powder skiing – Page 5 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

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)

Dave Searle Col Diable and Noire NW Face_-5

God damned heat!

The stunning view to the Breche Carabiniers between the Grand and Petit Capucins Dave Searle Col Diable and Noire NW Face_-62

The North Face of the Noire

Like a kiddie in a candy shop – pow awaits

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.