steep skiing – Page 11 – Ross Hewitt Guiding

Nearly a year ago I attempted the Angelique with Dave Searle a couple of days after Andreas had repeated it. The south facing stuff wasnt in particularly loaded in this low snow year but neither was anything else and we had nothing better to do. With valley temperatures hitting 20C at the time we knew we would have to be quick and get to the top of the Courtes for midi from the first GM bin. At the bergshrund 2 snow bridges collapsed on me and third attempt lucky and a loss of 45 minutes we were on the NNE slope going up as fast as we could with heavy AT kit. The snow was variable with undercut slabs, facets, neve, ice, powder, anything but something useful. Toping out at 1 pm was akin to looking over the crater of a volcano and we could see the snow was turning and we needed to get going fast. The beta we had was 2 short raps and you could ski, 30 m down and I spent about half an hour pulling off loose flakes and crumbling rock to get an anchor, Andreas’ anchor another 20 m below. A couple more raps we stamped a ledge in the snow and put on our skis, 30 cm of wet snow, lots of rock showing below, rocks falling and the sun beating down. Dave and myself hadnt done that much together and I wasnt sure how I was going to sell him that this wasnt on and we needed to climb out and downclimb the NNE. We were too late for an alternative south facing descent off Les Courtes so it was back down the NNE slope, reversing over all the undercut steps the wind had created. Two climbers appeared above from Swiss route and we got lumps of snow knocked down on our heads. We were moving faster so there wasn’t much point waiting for them to catch up. We just had to take this disconcerting feeling as each lump hit you on the head. About 300 m above the shrund I’d had enough of down climbing and finding a strip of pow skied the lower 48 degree section to the shrund. We arrived back at the car at dark not very pleased with a day when most things went wrong.

This year the northerly winds have loaded up the south faces nicely and the high altitude winds finally dropped and it was time to go back. I wanted to go from Couvercle as it would all be on snow but the guys (Cedric Bernardini, Ryan Boyer and Brett Lotz) wanted a day hit which meant climbing the NNE in poor conditions. I woke up still coughing up green gunk so wasn’t sure how I would fire and to be honest I thought the black ice on the NNE might feel very insecure. It didnt let us down. Any powder that had fallen was accumulated at the base of the face and we had to trail break up the shrund. Michelle had made an awesome calorie packed chocolate fudge brownie and we devoured these rapidly at the shrund ready for the slog ahead. 150 m below the summit ridge we all tied on and Ryan led with us moving together with a couple of screws on the line. You never forget what a horror show black ice is, slow, teetering, brittle, swinging, swinging, swinging, swinging, F@cks sake!! With tired calves we arrived at the top late afternoon. That was my 8th time on this slope. With light skis a few years back I made it in 45 mins on snow. Yesterday it took over 3 hours. Alpine climbing at its worst. Chess is faster.

A quick rap, skis on and Ryan set off down. Very variable snow that didn’t look easy, he handed the lead to Cedric. This made me nervous but I told myself I would just take my time. The two banks are different aspects with different snow combining old pow, icy crust, lumps, bumps, rocks, facet holes and all steep in excess of 50 degrees. Ryan usually telemarks but took alpines for the day to have rigid boots for the climb up. His jump turns were impressive with all that telemarking quad power, like zebbedie out of ‘The Magic Roundabout’. Alot of you are probably too young to know what I am talking about so imagine someone on a pogo stick going airborne. My legs were pumping just standing still on my edges let alone blasting upwards into orbit! As we descended the snow became deeper and more consistent and bigger powder turns took us out of the couloir, down the Talefre basin and the Mer de Glace as the peaks glowed red in a magnificent sunset. We rolled into town at last light after a superb technical day out.

At the end of last season my ski partner Dave Searle and myself got lucky and found these two lines in perfect conditions with a foot of cold untracked powder. The Col des Courtes was a line that I had attempted on numerous occasions (9!) and had once made a swift ski retreat from the mid height rocks when Foehn storm rolled in. This was going to be the last time I trekked up the Argentiere glacier to see if it would go. We were joined by Rob Stokes and this was the first time I had skied with him which was fun. Stokes and Searler’s constant banter kept me continuously entertained throughout the day. Thanks guys. The slope is definitely one of the steepest things I have been on and I was glad of the powder, without that it would have been a very different game.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The next day Dave and myself returned to the Argentiere basin en route to the Amone. With the hot May days we had to go at race pace up the glacier and climb the SE couloir to before things started to fall to pieces. We were at the Col at Midi, able to relax and have some food. Dave has a similar metabolism to myself which means repeated days on the go eats into our muscle mass and we simply just cant eat enough food. A nice scramble over the arrete brought us onto the face. Thanks to Cedric Bernadini and Luca Pandolfi to recommend this route as it enables the route to be done in a day as long as you are fast. The upper 45 degree slopes didnt feel that exposed after the previous day on Col des Courtes 55 degree slopes but I am sure they would if you havent got accustomed to this type of skiing, especially with the 400 m cliff at the base. Looking back up the face from below it reminds me of something Shane McConkey would have loved for a ‘ski to base jump’ hit with the 400 m cliff. This is probably the most esthetic ski line I have ever done with unbroken skiing from the summit, only Couturier rates higher in my book. Possibly the best two days skiing I have ever done, thanks guys.

Getting back from La Foully was easy due to the efficiency of the Swiss, initially on post bus then train to Martigny. Once we entered France chaos ensued with the train driver stopping at Vallorcine, switching off the lights and announcing the timetabled connection wouldnt run and pointing us in the direction of the local hotel for the night. At 9 pm food and watering was long over due and I wasnt that impresssed to say the least. We hid all the kit in a bush and Dave started to thumb a lift in order to pick up the van from Argentiere and come back for me. The road was like a tumbleweed Wild West outpost and eventually Dave got picked up while I sat and shivered. Dave appeared with the van alot sooner than expected, turned out that the Russian that picked him up thought he was a formula one driver and was testing his wallowing quashquai to the max, taking the blind apex atr Col des Montets at 80 kph and verring onto the wrong side of the road for 50 m. Dave got out at the earliest opportunity and walked the rest contemplating how hitching had turned out to be the most dangerous part of the day.