climbing – Page 12 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Alps 2005

7th Jul 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

This Alpine trip was fantastic and covered a few areas, starting out in Les Ecrins in January we ice climbed and ski toured before moving North to Chamonix. There we spent one cold day at the end of January climbing the Swiss route on Les Courtes on squeeky neve. Then we headed East into La Valais to ski tour on the Breithorn and Monte Rosa areas, finally finishing off in the Chamonix area skiing some classics like Col de Cristeaux and the Armencettes.

La Grave Icefalls, Andy Benson on the Lead

Hey Fella!
The Davin Couloir and Les Agneaux

Quiet Day at the Hut in the Ecrins

Crux Pitch, Vallon Diable

Me After a Stunning Ice Route

The Benson Twins and Nick Wallis in the Ecrins

Nick Wallis above Col de Lauteret

La Verte and Les Drus

Heading off up the Swiss Routes on Les Courtes

Aiguille du Midi from Le Mont

Teams competing in the Mezzalama

Summit Ridge of the Breithorn

The Mezzalama Heading over Castor and Pollux

The Schwarze Glacier next to the Breithorn

The Matterhorn at Dawn from Monte Rosa

At the Monte Rosa Hut

Monte Rosa

Matterhorn

Couturier

Window Shopping in the Argentiere Basin. i.e. waiting on weather

Y Couloir

Col des Courtes

Col de Cristeaux

The NE on Les Courtes

Heading into the Conscrits

Me and the West Face of Mont Blanc

Ryler on Domes de Miage

Skiing down the Armencettes Ryler at the Argentiere Hut Alps 2005-77

Ryler, Wolfgang, Thomas, Jessica and Friends on Col de Cristeaux

Dawn on Mont Dolent

Mark Ryle on Col des Cristeaux and some Glacier Art

Old Skool, Argentiere Basin Steeps on Altitrails! Mark Ryle on Col des Cristeaux

Ecrins 2004

7th Jul 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

The Ecrins is a magical place, big mountains with a remote feel and few people there in winter. Arguably its much better suited to ski touring than Mont Blanc range with a lot more terrain in the 30-40 degree range. In total I spent 2 months there with a road trip south to the beach at Nice through the beautiful provencal village Entrevaux.

Quiet lanes in La Grave

Ice climbing in Vallon de Diable.

A busy day at La Grave

Kiting at Col de Lauteret

La Grave

Briancon’s fort.

The Davin Couloir

Looking up the Davin.

Sunsets near Dignes les Bains

The strip at Nice

Entrevaux

La Meije

Ice in La Grave

Old La Grave

Trous de La Mouche – road trip to Les Aravis

Glacier Blanc Hut

En Route to Domes de Neige des Ecrins

Ailefroide with its winter coat

Cheeky locals

In the Davin Traversing Dome Monetier

Norway 2003

7th Jul 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

It would appear that Norway has more rock than it knows what to do with so they don’t mind putting a few bolts in. We spent some time around the Stavanger area visiting sports crags like Bersagel & Norland to climb and BBQ with the locals. I was some months into recovering from some Glandular Fever type virus I’d picked up from working in West Africa so chilling out in the sunshine was very welcome.

Return to Rock

20th Jun 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

After a quick warm up on Mont Oreb’s ‘l’Ete Indiane to get back into things, we spent 3 back to back days last week escaping the 35 degree valley heat on the perfect golden granite on South Face of Midi 3842 m climbing Kolmann (6a+), Contamine (7a) and Jules de Chez Smith (6b). With cooler temperatures this week we were able to hit the fingery Zone at Gietroz and sample some of its impeccable gneiss.

Berghaus Team

26th Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Its official, I am proud to join the Berghaus team. I was inspired as a climber reading about Sir Chris Bonnington’s adventures in the Alps and Himalaya and recently Berghaus has diversified into a range of adventure activities including ultra running, mountain biking and now skiing. It will be fun working with them directly to develop future products which enable me to tick off objectives on my adventure list. Here’s the official press release:
Berghaus has added extreme skier and climber Ross Hewitt to its team of sponsored athletes. Hewitt, 38, is based in Chamonix, from where he specialises in ski mountaineering, freeriding on powder, and tackling steep, technical lines. He joins a team that includes some of the world’s great adventurers, including Sir Chris Bonington, Mick Fowler, Karen Darke and Leo Houlding.

Ross Hewitt grew up in north east Scotland and started skiing at the age of seven. After cutting his teeth in resort skiing and slalom racing, Hewitt progressed to ski mountaineering and big mountain skiing and has been focusing on those areas for 15 years.

Hewitt comments:
“Big mountain skiing is my main passion today. The ability to travel fast and light through the mountains on technical terrain really appeals to me, requiring the right mix of the mental, technical and physical abilities to achieve that long dreamt about project of an aesthetic line on a big peak. Chamonix has proved to be an amazing base and testing ground with endless adventures and possibilities to inspire and motivate. Skiing the Frendo Spur last year was a big psychological step for me, following in the tracks of alpine legend Jean-Marc Boivin and steep skier Laurent Giacomini who first skied it in 1977.”

Ross Hewitt is also an accomplished photographer and has worked on numerous assignments with his partner Michelle Blaydon, who is also a member of the Berghaus team of athletes. They climb and ski together and have already played a role in the development and testing of several Berghaus products.

Hewitt adds:

“It is a real privilege to join the Berghaus team. Thanks to Michelle’s involvement, I already had a great insight into the way that the company works and interacts with its athletes and I was very keen to be part of that. I love the products that are coming through the pipeline, some of which have already helped me tick off objectives on my adventure list, and I am really looking forward to getting even more involved in future gear development projects.”

Photo copyright : Cedric Bernardini