les courtes – Page 2 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Y Couloir, Aiguille d’Argentiere

21st Mar 2015by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

All the North wind we have had has filled in the right hand branch of Y Couloir really well this year and I have been wanting to go there for some time. I was weighing up going solo to Croullante or going to the Y but persistent afternoon cloud on the Aiguille du Midi made it an easy decision to go for Y off the first Grands Montets bin. Late in the afternoon my friend Kirsti Lehtimaki from EPIC TV messaged me saying she wanted to ski and had a friend coming too. Next morning her friend Matthieu Vigier came along with Chloe Laget and Couttet Berbere so we had a sociable skin up the classic Millieu Glacier. The lack of snow meant very firm conditions on the way up and we used ski crampons for the 1400 m climb.

On the summit there was a cold 5 kph wind blowing and I didnt linger long wanting to find the entry to the couloir, having only skied the left branch before. In the couloir it was thankfully a bit warmer and after passing 5 m of rocks at the top we put on our skis on flat corning spring snow.

Y Couloir (TD, 45 degrees, 5.1/5.2 600 m) as seen from Col des Courtes. Its the big line branching below the summit of the Aiguille d’Argentiere (3901m). Y Couloir with the 60 m step at the base with the stunning golden granite spires.

Julbo Aerospace goggles – the ultimate variable venting bootpacking and touring goggle. The big lines of Couturier and Au Coeur du Monde or Col Aiguille Verte right hand (1st and only? descent by the Scottish extreme ski legends Paul MacLeod and Ewen Moffat with the Dane Thomas Husted in 2001).

The North Wall of the Argentiere Glacier – a lifetime of extreme ski dreams in one place.

Me happy on the summit.

I was really happy to see such good conditions and lots of direct sun.

Matthieu skiing cautiously between softer patches. The Black Crows Navis Freebird is an astonishingly good ski.

Kirsti skiing ice axe in hand!

Me in the upper section, Thanks to Kirsti Lehtimaki for the photo.

Still on firm snow at this point and putting in the chop turns to avoid any uncontrollable build up of speed.

Alps 2005

7th Jul 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

This Alpine trip was fantastic and covered a few areas, starting out in Les Ecrins in January we ice climbed and ski toured before moving North to Chamonix. There we spent one cold day at the end of January climbing the Swiss route on Les Courtes on squeeky neve. Then we headed East into La Valais to ski tour on the Breithorn and Monte Rosa areas, finally finishing off in the Chamonix area skiing some classics like Col de Cristeaux and the Armencettes.

La Grave Icefalls, Andy Benson on the Lead

Hey Fella!
The Davin Couloir and Les Agneaux

Quiet Day at the Hut in the Ecrins

Crux Pitch, Vallon Diable

Me After a Stunning Ice Route

The Benson Twins and Nick Wallis in the Ecrins

Nick Wallis above Col de Lauteret

La Verte and Les Drus

Heading off up the Swiss Routes on Les Courtes

Aiguille du Midi from Le Mont

Teams competing in the Mezzalama

Summit Ridge of the Breithorn

The Mezzalama Heading over Castor and Pollux

The Schwarze Glacier next to the Breithorn

The Matterhorn at Dawn from Monte Rosa

At the Monte Rosa Hut

Monte Rosa

Matterhorn

Couturier

Window Shopping in the Argentiere Basin. i.e. waiting on weather

Y Couloir

Col des Courtes

Col de Cristeaux

The NE on Les Courtes

Heading into the Conscrits

Me and the West Face of Mont Blanc

Ryler on Domes de Miage

Skiing down the Armencettes Ryler at the Argentiere Hut Alps 2005-77

Ryler, Wolfgang, Thomas, Jessica and Friends on Col de Cristeaux

Dawn on Mont Dolent

Mark Ryle on Col des Cristeaux and some Glacier Art

Old Skool, Argentiere Basin Steeps on Altitrails! Mark Ryle on Col des Cristeaux

Gabarrou

26th Jun 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

A short edit from Luca from a day out on the Gabarrou route on Les Courtes.

PS – EPIC TV chose the title – not us!

Attempt on the Gabarrou Les Courtes

7th May 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Mikko, Tom and Ben chilling in the sun.

Mikko.

Luca arriving at the hanging glacier.

I’m not going well today and about to ski down. The guys blast on and ski from the summit.

Luca coming up.

I get great snow on the way down before it got hot. About 2 turns in a section 100 m wide ripped above the serac. Would have made a good photo from below.

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.