Black Crows Skis – Page 3 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Mont Oreb North Face

4th Feb 2016by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Its been a while since I have skied on this face and last time I went we decided to climb it first and got a bit lost 2/3 of the way up trying to find the ‘exposed traverse’ to the summit ridge. This time Tom and myself wanted to ski top down onsite to avoid wading up chest deep pow. The cornice is similar to the one on Mt Buet and its tough to see into the face from above but eventually we committed to a traverse going in on the rope to test the snow stability. The anchors are sparse a the top and the best I could manage was a no. 1 camelot and 2 ski anchors. Once Tom had found the snow was perfect we packed the ropes and got on with skiing this fantastic face.

Couvercle

1st Feb 2016by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

An early season trip to the gorgeous old Couvercle Refuge coinciding with the full moon and my birthday – as if you need an excuse to go there!

Christmas Eve on Chardonnet South Face

31st Jan 2016by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

On Christmas Eve I had the pleasure of skiing with Jesper Petersson and returning to the Argentiere basin. We skinned from Bochard over the Col des Rachasses towards the Col de Chardonnet to have a go at the South Face. Rotten snow meant getting off the Argentiere glacier was really tough and we had been going for 5 hours by the time we got to the face. The weather was changing rapidly and by the time we climbed the initial couloir the wind was howling, tugging incessantly at the skis on our bags trying to lift us off the mountain. The decision to ski down was pretty simple!

New Zealand Ski Trip

4th Oct 2015by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

In ten days time I will be questing off to New Zealand with Tom Grant with the hope to ski some of the lines in the big mountains there. My good friend Evan Cameron lives in Christchurch and has already been skiing some great lines on his days off from doctoring so conditions look promising and I hope to share some turns with him in the Cook Range. Its almost ten years since we skied together in AK. Another friend and ex-Chamonix resident lives in Wanaka so the trip will be social whatever the conditions in the mountains and there’s always plenty great of sport climbing on the Wanaka rock as a fall back plan!

Its 4 months since my last turns on the East Face of the Matterhorn so next week I will have to get up the Midi and make some turns to get the feel back and acclimatise.

Bonne Etique – Trident

2nd Oct 2015by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

A fine day out with my buddy Davide de Masi on impeccable granite cracks last month. Definitely some of the best rock I’ve been on in the massif and I’m inspired to go back and climb the ‘Untouchables’ pitch next year when I am rock fit.