We went for a tour in the Aiguille Rouge but had to bail from all options other than skiing down from the Col du Belvedere due to unstable snow. This left plenty of time to get out in the afternoon on my first bike ride in 6 months up to Col des Montets. Despite feeling very rusty it was a lot of fun to be out on the bike.
Tag: dave searle
Dent du Geant South Face
I’ve been waiting for the right conditions to get this done for a few years now. This years exceptional snowfalls on the Italian frontiere ridge of the Mont Blanc massif has ensured the rocks at the top are covered, and on the back of a Foehn storm we were guaranteed cold snow. After queuing with the holiday makers until 10 am for the lift it was going to be a race to the top quick to ski before it got too hot. There was no time to wait for the lift guys to put our skis on the cable trolley and we comically wrestled our skis out of their hands explaining we had lost too much time to wait. Running up the stairs with our skis on our backs to the top station (its nearly 3500m) was a rude lactic inducing warm up.
The climb up to the Dent du Geant follows the normal summer line; characterised by loose rubble and slabs under a dusting of faceted snow which all feels a bit precarious. The reward today was 2500 m of lush rip-able snow and 25 minutes later we were down at the road.
Looking back up, the first hot afternoon of spring produced some pretty impressive slides as the face purged its winter coat, trashing it until next year.
Lift Riding Cafe Crawl
As the wind continued to rage down from the North against the Chamonix Aiguilles, I was lured out of my warm bed by Dave Searle (1) and Davide de Masi (2) with the promise of thigh deep pow on the Helbronner in Italy. After the quick journey through the magic tunnel, we debunked into the first cafe for great Italian coffee while the workers decided what time the lift was going to open.
When we finally got to the midstation, we could see the wind had done its evil worst with slabs going the distance from 3000m to the valley floor. The question in everyones’ mind was ‘who will go first?’. We decided to ski down from the mid station as a warm up, then go back up and see if someone had opened any of the upper slopes.
The ride down was special, the rain had formed rivulets in the snow, akin to the washboard drainer side of the sink, except all the channels criss crossed increasing the chance of catching a tip and driving your face onto the cheese grater ice. We nearly went home after that, but decided to go to the top to have a look to see if it was any better and at the same time visit the second cafe (C2).
More coffee and again that question no one wanted to answer ‘who will go first?’. Luca thought it might be an idea that Searler goes first since he was youngest and had nothing to loose. Searler thought that Luca, being the oldest, had lived long enough and should go. By now everyone was getting caffeine jitters and bored of talking about it so decided to do nothing except download and go home.
On the lift ride down we saw someone had got well overexcited and tracked round to the meadow (Toula Glacier), providing a couple of nice turns between the crud. So, we went back up!! Walked up loads of stairs, got blasted by the Cairngorm style wind on the exit of the station, tracked miles round to the stairs at the col, then walked down thousands of stairs, and started the big ski traverse across the meadow (Glacier) back to the mid station, taking a few pictures on the way. After safely traversing back, we retired to cafe 3 (C3) for more coffee.
A few nice turns between the crud.
Better to stay above the crust.
Uncivilised. This is what I left Scotland to get away from!
South Face of Mont Oreb
Pillows, Spines & the Freeride World Tour Boys
I went for one run after work, solo, no pack, beeps or kit. Ipod and tunes. In the lift I met curent Freeride World Tour leader Drew Tabke, competitor Kevin O’Meara and Chamonix locals Dave Searle and Davide de Masi. A 10 turn warm up took us to the pillow field of justice. A 100 foot vertical drop over a ten pillow at roughly 60 degrees. Time to send.
Shame I just had a phone camera and not the 5d but the rest of the fast skiing made me glad not to have the weight with me. With all the big mountain skiing I do nowadays, always keeping in control, I’d forgotten how much fun it is to go fast.
Drew Tabke on a fall line sending mission.
Ross Hewitt Guiding 