Seracs Grand Combin
Seracs Grand Combin

Seracs Grand Combin

Seracs Grand Combin

Spring is ski touring season for the higher summits of the alps. As an exception this year’s May, the forecast promised a non-rainy Sunday last weekend. What? No rain? Ok, Daniel Arndt and me got rain, but only at day one, as we made our soaked ascend to the hut, carrying our skis mostly on our backs. But Sunday was brilliant.

Mt. Grand Combin is one of the higher alpine peaks in the french speaking part of Valais. It’s quite remote, discrete and heavily packed with glacier shields. Since the most logical route is very prone to massive ice fall (we speak of huge ice blocks crashing down), the safest way leads over a 400m high, 40-45° steep ice flank, mostly snow-covered in winter. The crux is to climb the blank ice zone at the seracs under the summit snow cap. The rest is easy, skiing down the flank was pure fun.

This photo shows the serac zone, the mountain below is Combin de Corbassière, at the horizon you can see (ltr) Dent de Morcles, Les Diablerets, Wildhorn and Wildstrubel. I guess my friends Athena Carey, Deborah Vos, Johan Peijnenburg and Charles Lupica captured Mt. Grand Combin on many of their wonderful photographs.

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This Post Has 48 Comments

  1. Well, Wilfried Haferland , my friend, I don&39;t know what could I say… 😀
    Just don&39;t know. Except a tear in my eye. Maybe GREAT! 🙂
    We went this saturday for some trekking/scrambling route – I had a temperature and headache, and on top of it forgot my camera in the car. :-S
    But I took some shots with Josip&39;s camera, it&39;s in his album. 😉
    Regards.

  2. Your amazing photos are always perfectly balanced Wilfried Haferland! And as just one example of this, the textures in the snow on the lower right side of the photo match the textures in the clouds exactly. That is a fantastic effect my friend! Thanks for sharing.

  3. splendid. The Alps are beautiful. Thank you showed us and comment. Nice picture.

  4. After the trip, let&39;s face it, remains this amazing view and colors- I have to repeat, your Blue and White photos rocks!- so all the rainy/carrying skies scenes must be now a funny motive to remember the ascent. It has to be always something out of track in the tours, like Dalibor Pačić leaving his camera in the car, to make things more interesting. Bottom line…great photo like always!

  5. Lovely blue tones just like you love it mate and the patterns in the clouds match the patterns on the snow covered slopped mountain. :)))

  6. I love this blue… Very nice.

  7. Superb ! Great work. I like this light and this blue so refreshing.

  8. Athena Carey – Thank you very much, I always love to read your comments as they are really unique… much appreciated!

  9. Deborah Vos – I know, Debby! But I&39;m sure Grand Combin is somewhere to be seen in the background of one or more of your photographer&39;s photos ;-)! Thank you!

  10. Wilfried Haferland The only photographer that might be in that picture is Johan Peijnenburg probably, but the thing is I got myself a new toy… I am a bit like you guys with your new camera&39;s… But mine has a better zoom ;-))

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