The "west couloir" from Aiguille du Midi (20.04.2001)  

A beautiful ski descent doing the West Couloir from the Glacier Ronde. The couloir comes in from the North Face and can be accessed from the Glaciere Ronde via an abseil (route no. 160 in F. Damilano's "Snow, Ice and Mixed vol II"). You ski down no. 2 in the photo but instead of taking to the skiers left you continue down the glacier to the bottom skiers right. You climb to a col and abseil into the couloir. You see the col on the photo 1 cm below no 1. We did it on telemark skis in good conditions. 50-55 degrees steep in 35 cm fresh snow. Grade 5.3 ED+

© camp to camp - Aiguille du Midi

This is from the top of the couloir. You ski down the Glacier Ronde and in the bottom skiers right you climb to a col. From the col you abseil 10-15 m onto a small ledge and put on your skis. In the picture you can see the skier has sidestepped into the couloir which is narrow at the top. At the top the couloir feels exposed - you are hanging from the rope as you put on your skis.

© unknown - the "west couloir" Aiguille du Midi