polvo – Page 4 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Col de Cristaux

23rd Apr 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Michelle has been wanting to go to Col de Cristaux for a while now so I’d been saving it up for a nice sunny spring day when things would soften up. We were joined by fellow Aberdonian climber-skiers Sandy Simpson and Andy Inglis a very social lap on this Chamonix Classic from the sunny right hand finish.

I was surprised to see a large team start up the face behind us when were we 3/4 of the way up. As things were softening up fast and I started to ski down towards them, they appeared quite distressed by the volume of sluff that the skiers on the (other) direct finish were sending down. Surely if you didn’t manage to get out of bed early enough to start with the others, you would question the wisdom of questing up a route knowing people will be skiing down and dislodging anything from 1 to 1000 Te of snow? Would you go onto a big ice route behind people without expecting to get a lot of ice in the face? A few years ago another team followed us up the ice route Omega on the Petit Jorasses. By the end both of them were bloodied and bruised from direct hits from falling ice. It certainly spoiled my day knowing that anything we dislodged was going to harm them to some degree.

Sandy booting it.

Spot the guy climbing.

This guy definitely felt the need to get a bit more rad than necessary for a 5.1.

Michelle all cosy in a down jacket. The boys were down to mankinis.

Last of the Lift Served Powder

16th Apr 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Its been a long powder season and this could be the last of it. We enjoyed a few laps on the Midi to get the most out of it.

I’m psyched to get a few steep ski mountaineering routes done now. John Minogue getting his first face shot of the day.

Betony up to her thighs.Michelle carving

Into the Cosmiques

Jake Morgan popping his cosmic virginity – what a day to choose. We went staight back up for more.

Luca joins us for a 5 o’clock run.

Enticing creamy pow

Les Corbeaux

12th Apr 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

We spent a day testing Black Crows this week with the crew of Paul Prentice, Andrew Jordan, Sally Bartlett and Tom Grant. Some of the snow we encountered was so wet and sticky it was nearly unskiable but a bit of a giggle none the less. As the sky cleared the snow started to dry out and the best turns were found at the end of the day.

My quiver choice was the Nocta for every day downhill freeride happiness, the Corvus for a phat performance freeride tourer with low tech bindings and the Orb Freebird for a big mountain touring / steep ski. For those that prefer something a bit softer there is also plenty to choose from in the range.

Thanks guys!

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.

Tom enjoying the refrozen crusty snow through this section.

Tom having fun.

Max enjoying good pow.

Tom ripping it up.

Max blasting to the bottom.

The skiers are at half height. The bootpack is obvious. Steep. Can you spot the 4 skiers?

Still looks steep from this angle!

Salopar

27th Mar 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

After fighting the queues to get up the lift we were all psyched to get going on a big Midi day and making the most of the fine weather. Drew Tabke has some time off after winning the men’s FWT title and joined Dave Searle and myself. On the way down the arrete I started to feel some discomfort in my back and by time we arrived at the Cosmiques hut my back was seizing up quickly. After a handful of ibuprofen tablets it was time to push on and good skiing took us to the col at the top of the Salopar. By now I was feeling the pain standing still so Dave took over leading and the rope work. The snow was good but with the usual sharks teeth in there to snag the unwary and the straight line exit created sufficient speed to ruffle the ski pants.

Back at the Plan I had Dave kneeling on my chest and rotating my legs to try and unlock my back but the day had ended prematurely for me and it was time to download while the guys did a few more laps. At the car it took me about ten minutes to get my ski boots off. At one point I thought I would have to call Michelle to come get me as I was unsure I could drive home!

Hopefully its just a few down days for me.