A beautiful wild corridor good for perfecting you steep slope skiing..

Access to the base of the corridor or Albert 1er refuge can be done in different ways: via Col du Passon (recommended or by the Trois Cols route from the Grands Montets tram, via the Tour ski lift and the summer trail (exposed) or via the Col du Passon descent route. You can also start from Trient refuge (attended) by traversing the upper Col du Tour or from the Argentière refuge by traversing Col du Passon.

Day 1: Via Col du Passon. From Grands Montets tram, head for the "Point de vue" piste and quickly leave it to descend Rognons glacier to the NE towards Argentière glacier. (classic wilderness skiing with numerous variants). You generally pass right by the Rognon at elevation 3000 and south of the Rognons moraine. On the flat part of Argentière glacier, around 2550 m:

- either traverse horizontally to reach its right bank and via a long NW ascending traverse, which is often difficult, under the foothills of Aiguille du Chardonnet you reach a flat area (around 2730 m),

- or go around a tortuous area and traverse the flat part of the glacier around 2400m. Cross the short but steep moraine and go up unrelenting slopes to the north to reach a scoop to the NE until a flat area (2730 m) where the two routes meet. Continue towards the north to reach the side of the corridors resulting from Col du Passon. Go up the corridor on the right (rock or ice are possible towards the top). Descend to the north towards the refuge which you reach by going up a small slope.

Day 2: Traverse to the side above the refuge to take foot on the glacier around 2800 m. Then climb a characteristic rocky islet (Signal Reilly) to the north and traverse just above it. Via a small steep slope between two crevassed areas which are well-marked and visible on the map, go around the big rocky pillars, and take foot on the flat area in the basin enclosed by Aiguille Purtscheller. Here you are at the foot of the corridor, dominated by the large balanced boulder called "La Table".  Put on your crampons and climb the corridor (around 250 m) until a small notch. Leave your skis there and continue via the ridge until the summit, easy until the first secondary summit, where you generally stop (30 min), it is more difficult to the real summit (1h). Return to the notch and descend the corridor then traverse the left bank of Tour glacier to reach the classic descent of the Passon traverse opposite Albert re refuge. There are two possibilities for returning to the village of Tour:

- pull towards the left to pass under the base of Bec de la Cluy (2334 m) and continue to the left to descent the NW scoop of Bec de Lachat to reach a larch forest. Then descend towards the village avoiding the bars on the left, you reach the village via a traverse to the right passing towards the footbridge 1470 m.

- or continue to descend on the right of Plagnard stream and around 2000 m, traverse to the right towards the NW a steep area of alders to reach the scoops under Tour glacier (risk of serac falls). Descend these scoops to reach the Tour pistes by traversing the Gratapia area of alders around 1600 m.

If the second section of the tram is closed, add 500 m to the day (+1h30)

The summit ridge up to the real summit can be difficult. The corridor is unrelenting at 45° for 200m with a steeper start

South for the corridor but NW for the descent on Le Tour.

Access:
Chamonix > Argentière (accessible by car, bus or train from Chamonix) -  Grands Montets tram (18 in 2003 open until the beginning of May) (tel: 00 33 450 54 00 71) - shuttlebus coming back from Tour



Accommodation:
It is possible to spend the night at the refuges, attended in spring, Argentière (Tel:00 33 450 53 16 92) Trient ( Tel: 00 41 27 783 14 38). Albert 1er refuge is occasionally attended in May and June (Tel 00 33 450 47 34 82) otherwise the winter refuge (30 places) is open.

Safety equipment on the crevassed glacier, crampons, ice axe for the corridor. Slings and karbiners for the summit ridge.