freeride – Page 12 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Trident Couloir

28th Dec 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

The first adventure of the season was to an often overlooked line that provided superb situations and stunning views. About 1000 m up from the glacier lands you at the top of the line. Despite being on the sunny side it was bitterly cold and my feet were continuously painful and on the wrong side of cold. The prolonged exposure to the cold in Baffin has definitely taken its toll and I will be investing in some warmer liners later in the week! After months of solid office work it feels great to be back into the mountain and synchronising with the natural rhythm of life, having fun and working the body hard.

Cirque Maudit

14th Dec 2014by rosshewittguiding2 Comments

Alaska 2008 – Ruth Gorge

7th Jul 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

This was an amazing trip into the Ruth Gorge with the Benson twins and Nick Wallis. We were blessed with stable deep sluffy powder and enjoyed skiing in the Japanese couloir the West Face of Barille and some easier tours. We built a large snowhouse which was large enough for the 4 of us and made for a civilised dining. At nights the Northern lights shown brightly with orange, reds and greens, although with -30C temps we didnt hang around outside the tent for long. also snuck a couple heli runs in, be rude not to in AK!

En route towards the Moose’s Tooth

Trenching up Japanese Couloir

Rooster’s Comb

Getting steeper in Japanese Couloir Japanese Couloir

Orca Lodge, PNH Cordova

Kelly Gray looking after us

Our snowhouse in the Ruth Gorge

Me skiing a run called 'happiness'. Photo: Pete Benson — Me skiing a run called ‘happiness’. Photo: Pete Benson

Me skiing a run called ‘happiness’. Photo: Pete Benson

Ross. Ruth Gorge, with Barille and Mooses Tooth Behind, Picture by Pete Benson

Camping Time

1st Apr 2014by rosshewittguiding3 Comments

This week we Dave Searle and myself went back to the Miage Glacier under Mont Blanc’s Himalayan sized West Face with the idea to have a semi-rest day and camp on day 1 and then get and early start and ski a line mid-morning before it got too hot. I had some expedition kit to test out so this provided the perfect opportunity.

At the foot of the Miage. We soon got bored of load carrying in the heat and set up camp.

Chilling out in the evening.

My touring set up this season.

Dave’s disco tent

Our line for the day on looker’s right

Dave at the start of the 1100 m bootpack

The shrund was bottomless and we roped up

Sunrise

Upwards, on and on.

The snow deteriorated due to being worked by spindrift so we skied the good stuff

Friday’s Freeride

29th Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

I headed into the neighbour’s back garden the other day with the usual suspects; Liz Daley (armed with her perma-stoke), Davide de Masi and Dave Searle. Our efforts were well rewarded and we found exceptional rip-able powder waiting for us in this long hallway. A fantastic day which was ended with a beer ontop of a mountain in the sun.