Beauty New Ski Line Opened in Chamonix
Fay Manners and Tom Lafaille spent 14 hours climbing Aiguille d’Argentiere and skiing down two steep couloirs
Fay Manners and Tom Lafaille have made the first ski descent of a wild looking line of Arête Charlet Straton on Aiguille d’Argentiere near Chamonix. They graded it 5.4 and called it Stratonspherique.
They left the car at 3:30 a.m. for the nearly 3,000-metre vert day to avoid chair lifts and crowds and climbed up the Glacier di Milieu to reach the summit at 10:30 a.m. From the summit, they skied down steep sections with a few rappels.
“It felt very committing to be skiing in such exposed terrain but the snow was smooth and we had timed it well to be skiing the top east-facing ridge in the sun when the snow had softened up,” Manner reported, noting that they could see the many people skiing below them.
She noted the first couloir had technical sections and required jump turns, while the second couloir was wider and had more flowy skiing. “We completed the entire route in a very pure alpine style,” Manners said. “Without the use of lifts and, furthermore, we left no trace. It took them 14 hours car-to-car.
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