Uncategorized – Page 2 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Col du Plan, Rond-West, Salopar

29th Jun 2016by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

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!

Lofoten

14th Mar 2016by rosshewittguiding4 Comments

The magical mystical Lofoten Isles in the Norwegian Arctic. Broody dark peaks in the swirling mists, ever changing light creating dramatic vistas, laser beams from the sun turing the fiords to gold. Here we rediscovered the natural rhythm of life at Lofoten Ski Lodge under the fantastic hospitality of Seth, his wife Maren and team of guides and chefs. We watched the sun rise over the Norwegian Sea, ate big breakfasts at a relaxed pace while choosing our dream adventure, skied from summit to sea, returned to the lodge for afternoon tea and waffles, shared the stoke with all the other excited skiers, took saunas and jumped into the sea, drank as much beer as we could afford, ate catch of the day at dinner, spent the evening talking in front of the fire, marvelled at the aurora borealis, fell asleep, woke up and did it all again.

Morning glory from the lodge

The aurora borealis

Michelle skiing the classic south couloir of Geitgallien down to the teepee in the lush afternoon light

The girls excited about the sun coming out

Cedric booting up Geitgallien

Minna and Michelle

Michelle on Geitgallien

Looking into Tollfjordvanet

Panorama from Hivgratinden – Geitgallien col

Minna, Michelle and Cedric

Michelle

Michelle and Minna heading into Juviktinden

Our high point on Juviktinden due to poorly bonded snow

The light show above the lodge

From Juviktinden I spied this zone 2 valleys deeper so after borrowing some tech tools from Northern Guides Guido Sami Modenius we went to check out these 3 500 m lines which were probably unskied. They dropped a further 150 m below the photo on the fan to the lake.

Climbing up to the ice step in the right hand line

Michelle arriving over the steep ice step

Boot packing the steep lower section of the couloir

On the boot pack in deep pow

Skiing after the upper narrows was perfect snow with the couloir providing visibility on this storm day

Deep powder but no where to hide from the slough

Faster skiing in the mid section where the left bank provided a safe zone from the slough

Last turns approaching the ice steps

I equalised a icy thread and a no.4 nut to abseil over the ice. With a little more snow it might be possible to hop onto the spine skiers left.

Michelle on the abseil.

Michelle bootpacking up to the next line

Climbing into the central line.

Michelle arriving over the small ice step

Deteriorating weather and light as we wallow up deep pow

At the col, the visibility was terrible and I was pleased to actually find the col

After popping out of the cloud the visibility for skiing became good

In the upper couloir

On the dividing spur sheltering from Michelle’s slough

Entering the lower couloir

Michelle threading her way through the choke into the lower line

Great skiing in the lower line

Deep pow in the lower line. I put in an a abolokov to abseil the lower ice step but it would be an easy jump in good visibility

On the abseil

Sunshine on the beach

Leaving the car to head into Breitinden / Stauren group

The approach has us skinning across fields, marsh, lakes, streams and boulder fields

Our line on Breitinden

Not so steep allowing us to skin but atmospheric

A little exposed here above the dividing spine, time to bootpack

Michelle and the view to the north

Topping out after cimbing a litle steep turf on the wind scoured col into the sun

Soaking up the rays after days of storm

Taking in the views – a perfect lunch spot

Panorama from Breitinden

Very narrow for 10 m

Wider here

No argument about the snow

Michelle in the upper and lower couloirs

Me in the lower line

Michelle in the lower line. The wall above would be beautiful to climb on

Exiting the couloir

Our line on Breitinden is the lower col just riht of centre photo

Owl strike!

Funky clouds as the sun goes down on the Straumnes peninsula

Someone arranged for the evening entertainment watching the light show

Our cabin by the sea

The beautiful bay at Kalle where the lodge is situated is surrounded by these lush peaks

Seth Hobby runs Norther Guides specialising in Lofoten, Greenland, Svalbarg

The view southwest across to the mountains on the mainland

Lofoten Ski Lodge

Michelle has a soft spot for white fluffy things and Seth’s dog was spoilt all week

Morning coffee at the lodge

Sunrise near Svolvaer

Looking south from Laupstad

The beaches at Morfjorden

Morning light on the mountains near Svolvaer

Looking over toward Litlmolla

The next day the weather was poor so we went to the 900 m SW couloir of Geitgallien

Nearing the top

No more snow as I reach a little col on the ridge, 900 m of couloir below

The cloud lifted and we were treated with creamy pow to the ocean

Me skiing

Our friendly Black Crows bar part time tender come guido – Mark

Fish are the staple diet and nothing is wasted – even the lamps are made from Cod (fish)

Cod heads drying on racks – they will be turned into stock cubes

A dark wild day at the beach with freezing rain, we almost died of hyperthermia walking 50 m from the car

Surfers getting swept on the rocks. Seeing this persuaded me these weren’t the right conditions for a novice like myself

Head leant forward and braced against the wind, the surfers strive to get back to their vans

Under attack

The sandy beaches way out west are beautiful

Michelle enjoying the sightseeing

Colourful village of Utakliev situated under the classic mountain Himmeltinden

The beach at Haukland

Sea urchins for sale

Sailing off on a fishing trip

Volkl Explosives – one of the good early wide skis

The picturesque village of Henningsvaer is worth a visit with the nearby Preston couloir

Cod racks in Henningsvaer

Typical wooden houses in Henningsvaer

Michelle and the everchanging afternoon light on Geitgallien South Couloir

Into the Mountains

21st Feb 2016by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Fantastic conditions continued in Cham and for day 7 on the trot we swapped freeride kit for touring skis and headed up to the Tacul to ski the shoulder. On the Midi, Minna and myself bumped into Morgan Salen and Isaac DVT and we teamed up to share the trail breaking and enjoy a ski run together for the first time. The snow was perfect both on the ascent and descent – we were able to ski all the way up the 40 degree entry couloir and it was a good short day to rest the legs from all the freeride. Thanks for the photos Morgan!

Skinning in the entry couloir

Sunshine and shadow

Isaac and Minna with Pt Yield in the background

Morgan at the top of the shoulder

Me psyched to ski some cold, sloughy, powder.

Me heading off down the ridge.

Morgan Salen on the first shot

Isaac enjoying the powder

Morgan finding the snow acceptable and to his liking

Minna heading into the 3rd shot

Morgan railing a turn in the sun with Minna below

Happy days, Morgan with Minna abseiling

Minna on the abseil

Me and the Corvus Freebird

Minna on the lowers

Morgan starting off down the lowers

Me enjoying the exceptional snow

This lower section provides some very fast skiing

The Corvus Freebird showing its pedigree at speed

And on

Been skiing more than 10 seconds now!

Nearly there

After the active rest day I managed to talk Mikko and Jesper into coming for a long day to the Breche Nonne Eveque in the Charpoura basin. You can’t beat skiing below all the spires next to the Dru and its one of my favourite spots. I was last there in 2013 with Michelle behind Rosenberger and Minogue when it was super easy to get through the morraine. Times have changed, the Mer de Glace has dropped in height and the morraine become looser, steeper and more dangerous but with all the new snow I spied a route on skier left that would go with one rap over a step and one jump.

Mikko and Jesper trenching to the breche while I shelter on a ledge below.

Mikko starting off

Jesper in the powder

Deep powder in the line

Me catching up after shooting down the line

Mikko getting his skis on after abseiling the lower cascade. I downclimbed this for speed.

Mikko under the Dru

Now in the Charpoura basin

Les Drus, Sans Non and Y couloir

The Nonne Eveque is the central couloir, we skied through the slabs on looker’s right

Charpoura cirque

Jesper’s signature

Les Drus

I used my long Petzl Laser Speed Light ice screw to make a double Abalakov anchor for the rap through the slabs and backed it up with the screw while Jesper abseiled.

This was a long day with lots of tiring trail breaking and with a deteriorating forecast for the next afternoon, we decided on a quick lap of Breche Tacul for day 9 on the go. On the Midi we were surprised for find 6 inches of new snow overnight which despite making for an enjoyable few turns down the Gros Rognan, meant we (or it turned out to be Jesper) had to break trail to the bergshrund. It took me longer than usual to settle into a rhythm, clear my legs out, and get going, plus it was bitterly cold in shade and my hands, feet and nose were suffering. After the shrund we swapped leads trail breaking on the climb up to the breche before savouring a 30 second view of the Jorasses and skiing down.

On the bootpack.

The Grandes Jorasses looking somewhat dry

Jesper dropping into the pow.

And finding the line well filled in.

Me dropping onto the spine.

And popping back off it!

These last two are of Jesper.

With the weather breaking it was time for a well earned rest day and a beer or two before ending the week with a fun powder day on Plan de l’Aiguille where I met Espen Fadnes and his mate Tom, and an early morning run down the Marbree just before it got scorchio!

Last Week

11th Feb 2016by rosshewittguiding4 Comments

On Saturday we went to ski the north face of the Pouce.

Minna, Dave and Cedric on the bootpack from Index in the searing heat.

Chamonix was in the ming and there was low cloud on the back of the Aiguille Rouge so we hung out on the ridge to see if it would lift. It did but by then team psych was pretty low. I went up about half way with Chamonix guide and friend Nicolas Annereau who was with another friend but in the hanging bowl the snow got thin and we skied down. Its a cool face and super exposed from the minute you traverse onto it about the cliffs so don’t be sandbagged by the Aiguille Rouge grades and go mentally prepared for a big line!

On Sunday Michelle and myself traversed Arete Plate and skied the north couloir. It was really pleasant hiking up the sunny side but on the ridge the wind was howling and we skied down the north couloir on nice chalky powder but didn’t stop to take any photos!

Next up was a trip to the classic north east slope of Les Courtes with Mikko H and Jesper.

Entering the crystal maze. First time through the high traverse for a couple of years.

The wind was still howling and it was baltic touring up the Argentiere in goggles and all my clothes.

We climbed pretty quick despite 40- 50 cm of dense powder. As we got higher to quality of the powder got better with less slough hardening but suddenly we came to an area with the new snow sitting on a thick melt freeze or rain crust that supported crampons with facets underneath. I did a few shovel shears in different places which failed at almost zero load, something I’ve not seen in 20 years of this type of skiing. It definitely felt like this was quite a large hot spot for the slope and with 40-50 cm of high density powder it could produce enough energy to start something big. The decision to go down was obvious for me – its a line I’ve skied 9 times and even if I hadn’t, the decision would have still been the same. I just need to down climb to the snow that was well bonded before putting a lot of load into the snow stomping into my PLUM guide heal at DIN12. The ski down was ok but difficult to stay in front of the slough. The bottom steepens significantly this year after the hot summer and glacier drop so the bergshrund may end up being interesting!

Michelle and myself went to ski the shoulder on the Aiguille du Tacul. We took the Gros Rognan and found some beautiful creamy snow and then traversed to the Vallee Noire for colder powder.

Traversing to the Valle Noire.

Michelle on the Italian side of the Vallee Blanche.

The Foehn started raging before committing to the final boot pack to the shoulder and with loads of down draughting and cross loading we did a u turn and headed to the lower couloirs.