Mer de Glace – Page 2 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Sunny Days and Hot Nights at the Couvercle Refuge

22nd Mar 2015by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

The Black Crows posse of Bruno Compagnet, Minna Riihimaki and myself headed up to stay in the sweet Couvercle refuge for a night. The team excited about a trip to the mountains and the beautiful Couvercle refuge. Bruno pointing out lines Still some good flat snow with no sastrugi on Gros Rognan. Beautiful late afternoon light on the Mer de Glace. The 2016 Corvus Freebird and the Navis Freebird, both amazing touring skis. They say you should always be doing something with your hands in a photo, the weirder the better! Some people still dispute climate change. Here we have June snow conditions in mid March! The last rays of the afternoon before the sun sets behind the Chamonix Aiguilles Minna on the boot pack to the Pierre a Beranger. I’m getting on well with these glue less Evotec skins – time will tell for the final verdict. So much faster putting skins on and off without the cheat sheets. Hut nights at the Couvercle, Bruno enjoying a glass of red. We were joined by French Alpinists who had been on Viva Gel and Whymper. They were obviously feeling the cold and put a lot of wood on the fire. It was so hot that I went to bed on my boxers and couldnt sleep until 3 am. A bit of digital art to show off the partial eclipse of the sun

Grandes Jorasses North Face – Polish Michto Variation

5th Oct 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Last weekend I got a chance to go back to the Jorasses for the first time in 7 years. I teamed up with Ben Tibbetts and we were joined by Misha Gopaul and Jeff Banks for a social day out. I had managed a day acclimatising up the Midi skiing earlier in the week so it wasn’t a straight from the office hit which Andy Houseman and myself had done the last time on Colton Macintyre. After the warmest bivi ever in the mountains at montenevers, we walked in during the early hours, therefore avoiding a bun fight at the overcrowded Leschaux hut. It was a beautiful starry night and Ben caught a fantastic shot of the face under the stars with several teams well established on the Colton Macintyre, Croz and Polish routes. As we arrived for first light the face was relatively quiet and we quickly got to work climbing neve for several hundred metres. A few goulottes of ice and neve followed with fun climbing that was never hard up to the summit ridge where we were treated with gorgeous autumnal milky light over the Peuterey Ridge and the Aosta Valley.

Big thanks to Ben (Misha and Jeff) for a memorable day and the photos!

The Polish Michto Variation on Grandes Jorasses North Face (2011 photo Ben Tibbetts)

Our comfy bivi at Montevers
Climbers on the Desmaison, Colton Macintyre and Croz/Polish Routes Gearing up to go Steep Sugar Through the BergshrundA Happy Team

The First Goulotte Section

Ben TibbettsBen Climbing a Thinner Seam as We Catch a Spanish Team

Me Pulling Through a Steep Section

Typical North Face Icy Mixed Terrain

Ben Pulling Through onto the Summit Snowfields

Gorgeous Warm Day

Climbing into the Sun on the Summit Ridge Snowfields

Ben Savouring the Summit Ridge Views

Pointe Marguerite – Named After the Queen of Savoie

Mont Blanc and the Peuterey Ridge

Martin Elias descending after an ascent of Directe de l’Amite with Korra PesceBen Approaching the Reposoir at Sundown

Rock Climbing in the Chamonix Aiguilles

19th Jul 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Summer weather has returned to the Alps which enabled Dave Searle and myself to go to Envers des Aiguilles for a couple of days. The approach has got a bit longer over the years with the level of the Mer de Glace constantly dropping and added ladders to descend and climb again on the glacial slabs. Its been a long time since I had been here in summer and I have to say that the Mer de Glace looks a bit sad all covered in rubble and disappearing fast through climate change. About 5 years ago I did some ice training on the fins of ice over on the Charpoura side and you can see in the photo below that all there is over there is piles of rubble. For the city dwellers out there its quite difficult to grasp the concept that the world is a warmer place since there isn’t any visual evidence. Here is the Alps the level and volume of ice is a direct indicator of the average annual temperature and its and every day reminder that things are changing. They are not only changing but it appears that the change is accelerating. Maybe its already too late for us, but why not ride a bike or walk to work just in case you can make a difference. The death of the glaciers fills me with a sense of loss and I feel sad that the future generations won’t be able to experience the mountains as we knew them.

On the approach to the Envers hut we slowly started to melt as the temperatures soared and quickly decided to go for a couple of the shorter routes rather than something like the 850 m ‘Soleil Rendevous Avec le Lune.’ After a quick look at my guide we set of up the classic 12 pitch ‘Bienvenue.’ A couple of pitches in and things were feel very familar but then they share the same start with Les Fleurs du Mal that I had climbed before. A few more pitches in and it dawned on me that I had climbed this route a decade ago but somehow not ticked it off in my guide book. It was unfamiliar enough though and the climbing good to still be as much fun second time round.

Dave had talked me into staying in the refuge because it was pretty cheap with an alpine club card and as it started to rain in the evening it seemed like a good idea. I normally don’t like huts and haven’t stayed in a European hut for years. They are cold, noisy and on several occasions I have had someone mistake my kit for theirs and disappear of into the mountains with it. And so it was with no surprise that when I got up my mountain boots had gone. Someone had mistaken my faded old size 44 Trangos for their relatively new size 45 Trangos. I can only imagine this person still lives with their mother who dresses them every morning. The sun was rising and with the peaks glowing I decided to go take some photos to let my frustration vent but my camera wasn’t cooperating and gave up the ghost. All that was left to do was make the 5 minute approach to Pyramid and get on it. The rock in this sector is much more sustained and the climbing just brilliant. I found it pretty hard too, but then granite crack climbing is always a fight.