out of surplus clothing but not much.
Then we all had dinner together downstairs after which the final 2 arrived at 9pm and introduced themselves – Ed and Peter.
Our Guides
Peter Cliff an International Mountain Guide based in Argentiere, Tony Brindle (aspirant/trainee mountain guide and management consultant at the YMCA Lakeside Centre)
Our Group
Kieran (a London Underground maintenance engineer), Ed Grimshaw (a management consultant living in Coniston), Peter (a forester), Sheila (a GP from London) and me, Dave Butcher.
Weather and Snow Conditions
The weather was hot and sunny making for difficult snow conditions – lots of heavy ‘porridge’ snow away from pisted areas.
We spent the first 3 days being taught how to ski difficult snow away from the pistes, which we all did quite badly!
Monday 4th May 1992
We walked from the hotel to meet Peter Cliff at the Lognan telepherique (the main lift from Argentiere) for 10am. We put skis on at the top and then caught the Bochard chairlift to the top and had a few ski runs down to find our ski legs and for Peter to check our abilities on pisted snow. Then at 11.30am we switched and did a few off-piste runs but it was now hot and the soft deep wet snow was tricky to ski. All of us were having trouble with the snow conditions. We skied down a gully full of moguls and stopped for lunch at a restaurant. I discovered that hot dog and orange juice isn’t a typical lunch for ski mountaineering!
After lunch we used the Bochard lift and the piste to work on our technique. I had to put more weight forward to press into the tops of my boots and push the ski tips down. One of Peter’s pet phrases was describing someone as having ski posture like a sack of potatoes if you were too round shouldered!
I learnt a lot about ski technique from Peter during the 6 days, he explained things in a way that I could understand. By the end of the course I felt that I was a much better skier, both on piste and off-piste.
We ended the day with drinks in the hotel bar with Peter Cliff.
Tuesday 5th May 1992
On the second day we went to the top of the Grand Montets lift, it was really cold in the shadows but warm in the sun.
We put skis outside the lift station, then it was steep and narrow to reach the glacier below. The glacier was covered in icy moguls and was still in shadow. We all started skiing but Peter Cliff stopped us part way down and told us how badly we were all skiing and that if we fell on the next section we would go down a crevasse and die. Not the best way to put our minds at rest considering that this course was the first time skiing off-piste for most of us. This made us ski more slowly and carefully. We skied around and under the cable car over the top of the glacier through loads of avalanche debris to the top of the Bochard piste, the easy bit compared to what had gone before.
At the Bochard piste Peter gave us an ultimatum, keep up with him as we ski down the piste or leave the course. We started down with Peter in the lead then Ed, Peter (forester), me, Kieran and Sheila. We stopped half-way down and waited for everyone to join up. Peter stayed very quiet and we just continued down. At the bottom Peter Cliff stopped suddenly to look back up the slope and was almost run over by the 3 of us as we following him so closely!
Unfortunately, there was no sign of Kieran or Sheila. Kieran arrived a minute or two later – he had fallen after being cut-up by a snowboarder so his excuse was accepted. Kieran looked very stylish on pistes with his feet looking as if they were bolted together. This style meant he was not very stable off-piste or in poor snow where a wider stance would have helped.
Sheila eventually appeared but was not going well, her arthritic hips were preventing her from skiing well in the difficult conditions. Peter decided that she would be unable to do the tour and told her she would have to stay behind. Sheila had joined the course knowing this was a possibility and was disappointed but not surprised.
The rest of us, without Sheila, went to the top of the Grand Montets again but this time we headed straight down for the Argentiere Glacier. The sun had softened the surface and it was much easier. We came down through the icefall and crevasses to reach the Lognan lifts. The run was several kilometres long and it was exciting skiing for all 3 of us.
We stopped for lunch and waited for Sheila to join us as arranged. We wanted to repeat our last run over the glacier but instead we all went up the Bochard lift, traversed away from the piste and practised using avalanche transceivers instead.
Peter then left us to finish the day however we wanted so we skied around the Bochard piste a couple of times before catching the lift to the valley. The snow was really soft and heavy now.
Wednesday 6th May 1992
We caught the bus to Chamonix and walked up the hill to the Brevent lift station where Peter had planned for us to do a 1 day tour from the top station. Unfortunately, when we arrived from Argentiere it was shut for maintenance. Peter was living in Argentiere so it was a bit of a surprise that he hadn’t realised, but the original plan was for us to ski the Vallee Blanche which Sheila couldn’t do so we asked Peter to change to something that she could do.
We walked back down the hill and caught the bus to the Flegere cable car where Peter had a run in with the lift staff. Mountain Guides expect to travel free as they’re bringing trade to the lifts with their clients. Eventually he did get his free lift pass and we all followed him through after we’d paid. I’m not sure why the argument started but he was not happy after this. We stopped at the mid-station for a tea break so that he could relax and calm down a bit.
After the break we all went up to l’Index for a short tour back to Brevent. Just as we were about to start a series of avalanches came down the slopes under which we should have skied. We would have down there if we hadn’t stopped for a tea break! The plan changed again and we practised digging snow pits ourselves to test the snow condition. Then we spent the rest of the day skiing around Flegere as preparation for the 3 day tour coming up.
The snow became very wet and heavy so we stopped and decided to go down. Peter Cliff looked quite pale and ill and he said he was unsure if he would be able to do the tour, we’d have to wait and see.
Peter turned up later and did another gear check, including harness adjustment. The group gear was then shared out. I took a snow shovel and a spare ski pole.
The following 3 day ski tour was my first ski mountaineering trip in the Alps. Previously I had skied 3 Munro’s as day trips and done a few weeks in total of downhill skiing, mostly in Scotland and 1 week in Austria at Neustift and Stubai. I also did quite a few sessions skiing on dry ski slopes at Rossendale and Sheffield. I would describe myself as a steady skier but definitely not stylish!
Ski Tour Day 1, Thursday 7th May 1992
The day started with all 7 of us taking the Grands Montets lift (3250 m) from Argentiere. At the top Peter Cliff decided to have another kit check and told me I was carrying too much. He pulled out my waterproofs and all my hill food as Peter told us he doesn’t stop for food breaks (“you can eat when you reach the hut”) and I gave it all to Sheila who had come to see us off. He did the same for the other 3 too so Sheila had quite an armful of stuff to carry down. Peter should have done this at the hotel.
From here we skied down the Glacier des Rognans across recent avalanche debris keeping above a rocky outcrop to the Argentiere Glacier. We stopped in the middle, well spaced out in case of unseen crevasses, to put skins on.
Then we skied up the glacier past the Glacier du Milieu, Refuge d’Argentiere (2771 m) and the Glacier des Amethysts all on our left. Finally, we turned off the Glacier d’Argentiere to ski up the Glacier du Tour Noirs to practice using skins on steep ground. The slopes were covered in about 5 cm of fresh snow on packed ice so on the steep slopes our skis had a tendency to slide away if you didn’t get the edges in properly.
All was going well until near the top of the steepest section Kieran slipped slowly all the way down the slope with Peter shouting down for him to “use your poles to stop” then when he was flat on the slope Peter called down “use your ski edges”, that didn’t work so Peter said “dig your elbows into the snow”. Kieran did that and skinned his elbows badly but didn’t stop until the bottom of the slope. Peter shouted down for him to come back up but he refused and waved at the nearby Argentiere hut and said I’ll go straight to the hut. Peter wasn’t amused and skied down, tied him onto a short rope and effectively dragged him back up to join the rest of us.
We headed up further and the snow was softer so easier to ski. Then we took skins off and headed down towards the Refuge d’Argentiere. There was a bad section just above and behind the hut which we crossed singly 100 metres apart in case the slope avalanched. We checked in at the hut and then drank lots of tea to rehydrate before going outside to hang up our climbing skins to dry in the sunshine and admire the view from the terrace with a beer in hand, until clouds rolled in mid-afternoon. The 2 toilets were a bit primitive, 2 steel cabins each with holes cut in the floor.
Supper was chicken casserole, with red wine and bread. Peter then volunteered us to help do the washing up which we did and the guardian then rewarded us with some nightcap drinks.
We had a room to ourselves with room for 10 but there were just 6 of us so we spread out a bit when we turned in at about 9pm. The people who snored were placed as far from Peter as possible!
Ski Tour Day 2, Friday 8th May 1992
Some climbers in our dormitory were up early and made lots of noise sorting their gear until Peter told them to do it outside but we couldn’t settle so we all got up a few minutes later at 5am, much earlier than was needed. Breakfast was muesli, bread, marmalade and tea.
Once we left the Refuge d’Argentiere we were on the Ski Haute Route for the entire day. This is the ski mountaineering route between Argentiere and Zermatt in Switzerland which usually takes 6 or 7 days to complete. I completed this in 1993 and recently updated photo diary – click here to view.
We left the hut at 6am, it was still twilight, and walked down the slope carrying our skis about 100m as it was very rutted with knee-deep ‘post-holes’ where people had walked up yesterday afternoon in the soft wet snow. Then we waited for Peter Cliff to catch up and tell us what to do next. He told us we would be skiing downhill so we put skis on to reach the foot of the Glacier du Chardonnet.
We headed down a steep icy slope, traversed around some ice banks and a bit further down to the Glacier d’Argentiere where we stopped to put on skins and harscheisen (ski crampons). Then we started up the Glacier du Chardonnet and made good progress up the lower steep section until Kieran slipped again and went a few hundred meters down the slope. He was having trouble getting the edges of his skis and harscheisen to grip. Peter and Tony immediately went down to help him back up again while we waited.
Meanwhile, a group of 3 Americans walked past carrying their skis on their sacs, unlike everyone else that we saw. A few minutes later we heard shouting from above, one of the group had fallen down a crevasse and was saved from falling far by his rucsac. Peter made a point of explaining how that probably wouldn’t have happened if they had been on skis to spread the weight.
By now Peter thought we were behind schedule so he hurried us along as we skinned up the glacier. At 10am we reached the Col du Chardonnet (3323 m) and changed our skis from uphill to downhill mode and removed the climbing skins from the underside. While doing this I failed to notice that Tony had put one of his skis partly over the top of one of my skis and as I lifted it up his ski shot off down the Chardonnet Glacier looking as if it wouldn’t stop until Argentiere High Street! Just when we thought all was lost the ski hit a divot, shot in the air and landed tip first in the snow. Tony was off like a shot and soon covered the 400 metres to be back with his ski after 10 minutes or so. We hoped Peter Cliff didn’t see the incident or it may be unpleasant!
While all this was going on Peter Cliff was setting up a belay rope for us using the permanent belay point installed at the top of the col. One by one we clipped onto the rope and abseiled come side-slipped down the east side from France into Switzerland, with Peter at the top of the rope of course. Forester Peter went down first followed by Ed who found himself upside down at the top of the steepest bit – he said he hadn’t realised that the rope was still being paid out and as the rope he was holding tightly went slack he went with it head first instead of sliding his skis. We didn’t seem to be having a good day! Kieran followed me then Tony followed him. Finally, Peter took the rope in, packed it in his rucksack and skied down without it showing how it should be done!
From the foot of the col we traversed around the Glacier de Saleina on softish snow and stopped at the foot of the slope to a col for lunch. At least, everyone else stopped for lunch but Peter Cliff had taken all my hill food out of my rucksack before we started so I just watched everyone else eating!
Then it was time to put skins on the skis and ski up to the foot of the col, crossed the bergschrund where we took our skis off. From here we walked up carrying the skis up the last steep section to the Fenetre de Saleina (3261 m). Peter carried his and Kieran’s skis to avoid any mishaps.
At the top we removed the skins from our skis, put them on and skied around the bowl of the Plateau du Trient to Col d’Orny. We stopped to put our skins on the skis once again and skied up the last short bit to the Cabane du Trient (3170 m) to arrive at 1pm. The terrace was a fantastic viewpoint over the Aiguilles Dorées and the Aiguille du Tour.
We went inside and drank lots of tea until we rehydrated then we sat on the terrace and watched the clouds drifting in from the Glacier du Trient and other groups arriving below us on the col.
We were all very tired but Peter kindly volunteered us to unload a helicopter cargo net of hut goodies that was dropped as we sat on the terrace drinking beers. Several trips later carrying cases and crates of wine, beer and food it was done and we returned to our beers.
We had clear blue sky and it was warm all day. The hut guardian was very friendly and looked after us very well although I was less than impressed with the cheese and tomato fondue that we all had for dinner. An allergy to dairy products and general hatred of fondue didn’t help! Peter seemed to know the guardian and his wife well and, for helping with the delivery he plied us with a few drinks before we turned in at 9.30pm.
Ski Tour Day 3, Saturday 9th May 1992
Breakfast was just after 6pm. We put our skis on just an hour later and skied down to the Col d’Orny and then around the edge of the plateau towards the Aiguille du Tour. It was mostly downhill but on the few slightly uphill sections we were able to keep moving by stepping onto the uphill ski pointing slightly downhill. This kept us moving.
Eventually we stopped, put skins on our skis and raised the heel bale for uphill skiing. Then we roped up for the first time on skis and started uphill around Plateau du Trient crevasses and ice cliffs below the Aiguille du Tour. We had 2 ropes of 3, I was with Tony and Ed, as we all headed around the foot of the Aiguille du Tour (3544 m) to the unnamed Col between Aiguille du Pissoir (3440 m) and Le Pissoir (3319m) south of Col du Pissoir.
We side-slipped the steep top section by zig-zagging to and fro. As the slope eased we skied down on good snow with tall cliffs on our left and the Col du Midi (3232m) ahead of us before veering off to the right below the Aiguille du Midi on the Glacier des Grands. As we skied lower the snow changed to breakable crust and caught most of us out, I fell once here. Peter stopped us and talked to us about continually probing the snow as we skied so that we could adjust our style to suit the conditions.
We continued across the Glacier des Grands to just south of the Croix de Beron (Croix de Bron on french maps) where we regrouped and continued the long steep traverse on the Glacier de Beron, it was very hot now. We all made it down to the easier slopes below even though the snow was very soft now. We passed a few skiers coming up sweating buckets in the heat.
Then at about 2100m it was into a very unpleasant narrow gorge with steep sides filled with recent avalanche debris for several hundred metres. We all found it very difficult to ski through this. Kieran fell and slid into Peter Cliff knocking him over as he was just below him, they slid about 15m together. As they both stood up Kieran did it again and once more Peter was knocked over. He was furious with Kieran and we thought they were going to come to blows but thankfully Tony and Ed calmed things down.
Peter and Kieran walked the rest of the way while the rest of us attempted to ski around and over the large blocks of avalanche ice debris. Eventually we had to stop and take our skis off too so Peter told us to walk down to Trient on our own. We were just a few hundred metres from the Trient river.
I took off a layer and put on more suncream ready for the hot walk out in the sunshine. We crossed the Trient Glacier torrent and followed the track down past the Chalet du Glacier (closed 1583m) and on the last few miles down through the woods to the road which was covered in avalanche debris in 3 places. Trient village (1279 m) was reached at 11.30am and was the end our trip which we celebrated with a well earned beer in the cafe. Peter Cliff joined us several minutes later having calmed down and arranged transport back to Argentiere. We were all surprisingly quiet in the minibus taxi back to the hotel in Argentiere.
We returned to the Argentiere Hotel le Dahu where we were put in newly refurbished rooms with ensuite shower and toilet, luxury! We cleaned up and changed into walking clothes. I met up with Ed and Peter (forester) and we went for a walk up the path alongside the Glacier d’Argentiere. We stopped at about the 1700m mark, took some photos and returned to the hotel.
We had dinner in the hotel then went to a couple of other bars in Argentiere. On returning to the hotel late evening there was now a wedding reception in the hotel and we were all invited to join in! Everyone was very friendly, the drinks were free for the rest of the evening. I talked with Peter Cliff and Ed for a lot of the time, Peter was like a different person laughing and joking, very different from this mornings episode where he nearly came to blows with Kieran. I eventually went to bed at 1.30am a little the worse for wear. Ed and Peter Cliff eventually turned in at 4.30am!
Sunday 10th May 1992
After breakfast, I caught the train to Martigny and then to Geneva Airport. I flew back to Manchester Airport with British Airways where my wife Jan picked me up and drove me home.
Clothing
Patagonia Capilene Lightweight long-sleeved T-shirt
North Cape zip polo shirt
Buffalo windshirt
Rohan Superstriders breeches adapted by my wife to come down 8 inches below my knees
Mountain Equipment fleece jacket
Berghaus Yeti knee-length alpine gaiters glued to my boots with a rubber rand under the sole
Equipment
Nikon FE 35mm camera + Ilford FP4 film
Kastle Tour Randonee skis, collapsible poles and Harscheisen (ski crampons)
Salewa Messner step in scissor crampons
Dynafit Tour Lite ski mountaineering boots with knee length Yeti Gaiters attached
Pomoco ski climbing skins
Mountain Technology 50cm ice axe
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