dave searle – Page 6 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

The Good and the Bad

18th Jan 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Its been a crazy 6 weeks. After some preseason skiing on grass and rocks in November I left for my final trip on construction job in Brazil. Expecting summer it was a let down with 2 weeks continuous monsoon rain that caused widespread flooding and multiple fatalities. We were on standby for about 10 days and I was able to train every day in the gym, eat well and sleep a lot. I was pretty psyched that this time round I might return from work in better shape than I started in. Christmas and my birthday were non events away from family and friends on the other side of the world and I felt pretty lonely. Then I got the unexpected news that my Dad had died suddenly and 2 days long days of travel alone got me back to Scotland. The short dark mid winter days of Scotland pretty much reflected the mood in the family and I found it really oppressive after Brazil. I was really close to my Dad, he pretty much taught me everything I know and having had so many adventures in the hills together it was so sad to see him go. That said I was happy for all he achieved in his life, but for my Mother it will be hard to come to terms with after 50 years of marriage.

Finally I am back home in Chamonix. The last few days have been good to be back on the hill and skiing fast is a welcome distraction from my crazy mind. I feel pretty introverted but spending time with close friends has been amazing and slowly I’m starting to feel grounded. As it turns out my arrival home coincided with the end of a 7 week drought and we have been lapping up the powder.

Dave Searle http://davesearle.me/ Screen Shot 2014-01-18 at 14.56.23

2013 – The Winter of All Time

5th Jun 2013by rosshewittguiding2 Comments

Michelle Blaydon, Dents du Midi Refuge

Grands Envers

Grands Envers, Jim Lee and Roger Knox

Requin

Michelle Blaydon, Brevent

Full Moon on Aiguille du Plan

Davide de Masi, Toula

Dave Searle, Helbronner

Michelle Blaydon, Marbree

Luca Pandolfi, Col d’Entreves

Sylvain Renaud, Couloir Cache

Roger Knox, Aiguille Rouge

Hellfire on the Para Face

Dawn from Dents du Midi refuge

Dave Searle, Doigts North Couloir

Skiers in the Vrai Vallee Blanche

Michelle Blaydon, Dent Jaune Couloir

Minna Riihimaki, Midi North Face

Bird, Midi North Face

Davide de Masi, Toula

Going solo, South Face of Courtes

Mid Season Powder Day

Chamonix from Grands Montets

Wind

Ben Briggs in Cosmiques

My tracks, Cordier-Gabarrou, Courtes

My tracks on South Face of Courtes after negotiating full depth avalanche.

Minna and Bird in the Petit Gerva

Tom Grant on the Mallory

Michelle Blaydon

Nonne Eveque Couloir

Minna Riihimaki

Cream in the VB

A moody mothership

Brett Lotz in Eugster

Tom Grant

Mikko Heimonen and Speed Rider

Bird Early on Tour Ronde North Face

Luca Pandolfi, Frendo Spur

Minna Riihimaki – Tour Ronde North Face

Mikko Heimonen on Col du Plan

Sunset from the Charpoura

Mikko Heimonen on Col du Plan

Luca Pandolfi in Cosmiques

Ben Briggs on the Frendo Spur

Max Turgeon on Les Courtes NE Spur

The Finns on Col de la Verte

Bird on the Frendo

Getting close on the Frendo Spur

Bird Early, Frendo Spur

Minna Riihimaki, Frendo Spur

The Frendo Spur

The crew after the Frendo

Dabbling on Col Diable and then North Face of Aiguille Noire

27th Apr 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

The plan was to go flat out from first bin to Col du Diable before the snow got too heavy. Fast progress was made round into Cirque Maudit and up the South facing access couloir next to the Grand Capucin onto the hanging serac. Above, the line blasts esthetically up the headwall to the ridge next to the Aiguilles Diables. As we raced up the couloir the snow was deteriorating fast in the heat and we had no choice but to turn round at half height. The shallow snow pack here peppered with rocks didn’t make for a flowing ski. It will be good to ski in better conditions another time.

10 minutes later we were down to the Mont Maudit cirque and both still motivated to ski before the bad weather arrived the following day. We headed off in the direction of the Noire above the Geant icefall and romped up the access couloir before it got too much sun.

The summit ridge revealed acres of our preferred ski medium – coldsmoke. After running around for a few hours we enjoyed a couple of minutes on this high perch over the Mer de Glace while eating lunch before cruising on down the North Face. The skiing is never hard but it would be worth having a photo of this face on your phone as route finding could be problematic and rock slabs aren’t helpful for anchors. We managed to sketch over the first slab choke on skis, the snow was only 2-3 inches deep and after Dave passed I had some bare rock to edge over. Then there is a 30 m rap over an icefall which we kept our skis on for. Long easy slopes led to the base of the face where an awkward little step to runnelled, crevassed, hard snow forced us to downclimb – no anchors in sight here.

Col du Diable (Macho Couloir)

Dave Searle Col Diable and Noire NW Face_-5

God damned heat!

The stunning view to the Breche Carabiniers between the Grand and Petit Capucins Dave Searle Col Diable and Noire NW Face_-62

The North Face of the Noire

Like a kiddie in a candy shop – pow awaits

Les Courtes, North East Spur

8th Apr 2013by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

Today was about just getting out for me. Its been an emotional period, I hadn’t skied for a couple of weeks, my back was untested after injury, I wasn’t sure if the psyche was there for skiing big mountains…knowing the NE spur of the Courtes was in made it the obvious choice, nothing too hard or scary to try and regain the feel for it.

I was joined by Max, Tom and Dave although Dave had to turn back with binding issues. We made steady progress climbing the face in the sunshine but as we arrived at the lower angled summit slopes, the sun moved off and the snow started to refreeze. We called it a day and skied from there.

This is the fifth route I’ve skied on this mountain and I think the 11th time I’ve skied off Les Courtes. Truely a skiers playground.

Afterwards we watched Sami Haapasalmi and his Finnish friends ski the right hand finish of Col Aiguille Verte. Hats off for ticking one of the steepest sustained ice slopes in the Alps.

Tom enjoying the refrozen crusty snow through this section.

Tom having fun.

Max enjoying good pow.

Tom ripping it up.

Max blasting to the bottom.

The skiers are at half height. The bootpack is obvious. Steep. Can you spot the 4 skiers?

Still looks steep from this angle!

Salopar

27th Mar 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

After fighting the queues to get up the lift we were all psyched to get going on a big Midi day and making the most of the fine weather. Drew Tabke has some time off after winning the men’s FWT title and joined Dave Searle and myself. On the way down the arrete I started to feel some discomfort in my back and by time we arrived at the Cosmiques hut my back was seizing up quickly. After a handful of ibuprofen tablets it was time to push on and good skiing took us to the col at the top of the Salopar. By now I was feeling the pain standing still so Dave took over leading and the rope work. The snow was good but with the usual sharks teeth in there to snag the unwary and the straight line exit created sufficient speed to ruffle the ski pants.

Back at the Plan I had Dave kneeling on my chest and rotating my legs to try and unlock my back but the day had ended prematurely for me and it was time to download while the guys did a few more laps. At the car it took me about ten minutes to get my ski boots off. At one point I thought I would have to call Michelle to come get me as I was unsure I could drive home!

Hopefully its just a few down days for me.