Diagonal of Mont Blanc's Brenva Face skied by Nico Borgeot, Gaspard Buro, Ross Hewitt

British ski mountaineer Ross Hewitt and his French counterparts Nico Borgeot and Gaspard Buro have made a hugely impressive first ski descent on Mont Blanc’s wild, inhospitable Brenva Face. Their superlative undertaking, exposed and dangerous like that of Edmond Joyeusaz in May 2020, reaches the serac of La Poire but then cuts diagonally across the face, traversing leftwards to join the line of Major (Thomas Graham Brown, Frank Smythe, 1928) and then Sentinelle (Thomas Graham Brown, Frank Smythe, 1927).

Hewitt had dreamt about this descent for over a decade and success came about after discovering a hidden colouir two years ago and then waiting patiently for the right conditions. Just one 60m abseil was needed. On his Instagram handle the British mountain guide explained the descent was "Adventurous, intense, massively intimidating, all-consuming and utterly brilliant" adding "Grandiose on a scale impossible to convey with mere worlds. Gigantic snowfields, towering skyscrappers of ice, swathes of golden granite and 4000 ft of abyss to the glacier. Like the Grand Canyon but GRANDER, or maybe more akin to the Himalaya giants." His report is published below.

THE MISSING LINK ON MONT BLANC'S BRENVA FACE by Ross Hewitt
While the Alps have been absolutely caked in snow during the last month, 2 day weather windows for big mountain objectives have been in short supply. I’m talking about 2 day windows, not because I’m shy of a long single push mission, but after 4-5 days of storm the snow needs time to stabilize.

The idea had been in my head for years, initially I thought it might be cool to ski the uppers down to the serac benches then fly off, then one day after the Covid lockdowns I spotted this hidden couloir from Col de la Brenva. We just needed the serac to melt out enough in the hot summers to link the Poire start to Route Major. Since October we had lots of snow at altitude and again this last month, when it’s most important, it just hasn’t stopped. I had a sense it was time to go but Will Rowentree and Joe who I’d done Sentinelle Rouge with had gone to NZ. So I had no partner and I hadn’t told anyone about the line.

Monday showed a few hours of clear weather and I went off to Italy with a massive lens to scope the line and see if the snow had bonded to the ice. I’d never seen the top looking so white, it was game time! Suddenly a tiny window appeared with a couple hours early morning when the wind would be manageable before slabs started to form on the east face.

I reached out to the ultra-talented and trusted partner Nico Borgeot to see if he was free for a new line - he was but wanted to go ski the Arete de Peuterey and asked about the line I had in mind. He’d been up Tour Ronde with Gaspard Ravannel looking at the face too. So I showed Nico what I was thinking and very quickly he asked if I had scoped the cruxes. We agreed to go to Cosmiques refuge together joined by Gaspard Buro but we didn’t agree what line we would aim for.

Next day at the refuge we talked through the line with the aid of the photos which was news to Gaspard. We still hadn’t committed to do the same thing when we left the refuge, knowing conditions would probably dictate what we would do with strong wind arriving mid morning.

After Col de la Brenva it was very cold in the west wind, skinning in expedition down jacket, goggles, mitts, boot warmers on full. Gaspard had a ski blow off on the way up in Tacul at 2 am and was 30 minutes behind us. The obvious thing to do was sit under the cornice out of the wind on the east face to wait. There the snow was inviting. Nico asked what I thought. "It’s the day, the one we’ve been waiting years for." We were both nervous there waiting for Gaspard. Waiting is the worst moment. Gaspard arrived with the cloud and on the upper section the light was terrible. As it was, it meant waiting less time lower down for the snow to soften.

The descent went like clockwork for us with smooth snow throughout. On the upper headwall a passage of high cloud passed over, making the light really flat and tricky on that 50° section. The link couloir that had snow last year was bare glacier ice and we made 1x60m rappel there before joining Route Major. The return of the sun was welcome and we waited some time on the spur for the snow to soften before continuing and enjoying great corn snow in the Grand Couloir of the Brenva.

When we joined Route Major the last 600m skied very quick. We had planned to be early but the overhead passage of clouds has caused a refreeze that gave us more time. When you reach Col Moore you can relax fully, knowing nothing will fall on your head.

Once there, I felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness and contentment, everything in the Universe had conspired to make this happen on this day to make it through this magical and grandiose maze. All that awaited was celebratory beers at Skyway. So thankful to share this day with Nico and Gaspard. Euphoric is an understatement.