skiing – Page 31 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

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

Cosmiques with Friends

25th Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Colin Haley, Michelle Blaydon and Dave Searle hanging out.

Stunning powder on the Para.

A Nocta feeding frenzy.
Caroline and Michelle ripping it up.

Couturier-Whymper on La Verte

13th Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Dave Searle and myself have been wanting to do a traverse of the Verte for a couple of years now combining climbing Couturier and skiing Whymper onsight. After all the free-riding in January and February I was up for an alpine traverse trip like this which offers so much in the way of adventure, challenge, unknown, excitement and great training. The Aiguille Verte is an amazing mountain at 4122 m and all its routes are long and demanding. We were joined by Mikko Heimonen.
C0uturier

Aiguille Verte on the far right with the 1000 m Couturier Couloir descending direct from the summit.

The sunny side of Aiguille Verte, Whymper Couloir descends right of the summit.
Couturier Whymper La Verte Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-4

Nearing the top of the Couloir and the end of the neve with black ice and seracs looming. Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-6

We threaded the seracs along a ramp in the sun above the rock. Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-7 Mikko on the Verte for the first time.

Almost feeling Himalayan due to the cold, with 40 kph wind we were glad to get off the austere north side and into the sun.

Summit of the Verte for me!

Panorama Aiguille Leschaux to Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc and the Chamonix Aiguilles The wind tugged at our skis along the exposed ridge.
Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-15

The snow stayed pretty frozen with the wind.

Chute Central

10th Mar 2014by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

This week I headed back to the Miage area to ski some more of those massive 1000 m couloir lines with Michelle Blaydon, Kirsti Lehtimaki and Mikko Heimonen who had just landed in Chamonix. The powder has all been blown away leaving hard edge-able wind buff which made the boot pack a joy. First up was the line lookers left of the Bonatti which is reminiscent of a Domilimiti line with huge walls souring high above our heads. This line is overlooked since it doesn’t top out on the ridge but with 850 m vertical of skiing I don’t care. Probably the best couloir I have skied in the Mont Blanc Massif with a few hundred metres of 50 degrees at the top and an exciting ramp above some mixed ground. Second up was the 1200 m Domenech Couloir on the Aiguille de l’Aigle which we onsighted from the top. We arrived back at Zerotta in the Courmayeur ski area early afternoon and enjoyed relaxing in the sun and eating pizza and having a beer!

Michelle skiing. Petit Mont Blanc North East Face_-19

Kirsti on the changing lines pitch.

Kirsti skiing the lower couloir.

Time to relax!

The Devil’s Spires

6th Mar 2014by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

I had been wanting to ski the Macho Couloir off Col Diable for a while now but finding a partner who was free was proving challenging. My Black Crows team mate Tom Grant arrived back in Chamonix with his usual high level of psych and he was willing to go do whatever was good. It all looked set, the only minor setback was Tom being kicked out of the first cable car for missing a payment on his season ski pass. With that sorted he managed to jump the queue and caught me up as I ambled down the valley blanche scoping out conditions en route. Good job he did catch me up as it was super deep and we had to trench our way up sustained 50 degree slopes to the col, arriving there pretty tired mid afternoon after 5-6 hours of uphill. The ski down was exceptional with overhead blower and the 125 under foot Noctas eating it up, we just had to take care not to get sluffed off the face. Amazing conditions and just as well, this route is steep, exposed and technical. I loved it. High on the ridge amongst the spires staring down at the Grand and Petit Capucins hundreds of metres below. I bet it would feel really steep in spring snow.