Author: rosshewittguiding
IFMGA British Mountain Guide, Skier at Black Crows Skis, Alpinist, Mountain Biker, Life Lover
La Sentinelle
La Sentinelle is a back country meet for ski tourers who share a passion for the mountains, the remote and the wild. Last year we organised 2 meets, one in Aosta’s Bezzi Refugio in Val Grisenche and the second in the Lyngen/Tamok/3 Cairns region of Scandinavia. In Italy we were blessed with Champagne powder, stable conditions and 4 days of sunshine. Here’s what we got up to:
Chapow – the best of 2018
Chamonix 2018 went down as one of those all time seasons. Sometimes when you in the midst of it all skiing routes and planning the next one, there is so little time to see just how good it was. But putting these clips toegther made me realise how lucky we were. Even more so because in the preseason and about to depart for New Zealand’s Caroline Face, I got injured with a sequestrated L5-S1. Hobbling around Cham in mortal agony with a paralysed sciatic nerve that caused my glutes and calf muscles to wither and die, a successful ski season with around 15 North Face runs seemed a very unrealistic goal. Thanks to all those obsessive ski bums who I shared those turns with, those that sacrifice it all, coming from round the World, to ski down Chamonix’s big mountains.
The Wild Side
The Skyway area with its 1500 m high faces stretching from Tour Ronde to the Grandes Jorasses is locally referred to as the Wild Side. Yesterday with strong wind it was living up to its reputation as we opened the Marbree Couloir and the shoulder of Aiguille d’Entreves.
Film – 12000 m of Powder at Skyway
Boy have we been lucky with snow conditions. After a 3 day storm I went to Skyway with the dream team of Dave Searle and Tom Grant to see what had happened. 1-2 m accumulations were expected and were found, but after a couple of ski cuts nothing avalanched and we got on with hoovering as much powder as possible with each of our ten 1200 m runs. Here’s the goods:
