Demasi, Lurie, Sjue and I skied the Aiguille d’Argentiere via the Milieu Glacier in a one-day push from the Argentiere village. We decided to forgo the Grand Montets aerial tram which would have saved us 6,000 vertical feet of climbing, and instead we left the lush valley floor at early-as-hell am, and climbed all the way to the top. These guys are always fantasizing about a huge tram somewhere in the Cascades so they could get up to the alpine without a heinous approach. But if someone finally builds one, they’ll probably hike anyway.

Our original intent was to ski the Barbie Couloir on the North Face of the peak, but when we finally reached the summit, the clouds that had been boiling up around Mont Blanc all day reached us, and we decided to descend our climbing route rather than drop off the back. A long long long descent followed, and we were soon drinking beer, eating pizza, and planning our next mission, the NE Face of Les Courtes.

Finally on the Argentiere Glacier after a long morning climbing out of the valley.

Classic Argentiere scenery.

Into the sun, onto the Milieu.

A view of the Aiguille d'Argentiere and the Milieu Glacier taken from the top of the Grande Montets tram (the tram we didn't take).