Jean Pavillard
Adventures to the Edge
SPRING 2004 NEWSLETTER
June 5, 2004
Adventures to the Edge
SPRING 2004 NEWSLETTER
June 5, 2004
Dear friends!!
Wahoo!! what a spring. On May 5 at the Monchjoch Hut near the Jungfraujoch we received 6 feet of snow in 12 hours. Great for this summer but just too much snow for skiing on that day. Overall the spring was good, the glaciers are still low on snow from the heat wave of last summer creating new tension in the glaciers and many crevasses did not fill in well, so we used a lot more the rope.
February: Marmolejo 6,200 Meters - Cordillera, Central Chile
Jill , Richard Nelson and Dan Terpsma.
Another great high altitude adventure. This peak is not far from Santiago and gives you a true expedition style adventure but only for 8 to 10 days. The approach to base camp was done with the support of mules and then we carried our own gear for camp 1 and 2 before attempting the summit. Without major technical difficulty this peak is fun with plenty of excitement especially the river crossings.
March: Hines Extreme Adventure Team
Cortina, Italy - Dolomites.
Gerald, Hasty, David, Lee, Tommy, Dave, Ed, Lars, Steve, Gerhard, Jim, Bahram.
Guides team: Guido, Davide, Jean.
Imagine miles and miles of ski runs, back bowls, mountain huts that challenge hotels, great ski tours, good pizzas, excellent wine and for dessert GREAT DEEP SNOW !!
With the help of Guido, Mt guide from Brescia and Davide, Mt guide from Cortina - we tour and explored the Dolomites secret stashes. On piste skiing included the Sella Ronda ( 465 lifts – 1,800 km of groom ski runs and endless off piste skiing). We skied the back bowl of Mt Castillo, ski tour from the Fanes hut and Lagazoui hut.
As always the Hines adventure team exceled in the art of discovering new places. I can not wait for our next adventure: Russia? Norway? Morocco? Chile?
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APRIL 2 – 14: Berner Oberland Haute Route
Tom Biery, Tom Bennett, Joe Ludden, James Vlahos, Alex Di Suvero.
Guide: Jean
I meet both Toms a few days before the tour to explore the surroundings of Interlaken - Murren, Wengen, Klein Scheidegg, and Lauberhorn.
The weather did not cooperate at first but we still reached 85 km/hour down the Lauberhorn (official Swiss timing).
James, Alex and Joe joined us later for an exceptional tour. Both James and Alex work for National Geography and in 10 months their photos and story will be published. We enjoyed some stormy days and some great day of “steep and deep.” The final day from Oberaarjoch hut over the Galmihorn and down to Munster was just exceptional.
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APRIL 14-22 CHAMONIX-ZERMATT, HAUTE ROUTE
Kira, Tim Marchant, Amy, Greg, Amy and Mike.
Guide : Jean
The tour started with a lousy rainy day in Chamonix. On the second day the clouds cleared and high wind maintained the blue sky. Of course many backcountry skiers pressed at the Aiguille du Midi lift to ski the valley Blanche. We managed to ski the valley blanche, then ride the bus to Argentiere, the cable car to les Grands Montet and ski to Argentiere Hut, the first step along the haute route. After such a day the haute was a piece of cake.. almost !! Day two over col du Chardonnet, fenetre de Saleinaz to Trient hut proved to be the most demanding day. After a stormy day between Mt Fort and Prafleuri we enjoyed perfect conditions all the way to Zermatt, skiing into town with perfect snow.
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APRIL 24 – MAY 2, 2004 Berner Oberland Haute Route
Miles, Sue, Dave, Lou, Terri, David, John, Paul.
Guides: Patou, Yvan, Jean.
What a treat!!! Standing atop of the Sphinx of the Jungfraujoch with endless view, peaks such as the Monch, Aleschthorn, Mt Blanc and many more. During the next couple days We reached the top of Jungfrau, Gruneegghorn, Weissnollen. We climbed twice the 350 stairs to the Concordia hut and enjoyed the brand new Finsteraar hut. We traversed the Oberland with a mix of exceptional days with blue sky and an incredible day of white everywere.
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MAY 4 – 11, 2004. Berner Oberland, Pigne D'Arolla
Paul and Lisa Duncan. With Jean.
May 6: Monchjoch hut 3,629 meters After a little over 12 hours 6 feet of snow has fallen and we must postpone the tour until condition improve. We decided to return to the Jungfraujoch, usually 20 minutes away. Two hours later after braking through thigh deep snow we reached the tunnel that will bring us back to the train. Thanks the maintenance crew that came from inside and drill a hole with the machine, it could have easily take us several hours to dig a hole thru so much snow to find the door of the tunnel.
A new start. Sunday May 9th. We meet in Sion and drive to Arolla, the sky is still grey but the forecast is predicting some good weather.
May 10: Perfect, perfect, perfect. We climbed to les dix hut. May 11: We traverse the Pigne D’arolla . Great snow & views. May 12: We skied back down to Arolla. Fantastic !!
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MORE IMPORTANT NEWS:
Madeleine Pavillard 16 years old, managed for her first full season competing, wining the US Big Mountain Ski Extreme, 4th in the US Extreme Snowboard Border Cross and 4th in the US Big Mountain Snowboard Extreme (All junior category). She also joined the Center of Fantastic Skiing team as she earned her ski instructor certification.
WHATS COMING UP:
Starting at the end of June I will meet Jeno and Monica Kalozdi with many friends for a tour that will take us to Briancon, France for some climbing and via ferrata, then Ardeche, France were we will kayak and climb. We will finish in Spain climbing first the Pico d’Aneto and canyoneering in the Sierra De Guara.
I will continue with an haute route from Chamonix to Zermatt with the Wolf family, ending in Zermatt and climbing one of the high peaks, Breithorn or Pollux.
The last week of July I plan to be in Zermatt. Matterhorn, Monte Rosa. I will then take 3 weeks active rest in Crested Butte before meeting Monica and Tom in Katmandu before transferring to Lhassa and climbing Cho Oyu until mid-October.
As for the end of the year look at the following proposition:
November: Argentina – Chile
December: Skiing in Colorado
January: Aconcagua and trekking in Patagonia, climbing in Ecuador
February: Aconcagua, ski touring
March til May: Ski touring, Alps, Canadian Rockies, Colorado.
Please contact me and let’s plan your next adventure !!
See you soon!
Jean and the team
Adventures to the Edge Ltd.
An international Mt guide service
ph: 970 349 5219
www.jpmountainguide.com
jean@jpmountainguide.com