Petit Mont Blanc – Ross Hewitt Guiding

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

Couturier-Whymper on La Verte

13th Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Dave Searle and myself have been wanting to do a traverse of the Verte for a couple of years now combining climbing Couturier and skiing Whymper onsight. After all the free-riding in January and February I was up for an alpine traverse trip like this which offers so much in the way of adventure, challenge, unknown, excitement and great training. The Aiguille Verte is an amazing mountain at 4122 m and all its routes are long and demanding. We were joined by Mikko Heimonen.
C0uturier

Aiguille Verte on the far right with the 1000 m Couturier Couloir descending direct from the summit.

The sunny side of Aiguille Verte, Whymper Couloir descends right of the summit.
Couturier Whymper La Verte Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-4

Nearing the top of the Couloir and the end of the neve with black ice and seracs looming. Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-6

We threaded the seracs along a ramp in the sun above the rock. Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-7 Mikko on the Verte for the first time.

Almost feeling Himalayan due to the cold, with 40 kph wind we were glad to get off the austere north side and into the sun.

Summit of the Verte for me!

Panorama Aiguille Leschaux to Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc and the Chamonix Aiguilles The wind tugged at our skis along the exposed ridge.
Couturier Whymper La Verte Seale Heimonen-15

The snow stayed pretty frozen with the wind.

Chute Central

10th Mar 2014by rosshewittguiding1 Comment

This week I headed back to the Miage area to ski some more of those massive 1000 m couloir lines with Michelle Blaydon, Kirsti Lehtimaki and Mikko Heimonen who had just landed in Chamonix. The powder has all been blown away leaving hard edge-able wind buff which made the boot pack a joy. First up was the line lookers left of the Bonatti which is reminiscent of a Domilimiti line with huge walls souring high above our heads. This line is overlooked since it doesn’t top out on the ridge but with 850 m vertical of skiing I don’t care. Probably the best couloir I have skied in the Mont Blanc Massif with a few hundred metres of 50 degrees at the top and an exciting ramp above some mixed ground. Second up was the 1200 m Domenech Couloir on the Aiguille de l’Aigle which we onsighted from the top. We arrived back at Zerotta in the Courmayeur ski area early afternoon and enjoyed relaxing in the sun and eating pizza and having a beer!

Michelle skiing. Petit Mont Blanc North East Face_-19

Kirsti on the changing lines pitch.

Kirsti skiing the lower couloir.

Time to relax!

Couloirs Alley – Petit Mont Blanc – Bonatti Couloir

3rd Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Long day with friends, the ski was a great reward, stunning photos from Cedric.

Cedric Bernardini

Since i came down from the west face of mont blanc and ski thru this glacier (miage) i always wanted to come back. My idea was to get one of those domes tent and post up there for a few day skiing couloirs everyday. there is such a concentration of awesome couloirs…It never happened of course.The only people skiing regularly there is the italians crew. They scored some of the most beautiful couloirs around. (check snowhow.it) link. Until today when finns and scottish were stoked on skiing the uber classic Bonatti in one day. The conditions were top: amazing powder and long day.

some of the awesome couloirs which never get skied

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Petit Mont Blanc – North East / Bonatti Couloir

3rd Mar 2014by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Its was always going to be a long day, especially with the amount of bad weather we have had this winter that has prevented us getting tour fit. It was deep going in. Then it got deeper. By late afternoon as the couloir steepened up it got ridiculously deep where I expected it to get faster for booting. Even with snow plates I was waist deep and trenching, the others up to their chests in my trench. Our team of 5 were cooked. We called a stop about 150 m from the top and skied amazing pow in the glow of the evening light. Thanks to Michelle Blaydon, Kirsti Lehtimaki, Cedric Bernardini and Robes Parron for a stunning day.