Mid Summer Ski Descent of Mallory on North Face of Aiguille du Midi with Leo Slemett
Tag: aiguille du midi
North Face Col du Plan and Rond-West Couloir
Directissima, Trident du Tacul
Sustained crack climbing after the easy intro pitch was the order of the day. A beautiful burly route on fantastic granite.
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
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 offwidth
Spanning 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.
Home Sweet Home
After nearly six months away from home this year its great to finally be home, wake up in the same bed, catch up with friends and enjoy the Fall in the Alps in the autumn. I love this time of year with the valley being quiet, temperatures better for riding, near perfect friction on the rock, early snows of the winter, first turns…the hardest thing can be deciding what to do! Its especially sweet that he hard work in Wales this summer paid off and past the British Mountains Guides’ summer rock test and will be going to Scotland for the winter test next. At the start of summer I had a bad bike crash when I dropped the front end off a jump a piled my neck into the ground. There was a lot of heavy crunching in my back and while I spat out bits of broken teeth, my back muscles went into hard spasm stopping me from getting much air in my lungs. It was a pretty scary experience and with my back feeling weird I made a beeline for the emergency room. The doctor was pretty nonchalant about it, monitored my blood pressure for a few hours and released me armed with a paracetamol and the advice that I might be a little sore in the morning. Having played rugby and raced bike downhill for years I’m not unused to taking hard knocks but this was a new level. A week of not being able to sleep and 3 weeks of complete inactivity had me thinking it was unlikely I’d get into shape for the guides exam. 3 months later and I was starting to move a bit better and not feel like I’d been hit in the back with a sledge hammer, but for a while there were some major doubts about getting over this injury in time! A big thanks goes to Martin Chester who spent a day giving me some great tips during my final preparation for the test. He’s a IFMGA mountain guide and a fantastic performance coach and all round nice guy so check him out at: martinchester.co.uk Also a big thanks to John Whittaker for being the perfect mock client – hope to see you for some Scottish Winter action!
Coaching how to fist jam. Photo Martin Chester
Me leading Shadow Wall. Photo Martin Chester
John Whittaker seconding. Photo Martin Chester
Me on Western Rib, Dinas Mot. Photo Martin Chester
Placing gear on The Chain, a quality crack pitch, Dinas Mot. Photo Martin Chester
On The Chain. Photo Martin Chester
John Whittaker belaying me on The Chain. Photo Martin Chester
John getting the finger locks on The Chain. Photo Martin Chester
John on the jugs. Photo Martin Chester
The following biking photos are from Merlet, my home run.
And Gietroz with Enrico Mosetti and Beatrice Michelotti (photo credits)
Then to the Gabarrou route on the triangle with Phil Brugger who is over from Innsbruck to train in the high mountain. Its ultra dry and the crux would be way easier in rock shoes but feels like M6+ right now. Short and sharp.
And skiing on the normal route of Mont Blanc du Tacul.
Finally a couple of scenic shots and Michelle at Elevation!
Ross Hewitt Guiding 