Ross Hewitt Guiding

Directissima, Trident du Tacul

23rd Aug 2018by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Sustained crack climbing after the easy intro pitch was the order of the day. A beautiful burly route on fantastic granite.

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Me on the 6b warm up pitch.

Gareth seconding the 6b warm up pitch

Gareth engaging the 6C P2

Burly laybacking approaching the belay

Bulgy with a gravelly mantel onto the belay ledge

My view as I weigh up the physical layback and foot smears that lie ahead

And the view down from the belay

Gareth arriving at the belay after the crux 7A pitch

A German team behind starting off on the crux

Pulling hard on finger locks here.

Wooden wedges on the final traverse pitch

Indurain, Trident du Tacul

22nd Aug 2018by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Indurain for me is the best of the Trident route with varied climbing on splitter, flakes, laybacks and grooves. So good!

The Trident

Me on the initial warm up 6b pitch with required a forceful approach with a toasted body from a hard days cragging the previous day.

Gareth on the diagonal crack

Grovelling around in the offwidthSpanning out to the layback flake

Burly moves onto the belay ledge

Gareth departing on what I though was one of the finest crack pitches in the massif. A fine 6C hand crack heading up right.

Gareth fully engaged in the hand crack

Nearly there, on the steeper bulge at the top

Me on the groove 3rd pitch

Me on the crux 4th layback pitch

Looking down the layback pitch, Gareth’s white helmet just visible

The top 5+ pitch, a bit gravelly but the final 6th pitch is worth doing and takes you above Bonne Ethique’s ab line.

Julbo Chamonix Sunglasses Review

21st Aug 2018by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Last month I received a pair of Julbo Chamonix glasses through the post to review.

Julbo was created by Jules Baud in 1888 and founded in the Jura Alps just North of Geneva in a response to requests by the Chamonix crystal hunters need for optical protection from the harsh radiation at altitude.

To this day Julbo has continued to design wicked sunglasses to protect mountain users while branching out into other sports such as sailing and mountain biking which have their own unique demands for protecting your priceless eyesight.

In the 1950s Julbo produced the Vermont glacier glasses and the design went on to become a classic adopted by rockstars and climbers, and a collectors item.

1970s heralded the dawn of professional mountaineers and by that I mean athletes doing routes rather than mountain guides. Yannick Seigneur was an engineer and a product of the grand ecoles. His parents disapproved of mountaineering and it wasnt until his mid 30s that he went full time into mountaineering with an incredible resume of 8000 m peaks in the Himalaya as well as a legacy of new routes around Chamonix.

To this day Julbo continues to be a small family run business with a big heart and passion for what they do. On any given day I might end up rubbing shoulders, ski a line or working with many of the Chamonix stars that are supported by this brand. Vivian Bruchez, Sam Favret, Valentine Favre, Glen Plake to name but a few. World Champions to powder whores like myself.

So when I opened the package I wasn’t surprised to find a timeless classic design glacier glass that has evolved from the original Vermont 1950 edition. Construction quality is to Julbo’s highest standards with metal frames and category 4 glass mirrored lenses to combat radiation up high. White leather baffles stop anything getting around the side. Rubber nose pads and temple tip/earpieces so these babies will never slide down sweaty noses when you look down and spot your feet.

I took mine guiding to the roof of Europe, Mont Blanc. These sunnies are light despite the glass and I had no issues with soreness on the arch of the nose and after a long day on the mountain my eyes were free from the ache of overexposure to the sun. They are robust too, a wildly gesticulating Italian guide knocked mine for six straight off my head in the refuge – no problem!

So they do what they are supposed to but the thing I like the most is strip off the leather baffles and you basically have, dare I say it, a Ray Ban Aviator for looking cool round town or driving your car. I’ve fallen in love with these in a world where plastic frames and glasses have dominated for so long.

Ross Hewitt Mountain Guide Julbo Chamonix

Ross Hewitt Mont Blanc Julbo Chamonix

Traversing the Peigne, Pelerins, Deux Angles, Plan, to the Midi

21st Aug 2018by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

This was a marvellous adventure we did earlier this summer in search of all forms of terrain from splitter cracks, jenga stacks to north face snow and ice as we prepared for our guides test. Akin to the traverse of the Aiguilles, it avoided the dangers of a dry Nantillions Glacier and a descent that would take its toll on our legs invoking a rest day. My partners in crime were fellow aspirant James Clapham and Chamonix regular Andrew Wexler who was over from Canada to work the summer season.

It rained through the night so we elected to take an early bin to give the Carmichael cracks time to dry, leaving Plan de l’Aiguille at 0720 and arrived at the Aiguille du Plan at 2000 hrs after doing the route in guide mode with short roping etc and carrying bivi kit.

The route highlighted above.

Carmichael Route on the Pelerins

Wexler on the Carmichael

Myself and James at the junction with the Gruter Ridge on the Pelerins

James on the penultimate pitch of the Gruter Ridge

Myself and James on the summit of the Pelerins

Traversing to Col des Pelerins

Looking back to the Pelerins

Me climbing up good rock after Col des Pelerins

Unstable choss in the amphitheatre

Wexler

Lush granite on the Deux Angles

Wex on the 5C pitches up the Deux Angle SW Spur

James and myself seconding on one rope

Happy days, on the North Face of the Plan

Wex and James on the North Face with the Deux Angle behind

8 pm, time to bivi to avoid the puddles on Midi Plan

Time to get up and sort our shit on in the morning

Enjoying the sunrise

Midi-Plan, Mont Blanc and its outliers

Mini pano of Dent de Geant to Cham Valley

Absorbing some warmth from the sun

Another pano with Grand Jo

James climbing up the rognan

A pano but Wex move so ended up with a tiny body

Whats left of Grand Envers top pitch

My New Badge – Proud

20th Aug 2018by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Its been one hell of a summer preparing meticulously for my final guides exams. As with all things, not everything can go your way and there were some ups and downs in the lead up. First Michelle’s Father sadly passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. Being Chamonix based you are surrounded by death and loss, I would never go as far to say we are hardened to it but more that we are used to the strong emotional feelings of loss, sadness, stress. Its hard to comprehend the feeling of loss her Mum has after 50 plus years together.

After the dust started to settle I put my head back to the grindstone and was in the mountains training nearly every day practicing guiding techniques with peers. Then I caught a nasty D&V virus that had me feeling nauseous, weak and sleeping for hours after work. It seemed to go away after a week but after a Grand Paradiso and Mont Blanc week it made a return and I started to get nervous that I’d get my strength back in time. Another week went by before I felt better enough to try a 2 day alpine route. On the walk in I sharted, all was not good and that was a stinky couple of days.

With 10 days to go the viral fatigue disappeared and I started to eat properly again. Back on track. Then I took a call from my sister that started with ‘are you at home?’ and ended with the shocking news my Mum had died unexpectedly. The funeral couldn’t be delayed and I flew back to Scotland to be with my family on this sad occasion. With only a few days to go before the exam I needed to get back to Cham quickly, sort gear, prepare, acclimatise and gain some head space. On the way to the airport in Aberdeen I got a text from British Airways to announce they had cancelled my flight from London to Geneva. I couldn’t imagine anywhere more lonely than stuck in a airport hotel at heathrow on my own the night of my Mum’s funeral.

I made it back to Cham the next day and had to wait until the day before our exam briefing before there was weather to run up Tacul to acclimatise. I carried quite a bit of emotional stress into the exam but after a couple of days my motivation returned and it was a good weak with a great bunch of people. Somehow I made it though it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.