Entering Torridon on Friday night.
Gruinard Bay. NW Scotland.
Call of the Wild E4 6a.
Me heading for the ledge on Call of the Wild where I suffered bad stomach cramps and had to come down & drop my guts before going back and completing the task!
View South to Torridon
Gairloch
The immaculate rock in Stone Valley of Open Secret HS and Bald Eagle HVS. Cat Burgler E46a provides fantastic climbing and yields to a forceful approach.
The views from Loch Thollaidh into Carnmore.
As the Foehn built in Cham, we headed south for one final trip before Michelle headed back to UK. Little did we know that the Foehn would blow so hard at valley level to lift roofs and take down hundreds on trees.
Italy as usual was superb; coffee, pizza, seafood, gelato, sunshine and of course great rock.
Woke up this morning to unexpected bluebird. Rushed down the Midi for a quiet Rond. Best yet.
After months of dry sunny weather the storms have rolled in and yesterday was a non stop till you drop kind of day on the ‘Phatest’ of the ‘Phat’ skis. Perhaps the last great tree ski day of the season with jumps, drops, pillows, hip checks – all at warp speed. My brain was frazzled by lunchtime. We were joined by ski tour racer Lyndsey Meyer who was packing some power with her Doberman 150 boots which were being worked! I dont know any guys man enough for those bad boys!
Meeting a mate after lunch we went for a final lap. The viz had gone mid mountain as we lined up for a Chinese DH (Cham rules – i.e. last down, read the weakest, buys the beers and pizza. This ensures you go out and get better until you are either not the weakest or financially broke and have to go home, tail between your legs) down the hotel face to the car park. As we chatted Dave jumped the starters orders and I shot of in persuit. Catching him quickly I was looking at him over my shoulder wondering why he was slowing so much when I felt the ground go beneath me. Attention back to where it should be I saw one of those evil cat tracks 2 m below coming up fast. I had visions of my lower leg coming up through my knee. I tend to try and roll onto my side on these occasions to avoid the full slam. The impact was the biggest I’ve taken and quite impressive up my left leg as both skis blew off, my lower legs bending on the tops of my boots. (glad I didnt have those Doberman 150s!) My femur had tried to go up through my pelvis for a moment I thought there was no way my hip hadnt broken. All I could hear was this ringing in my ears, ‘deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’, like in the 80’s when the TV channels shut down at midnight and they used to play that ear piercing noise to wake you up to go to bed.
As someone who’s suffers badly from SI joint problems I couldnt quite believe it when I stood up. Apart from that ringing in the ears I seemed ok.
95% of my skiing injuries have resulted from slamming down onto flat unmarked cat tracks. I remember going for a spine X-ray at Cham hospital when I was 17. Another time we were in Courmayeur skiing through a forest and there was a track pisted horzizontally through it. I cricked my neck and Anna who was hot on my tails blew her nose open. Dangerous or what?
I’m sure you are wondering where the photos are. Well it was too good to stop mid run for the first few hours and when we did slow down cause we were knackered it was for a run up higher skiing some open pow. Fun meadow skipping but not impressive:
I forgot about this little afternoon run we had earlier this year:
We went to the Cosmiques because we heard it was awesome, once you got past the top bit that is, which had a bluish tone to it. We abbed that bit, as the girls (one is known as Ginger Wookie) who were Comsique virgins didnt need to sample the worst it had to offer. As I stand on my skis waiting for the girls to get their skis on and pull their ropes, someone screams rock and I see a microwave sized block slam into a guy abseiling and accelerates onwards. I decide to slide forward and take my chances on bluish snow ice as the boulder speeds towards the team below. Memories of having my nose broken here a lifetime ago by careless people abseiling above teams. The injured skier had to get roped out of the couloir. Surprising his leg didnt shatter.
After alot of faff the skiing was superb and worth it.
Going past the top of the Para Face without diving in was difficult but I needed to do some more skiing so went to the Rond. It must have seen half of Chamonix that day so the traverse was down to glacier ice again and a bit sketchy. Below, the pow was really uniform and 10 minutes later I was lapping back to the Para Face and arcing out GS turns to the Gare des Glaciers. Here’s where I made an error. I kept the car keys when I should have given them to the girls, who had gone down the VB side. They could have picked me up at the tunnel but instead I had to walk back to town in my race boots. Clunk, clunk, clunk, knees and back enjoyed that one! Its a lush walk through the forest only spoiled by the Gypsy camp and their rabid, aggressive, unleashed pack of dogs that charge at you barking and drooling in anticipation of another skier meal. In winter you can ski through at 25 mph but right now you are walking and easy prey for the pack. Take a tazor, pepper spray and a machete or even better, a sawn-off!! The most dangerous place in Chamonix aside from the back of Le Tour. You are warned.
Ross Hewitt Guiding 