polvo – Page 3 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Tournier Spur entry to Col du Plan

5th May 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

I promised myself I was going to chill out and get ready to go to the mountains the next day. When I woke up there was a little FOMO going on after the storms of the last 2 days and 15 minutes later I was down at the Midi promising myself I would only go to take photos. But on the ride up it was clearly the Midi May day with snow plastered everywhere and I joined Luca Pandolfi and Mikko Heimonen for a run.

I don’t think anyone had been over the Tournier Spur this year and it had been looking icy until recently so I was pretty nervous hearing the ice under the guy’s boards and had to use axes to get down a 5 m section. A couple more storms and it will be awesome. Apart from this small section we found great snow top to bottom.

The North Face of Aiguille du Midi – Mallory

3rd May 2013by rosshewittguiding2 Comments

Yesterday I was back up the Midi for some more North Face action, this time on the Mallory. Tom Grant, Bird and myself teamed up with Mika Merikanto and Niko Palo for this Chamonix test piece. Thanks guys for a mind blowing run!

Bird enjoying the pow.

Mika, myself and Stephane Dan at the demi-line.

Tom Grant crushing it.

Me skiing.Bird and me.

Mika & Tom with Stephan Dan and Alex Pittin below.

On the diagonal.

“Hello, yeah I’m busy, call you back”.

Bird on the mandatory rap.

Elevation time anyone?

The North Face of Aiguille du Midi – Eugster

2nd May 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Mmmh, can’t see jack shit, download? Fack off you pouff, we’re going to Mallory – Eugster and you lot can hold hands on the Frendo.

The Eugster Couloir on the North Face of the Midi.

Brett Lotz’s final day in Cham

Brett on the roll over.

Bird Early, not so early and a bit hungover, stoked to join us and on the catch up.

Shaeffer finding the Midi North Face clears a hangover in less than 5 turns.

Happy days, Lotz o banter.

Bird arcing out the turns to the demi lune.

Brett approaching the demi lune

Cedric heading down the Eugster Couloir as it starts to snow.

Brett further down the couloir heading to the abseil.

In the final couloir with Eugster direct in the mist.

Bird skiing ice glazed crap in flat light while its snowing. Some rain would have softened it up!

Bird on the exit.

Delighted at the prospect of a cold one!

Thanks for a fun day guys – Bird Early, Cedric Bernardini, Brett Lotz.

Storm Riding in the Cosmiques

28th Apr 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

The 20% forecast with Foehn today was just good enough to ski a Cosmique. Its well filled in now and you can sidestep in a few metres at the top before skiing – no more rope faff! Definitely a nice relaxed Sunday run.

Tom Grant

Tom getting a facefullBen Briggs

Dabbling on Col Diable and then North Face of Aiguille Noire

27th Apr 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

The plan was to go flat out from first bin to Col du Diable before the snow got too heavy. Fast progress was made round into Cirque Maudit and up the South facing access couloir next to the Grand Capucin onto the hanging serac. Above, the line blasts esthetically up the headwall to the ridge next to the Aiguilles Diables. As we raced up the couloir the snow was deteriorating fast in the heat and we had no choice but to turn round at half height. The shallow snow pack here peppered with rocks didn’t make for a flowing ski. It will be good to ski in better conditions another time.

10 minutes later we were down to the Mont Maudit cirque and both still motivated to ski before the bad weather arrived the following day. We headed off in the direction of the Noire above the Geant icefall and romped up the access couloir before it got too much sun.

The summit ridge revealed acres of our preferred ski medium – coldsmoke. After running around for a few hours we enjoyed a couple of minutes on this high perch over the Mer de Glace while eating lunch before cruising on down the North Face. The skiing is never hard but it would be worth having a photo of this face on your phone as route finding could be problematic and rock slabs aren’t helpful for anchors. We managed to sketch over the first slab choke on skis, the snow was only 2-3 inches deep and after Dave passed I had some bare rock to edge over. Then there is a 30 m rap over an icefall which we kept our skis on for. Long easy slopes led to the base of the face where an awkward little step to runnelled, crevassed, hard snow forced us to downclimb – no anchors in sight here.

Col du Diable (Macho Couloir)