Skitouren – Page 5 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

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.

The normal Rond is shown by the red line with the Salopar, ‘heart of the Rond’ shown in orange.

So what do you do Drew? Well, I just won the Freeride World Tour.

Last of the Blower

21st Mar 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

This week has been an unexpected late season extended freeride session in the trees down to the valley floor.

Fuelling up for the day. More caffeine required.

Acres of cold blower to be had.

The odd face shot.

Just the two of us skiing.
The zone with the best lift access ski hill in the World.

Belvedere East Ramp

18th Mar 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

Plan A was to got the Verte. The day before I went up the Midi on a recce and was greeted by bitter cold due to northerly air flow. This was hardening the snow and would also mean alot of time trying to keep the extremities warm. Time for Plan B; this also started from Grand Montets but in the morning the wind was too strong for the lift to open so now it was time for Plan C; the Belvedere East ramp. We found very variable snow on the way there with thick wind crust dominating but once in the wind shadow of the Belvedere there was a lush amount of powder. The bowl above the ramp was out of the shelter and heavily wind effected so we skied from there.

Thanks Sylvain for the photos.

The Cosmic Virgin

13th Mar 2013by rosshewittguidingLeave a comment

After a very busy month ski mountaineering almost every day, the unsettled weather last week brought a chance to rest, hydrate and eat lots; like 5 or 6 meals a day. I was almost light enough to race a bike again!

I also got bored of standing around taking photos and with a neck injury healing up its been good to ski some long pitches and get some downhill power back that has evaporated with all the ski mountaineering. I did however take a few shots of Ally Swinton popping his Cosmiques Virginity in one of the blower runs his week in between gasping for air!

Petit Mont Blanc – Bonatti Couloir

4th Mar 2013by rosshewittguiding2 Comments

Davide de Masi and Max Turgeon waiting for the gondola to open.

Hard snow. I skied lots of this stuff as a kid in Scotland and its as pleasurable for me as skiing over peoples tracks. I’ll come back to GS this in pow.