Written by I really wanted to ski badly…it was the last day of my Chamonix season and it felt like months since I had tired legs from big days out. I spent most of yesterday deciding what to do, would there be enough new snow for a rematch on col de la verte? But as the rain poured down last night, focus switched to the Midi North Face, a sure bet and no worries about getting sluffed climbing up something.
So I met Dave at 0730 , got first bin tickets…all looking good. Then that ding dong of the PA system…oh no, here we go, FFS, they never announce good news like we were all happy this morning and got to work to open the lift early because its a powder day and we are here to serve. Problem technique, next info at 10 am. Too late and too sunny to hit the Argie basin and besides Dave had DH kit. So we gave up our dreams of freeriding powder all day long and did the next best thing (well not really but options were low) and went to the bakery for a pain au chocolate. After wasting another couple of hours of my life, and just before I went home to get on with packing for Baffin, the Midi did open. CMB redeemed themselves!
And I am glad I waited. Col du Plan gave me the best powder I ever skied on the North Face – I think its fair to say we were all buzzing after sending the top pitch in 10 seconds – Tof, Christopher Baud, Arthur Ghillini, Dave Searle – thanks for an all time run. After that we we went to Rond – West Couloir combo, with that riding beautifully. But then we lost 10 minutes at the lift as one of the lifties wouldn’t let Searler on a bin that was far from full. What was that about? Our final run was Salopar was pretty good too and after red lining the last half hour and nearly breaking down the locked door at the Plan, we made the last lift down. Overall CMB is forgiven. A day to remember. When Cham is good, its real good. I was sad to be leaving but glad it was on a high!
A big thanks to my friends for fun times this winter and looking forward to more this summer. Time for guides training and the couloirs of Baffin!
Ross Hewitt Guiding 