Traverse of the Aiguille de la Noire

Starting from the Aiguille du Midi cable car, exit the lift station and walk down the arête. Ski down the Vallée Blanche, crossing over to the Italian side. Once on the flat glacier above the Geant Icefall, start skinning up the slopes of the Géant Glacier in the direction of the Dent du Géant. Skin up to the toe of the rocky spur coming down between Point Yeld and the Col Superior de la Noire. Climb up a 40 degree slope to the right of the rocky toe and continue trending rightwards onto the ridgeline. From here locate a small col and ski down across the hanging serac of Point Yeld. Ski across this short glacial face and climb up a small section of easy mixed ground. Now at this second col, there are two options; to skier's right and to skier's left. Both lines start off easy before the face steepens into blind rollovers. Both the left and right lines have short sections of usually bare ice (except under very good conditions) and normally require a short but committing straight line or a short abseil on a v-thread. After these crux sections, continue down the open 40-45 degree face before joining the Périades Glacier. Ski down and onto the Salle à Manger, re-joining the main Vallée Blanche route.