Le Rainkopf Double-Face: unexpected steep forest powder skiing

Can you believe skiing in the Vosges 900hm descent on 30+ degrees N expositions is a good idea? it definitely is! The plan was not so clear: min. 1000hm up and possibly steep descents down again... and good snow conditions, whereby the max summit is 1400m high...  hmm the Vosges? I had never been before but it is the closest to where I am and online several recent outings report excellent snow conditions, steep couloirs ... essentially "Vosginisme" - the local version of.. well you know what I mean...!  I vaguely understand where Le Hohneck (Falimont couloir), Grand Ballon and Le Tenet are but... I ask and someone on www.skitour.fr kindly recommends Le Rainkopf as the real Vosge skitour. So I now have at least a worthwhile destination - the rest will fall into place... off I go! 

After a good night sleep in Remiremont and a good French breakfast I drive up the 30km to La Bresse in the Haute Vosges where I luckily find the essential IGN 1:25'000 map of the area. After a good coffee I continue the 4 km to the starting point at Pont de Blanchemere (820m). Incredible but on the N side of the main Vosges ridge there is plenty of snow! Temperature of -4C is perfect and the snow powdery of course. From the parking across the bridge I take the trace which on a sustained slope heads up in the woods following the summer trail. From there on it can't be missed. After 30min having made some altitude on the left I have a plunging view on Blanchemere lake and looking at the Rainkopf NW flank, which consists of 40+ degree forest I see the well known Couloir de Blanchemere, which sometime today I want to ski. Looks steep enough! The routes very gently climbs up to ca. 1100m and follows the forested ridge up to ca. 1200m; once the Routes des Cretes is crossed in 15 min the grassy, round summit of le Rainkopf is reached (1h.15).

The view is amazing today and streches well over 200km: across le Grand Ballon I can see EMJ, Finsterarrhorn, Schreckhorn and the Wetterhorn group. On the other side the summit breaks into steep flanks called 'combes' and reminds me starkly of the English hills. Here I finally, once I see the terrain configuration, I decide the route I will follow.

After a short break I see man ski traces down the 40 degrees NE slope towards Altenweiher lake and I assume this is the route down. So I descend the 150hm of fun but at the bottom the traces abruptly all stop at a rocky drop below! oops... great start ... so skins on again and up tracing switchbacks the steep flank back up to the summit again! I realize this is actually a slope locals must use just to do steep skiing, despite its only 150hm.... Having understood my mistake (better map reading would have shown me the vertical drop underneath) and learned about local freeride culture I now follow the E ridge along the snowshoe trail and then plunge into a NE oriented 35+ degree steep forest - snow is good and the forest a fairy tale... route follows the summer route more or less on the IGN map. A lot of fun and I exit the forest 400 hm lower at the W side of Altenweiher lake. After crossing the small dam I follow a snowshoe trace up the SE flank of Le Kastelberg. Snow is now heavy and wet and the sun heating up the 35 degree flank in the Foret de Kastelberg; following the summer trail the trace climbs back up 400hm to the flat summit of Le Kastelberg.

Le Kastelberg is the top of 'Domaine Skiable' so there is snow-kiters, board-kiters, surfers, dogs, snowshoes, children, hill walkers, double skilift arrival... loads of people. However, the view across the main Vosges ridge is incredible and again, now even clearer I can see the Berner Oberland ca. 200km SE! After a good break to drink tea and eat something I ski down 100hm to a col and then with skins up again (the 4th time today) to Le Rainkopf. After a nice chat to a local fell walker with dog I am ready for the finale. I look for the couloir de Blanchemere and find it. The couloir is steep and ca. 300hm: it has short section >40 degrees. Snow is hard but just on the side in the forest its good. At the bottom I get to LAc de Blanchemere which I circle and then ski down to the Pont de Blanchemere.

Fazit: great ! double face - two descents, NE and NW in the steep forest on 1000hm ... what do you want more? one has to like wild forest safaris... in any case a very nice impression I got from my first visit to Vosges - I will be back...the snow on northerly exposition will hold another few days - but with raising temperature and the low elevations it's NOW... or very soon it will be over this year!

The PD+ is referred to descents. Not much objective danger but good orientation skills and skiing are required. Once off the main Vosge ridge one is mostly alone in the forest.